The Program for International Student Assessments (PISA) is an international assessment of 15-year-olds which focuses on assessing studentsâ reading, mathematics, and science literacy. PISA was first administered in 2000 and is conducted every three years. The United States has participated in all of the previous cycles and is participating in 2021 in order to track trends and to compare the performance of U.S. students with that of students in other education systems. PISA 2021 is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). In the United States, PISA is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), within the U.S. Department of Education. In each administration of PISA, one of the subject areas (reading, mathematics, or science literacy) is the major domain and has the broadest content coverage, while the other two subjects are the minor domains. PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of mandatory schooling (aged 15 years), and studentsâ knowledge and skills gained both in and out of school environments. PISA 2021 will focus on mathematics literacy as the major domain. Reading and science literacy will also be assessed as minor domains, with additional assessment of financial literacy. In addition to the cognitive assessments described above, PISA 2021 will include questionnaires administered to school principals and assessed students. To prepare for the main study in 2021, PISA countries will conduct a field test in the spring of 2020, primarily to evaluate newly developed assessment and questionnaire items but also to test the assessment operations. The PISA 2021 field test data collection will occur in the U.S.A. from March-April 2020 and the main study data collection from September-November 2021. This submission requests approval for: all recruitment and data collection activities related to the 2020 field test, and the overarching plan and recruitment of schools for the PISA 2021 main study.
US Code:
20 USC 9543
Name of Law: Education Sciences Reform Act
The apparent decrease in burden from last approval is due to the fact that the last request was to conduct the PISA 2018 main study, while this request is to conduct the PISA 2021 main study recruitment and field test.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.