The Program for International Student
Assessments (PISA) is an international assessment of 15-year-olds
which focuses on assessing students’ 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 will participate in 2018 in order
to track trends and to compare the performance of U.S. students
with that of students in other education systems. PISA 2018 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 students’ knowledge and
skills gained both in and out of school environments. PISA 2018
will focus on reading literacy as the major domain. Mathematics and
science literacy will also be assessed as minor domains, with
additional assessments of global competence and financial literacy.
In addition to the cognitive assessments described above, PISA 2018
will include questionnaires administered to assessed students,
school principals, and teachers. To prepare for the main study in
2018, NCES will conduct a PISA field test from April-May 2017 to
evaluate newly developed assessment and questionnaire items, to
test the assessment operations, and to test school recruitment,
data collection, and data management procedures. The PISA main
study will be conducted in the U.S. from September-November 2018.
This submission requests approval for: recruitment and
pre-assessment activities for the 2017 field test sample;
administration of the field test; and recruitment of schools for
the 2018 main study sample.
US Code:
20
USC 9573 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 TIMSS:2015 Main Study, while this request is to recruit
schools and communicate with districts and parents in preparation
for the 2017 eTIMSS pilot study.
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.
Appendix A & B - PISA 2018 Recruitment & FT Communication Materials.docx
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018) Recruitment and Field Test