PISA focus group school report appendix

Your School’s

2009 PISA Report
Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy Achievement of 15-Year-Olds in Your School
Principal:

School:

Test Date: Fall 2009

What is in
this report?
XX A brief
description
of PISA.
XX Your school’s
overall results
in reading.
XX Your school’s
results on
the reading
subscales.
XX Your school’s
overall results
in mathematics
and science.
XX Comparisons of
your school’s
results to the
United States,
the Organization
for Economic
Cooperation and
Development
(OECD) countries,
and countries
around the
world.

XXXX, XX, 2010
Dear ,
Thank you for participating in the 2009 administration of the Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA). Your school was among 165 schools
representing the United States in this important international comparison of the
knowledge and skills that 15-year-old students apply to real-world problems.
Your students were among more than 400,000 students from 66 countries and
jurisdictions that participated in PISA in 2009. We wanted to share with you your
school’s results, based on comparisons with other participating U.S. schools and
other countries around the world.
This report presents comparisons of your school’s average scores with the
average scores of 66 participating countries and jurisdictions, including the
United States, as well as the average for students in U.S. schools that are
similar to yours in terms of the percentage of students eligible for free or
reduced-price lunch.
We recommend that you interpret these results with caution and within the
context of other indicators about your students’ performance. These findings
are based on a sample of students from your school and are therefore
associated with a degree of uncertainty. The National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES), which was responsible for the administration of PISA in the
United States, will continue to maintain the confidentiality of your school’s and
students’ results and participation.
Thank you again for your contribution to U.S. participation in PISA and your
professional support of quality education in the United States. If you have any
questions about this report or about PISA more generally, please contact us at
[email protected].
Sincerely,

Holly Xie and Dana Kelly
U.S. PISA National Program Managers
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
Institute of Education Sciences (IES)
U.S. Department of Education
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The Program for International
Studen Assessment (PISA)
What is PISA’s Focus?
PISA focuses on skills that 15-year-olds have acquired
both inside and outside of the classroom, not only
assessing what students know, but also how well they
are able to reflect on and apply their knowledge to
real-life situations. In this sense, PISA emphasizes
students’ literacy in reading, mathematics, and science
rather than students’ performance on specific tasks
taught in a school cirriculum.
PISA was administered in the United States between
September and November 2009. Students completed
a two-hour paper-and-pencil test that included
both multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
The assessment framework and test questions were
developed by experts from participating countries.

PISA 2009 Overview
What was the main subject area assessed?
Reading literacy
What other subject areas were assessed?
Mathematics literacy and science literacy
Who took the assessment?
15-year-olds around the world
How many countries participated?
66 (including the United States)

Interpreting Your PISA 2009 Results
XX Because relatively few students are asked to represent each school in PISA, your school’s average scores
are reported as a confidence band. Statistically speaking, we can say with 95 percent confidence that your
school’s average PISA 2009 score is within the band reported.
XX All comparisons reported are based on statistical
analyses. Your school’s average performance is
reported as higher or lower than the average score
of a given comparison group if there is a 95 percent
level of confidence that this is the case. Otherwise,
your school’s average performance is reported as
not grouped different than the average score of the
comparison group.
XX PISA is coordinated by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
an intergovernmental organization of 34 highly
industrialized countries in which the United States
participates with its closest economic peers and
competitors. The OECD average is the average of
the scores from these 34 countries.
XX “Schools like yours” are U.S. schools with a similar
proportion of students eligible for free or reducedprice lunch through the National School Lunch Program.

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Your School’s Name

Countries in the OECD
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Chile
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy

Korea
Japan
Luxembourg
Mexico
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States

Your School’s

Reading Literacy Results
Your School’s Overall Results
in Reading: 2009

Reading Literacy
How your school compares with:





The United States:
The OECD Countries:
U.S. Schools Like Yours:
▲ Your school’s average score is higher

Sample Graph

 Your school’s average score is not different
▼ Your school’s average score is lower

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
Program for ­International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), Program for ­International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

Reading Literacy Subscales
How your school’s average scores compare with:

Retrieving
Information

The United States:
The OECD Countries:
U.S. Schools Like Yours:
▲ Your school’s average score is higher





Interpreting Reflection and
Texts
Evaluation









 Your school’s average score is not different ▼ Your school’s average score is lower

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for ­International Student
Assessment (PISA), 2009.

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2009 Comparisons Around the World
Average reading score is higher
than your school:
Austria
Canada
Chinese Taipei
Estonia
Finland
Hong Kong-China
Japan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Shanghai-China
Singapore

Average reading score is not
different than your school:
Austria
Belgium
Croatia
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kazakhstan
Korea
Latvia

Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macao-China
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Russian
Federation
Slovak Republic
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom

Average reading score is lower
than your school:
Austria
Canada
Chinese Taipei
Estonia
Finland
Hong KongChina
Japan
Netherlands
New Zealand
Shanghai-China
Singapore

Your School’s Results on
Reading Subscales: 2009
Sample Graph

PISA 2009 School Results

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Your School’s

Mathematics Literacy Results
Your School’s Results in
Mathematics: 2009

Mathematics Literacy
How your school compares with:

The United States:
The OECD Countries:
U.S. Schools Like Yours:





▲ Your school’s average score is higher

 Your school’s average score is not different

Sample Graph

▼ Your school’s average score is lower

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
Program for ­International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), Program for ­International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

Your School’s

Science Literacy Results

Your School’s Results in
Science: 2009

Science Literacy
How your school compares with:

The United States:
The OECD Countries:
U.S. Schools Like Yours:





▲ Your school’s average score is higher

 Your school’s average score is not different

Sample Graph

▼ Your school’s average score is lower

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD), Program for ­International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
Program for ­International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

PISA 2009 School Results

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How the United States Compares to Other
Countries in PISA 2009 Reading Literacy
OECD Countries.
Country

Non-OECD Countries.
Score

Country

Score

Finland

563

Hong Kong-China

542

Canada

534

Chinese Taipei

532

Japan

531

Estonia

531

New Zealand

530

Lechtenstein

522

Australia

527

Slovenia

519

Netherlands

525

Macao-China

511

Korea

522

Croatia

493

Germany

516

Latvia

490

United Kingdom

515

Lithuania

488

Czech Republic

513

Russian Federation

479

Switzerland

512

Israel

454

Austria

511

Chile

438

Belgium

510

Serbia

436

Ireland

508

Bulgaria

434

Hungary

504

Uruguay

428

Sweden

503

Jordan

422

Poland

498

Thailand

421

Denmark

496

Romania

418

France

495

Montenegro

412

Iceland

491

Indonesia

393

United States

489

Argentina

391

Slovak Republic

488

Brazil

390

Spain

488

Colombia

388

Norway

487

Tunisia

386

Luxembourg

486

Azerbaijan

382

Italy

475

Qatar

349

Portugal

474

Kyrgyzstan

322

Greece

473

Turkey

424

Mexico

410

Higher than U.S. average

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD), Program for ­International
Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.

Not different from U.S. average

Lower than U.S. average

For more information about PISA 2009:
The United States report, Highlights from PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students
in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context, can be found at
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/.
The OECD report, PISA 2009: Reading Competencies for Tomorrow’s World (Vol. 1 and 2), can
be found at http://www.pisa.oecd.org.
Sample test questions from PISA 2009 can be found at http://tinyurl.com/PISA2009items.
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Your School’s Name