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Students knowledge and skills

PISA will assess some of the knowledge and skills that enable students to participate fully in society and the economy and to become lifelong learners. Some elements, such as the mastery of key scientific concepts, are likely to be part of the school curriculum, but the PISA assessments will go beyond mastery of a defined body of knowledge of the type included in many school subjects. They will look at students' ability to reflect actively on their knowledge and experience and to address issues that will be relevant to their own future lives.

 

Multiple aspects of educational outcomes

PISA will assess primarily three "domains":

(1) reading literacy,
(2) mathematical literacy and
(3) scientific literacy.

The term "literacy" is chosen to reflect the breadth of the knowledge, skills and competencies being assessed. The assessment domains are defined in terms of: the content or structure of knowledge that students need to acquire in each domain; the processes that need to be performed; and the contexts in which knowledge and skills are applied. For each domain there will be a continuous scale on which the performance levels of individuals and the distributions of performances of populations can be represented by scores. There will not be a single cut-off between "literate" and "illiterate" but, instead, student performance will be defined through a series of successive levels of proficiency.

 

Broader attitudes and abilities

Competencies that cross curriculum boundaries have a growing importance in PISA as it develops over time. PISA 2000 analysed student motivation and other aspects of student attitudes, under the heading "self-concept". In 2003, PISA specifically assessed students' ability to solve problems.

Reading literacy requires students to perform a range of tasks through different kinds of texts. The tasks range from retrieving specific information to demonstrating a broad understanding and interpreting text and reflecting on its content and features. The texts that are used will include not just standard prose passages but also various types of documents such as lists, forms, graphs, and diagrams.

Mathematical literacy entails the use of mathematical competencies at several levels, ranging from performance of standard mathematical operations to mathematical thinking and insight. It also requires the knowledge and application of a range of mathematical content that is drawn from areas such as chance, change and growth, space and shape, quantitative reasoning, uncertainty and dependency relationships. This includes specific areas of the mathematics curriculum, such as algebra, numbers and geometry.

Scientific literacy involves the use of key scientific concepts in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world. It also involves being able to recognise scientific questions, use evidence, draw scientific conclusions and communicate these conclusions. Scientific concepts relevant to the students' world both now and in the near future will be used. These include concepts to do with science in life and health, earth and the environment, and technology.