The Primacy of PISA

How the World’s Most Important Test Is Changing Education Globally

Joseph M. Piro

Every three years the world awaits the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA, the rankings of school systems overseen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Nations around the world look eagerly and apprehensively to see where their students rank on these tests of competence in, mainly, science, math and reading. This book provides a window into PISA and its power. What exactly is PISA? How are its tests developed? Who takes the test? What countries tend to outperform and which underperform? What do countries learn from PISA? Why is PISA both revered and feared? And, most importantly, does PISA improve education globally?

The first PISA, in 2000, included 32 countries. In 2018, nearly eighty nations took part in PISA. That number is expected to double by 2030. This may mean that students in over 80% of the world’s countries will take the PISA exams. This scenario has made PISA more important than ever. This book probes topics and themes related to “the world’s most important exam” and why many view a high PISA ranking—rightly or wrongly—as global education’s seal of approval. Because of this, PISA has been called a disruptor, a test which can trigger major reform in school systems around the world. But is it the PISA rankings that are the real disruptor or the decisions countries make because of their rankings? These decisions often involve systemic changes in teaching and learning which can substantially alter how a country measures and prioritizes its education system.

Lexington Books

Pages: 204 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-4985-7849-3 • Hardback • August 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-7850-9 • eBook • August 2019 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Education / Evaluation & Assessment, Education / Statistics, Education / Testing & Measurement, Education / Comparative

The Primacy of PISA

How the World’s Most Important Test Is Changing Education Globally

Hardback

eBook

Summary

Every three years the world awaits the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA, the rankings of school systems overseen by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Nations around the world look eagerly and apprehensively to see where their students rank on these tests of competence in, mainly, science, math and reading. This book provides a window into PISA and its power. What exactly is PISA? How are its tests developed? Who takes the test? What countries tend to outperform and which underperform? What do countries learn from PISA? Why is PISA both revered and feared? And, most importantly, does PISA improve education globally?

The first PISA, in 2000, included 32 countries. In 2018, nearly eighty nations took part in PISA. That number is expected to double by 2030. This may mean that students in over 80% of the world’s countries will take the PISA exams. This scenario has made PISA more important than ever. This book probes topics and themes related to “the world’s most important exam” and why many view a high PISA ranking—rightly or wrongly—as global education’s seal of approval. Because of this, PISA has been called a disruptor, a test which can trigger major reform in school systems around the world. But is it the PISA rankings that are the real disruptor or the decisions countries make because of their rankings? These decisions often involve systemic changes in teaching and learning which can substantially alter how a country measures and prioritizes its education system.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 204 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9

978-1-4985-7849-3 • Hardback • August 2019 • $111.00 • (£85.00)

978-1-4985-7850-9 • eBook • August 2019 • $105.50 • (£82.00)

Subjects: Education / Evaluation & Assessment, Education / Statistics, Education / Testing & Measurement, Education / Comparative

Author

Joseph M. Piro is professor at Long Island University in the Department of Teaching & Learning and codirector of the doctoral program in interdisciplinary educational studies.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

List of Tables

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: PISA and the Global Citizen

Chapter 2: The Staying Power of International Comparisons: Why We Feel the Need to Compare

Chapter 3: PISA through the Prism of the OECD

Chapter 4: The Making and Taking of PISA

Chapter 5: PISA and Global Best Practices: How PISA Tells Us “What Works”

Chapter 6: “Horizon Scanning:” The Promise and Perils of Borrowing Best Practices

Chapter 7: PISA, Brain Matter, and Other Matters

Chapter 8: The Place of PISA in a Diversifying, Digitizing, and Innovating World

Bibliography

List of Websites

Index

About the Author

Reviews

Piro (Long Island Univ.) examines the impact of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) on education globally. Citing the key PISA watch-phrase—"PISA assesses the extent to which fifteen-year-old students, near the end of their compulsory education, have acquired key knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in modern societies"—and PISA's commission by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), he posits that PISA’s primacy arises from international "'aspiration' convergence," ranking fever, and the media microscope. Following a history of international comparisons, Piro outlines questions about PISA that arise from differences in culture, language, gender, student sampling, and test administration. PISA is seen as a global convener that hastens curriculum flattening worldwide, as a standardizer that creates homogenized educational policy, and as an agitator used to advocate specific educational reforms. The author discusses the promises and perils of borrowing best practices; brain, development, and motivational research connected to PISA results; and PISA's future role. Piro concludes that "how PISA will continue to find, focus, and fix its position in the landscape of global education will be most compelling and instructive to watch." Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals.

— Choice Reviews

Joseph M. Piro provides an informative account of the most important global education testing regime of our times: The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). His book is a must-read for anyone interested in education policy and politics as it copes brilliantly with keeping the balance between being a compendium and a critique at the same time. It explores why we strive for comparisons, how the OECD has become the epicenter of education, what PISA means for different countries – including the US – and many more fascinating issues. Take a look inside!
— Kerstin Martens, Professor for International Relations, University of Bremen, Germany