Letters and Supporting Materials

APPENDIX B: Parental Permission Letters and Supporting Materials

Sample Notification Letter, PISA 2

Sample Implicit Consent Letter, PISA 3

PISA Implicit Consent Form 4

Sample Explicit Consent Letter, PISA 5

PISA Explicit Consent Form 6

Facts for Parents About PISA 7

Sample Notification Letter, PISA

SCHOOL LETTERHEAD

{DATE}

Dear Parent or Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about an important international study of student learning being conducted in our school in fall 2012. This study is called the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA for short. PISA provides important information for internationally benchmarking performance in reading, mathematics, and science of 15-year-old students in the United States against top countries around the world.

Our school has accepted an invitation from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education, to participate in PISA 2012. Fifty of our 15-year-old students, along with your teenager, will take part in this study. The enclosed summary sheet provides some background to PISA, explains what is involved for each student selected to participate in the study, and gives a contact phone number and email address where you can find answers to any questions you might have. If enough of our selected students participate, our school will receive a report comparing our students’ performance with other countries

To have an accurate picture of what U.S. 15-year-old students can do, it is important that each student selected take part in the study. I urge you to support this effort by encouraging your teenager to take part; however, participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Previous experience suggests that students actually enjoy taking part, and all students participating in the paper-and-pencil assessment will receive $25. About half of the students will also be selected to participate in a second, computer-based test session. These students will receive an additional $15. NCES may contact your teenager after the PISA assessment for a follow up study to look at the relationship between performance on PISA and other outcomes. In order to do so NCES will ask your teenager for contact information.

NCES is authorized to conduct this study under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002), 20 U.S. Code, § 9543. By law, the data provided by your schools, staff, and students may only be used for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S. Code, § 9573). Students and schools are never identified in any reports. All reported statistics are based on aggregated data.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about this important study. We wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Enclosures:

Facts for Parents About PISA 2012

Sample Implicit Consent Letter, PISA

SCHOOL LETTERHEAD

{DATE}

Dear Parent or Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about an important international study of student learning being conducted in our school in fall 2012. This study is called the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA for short. PISA provides important information for internationally benchmarking performance in reading, mathematics, and science of 15-year-old students in the United States against top countries around the world.

Our school has accepted an invitation from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education, to participate in PISA 2012. Fifty of our 15-year-old students, along with your teenager, will take part in this study. The enclosed summary sheet provides some background to PISA, explains what is involved for each student selected to participate in the study, and gives a contact phone number and email address where you can find answers to any questions you might have. If enough of our selected students participate, our school will receive a report comparing our students’ performance with other countries

To have an accurate picture of what U.S. 15-year-old students can do, it is important that each student selected take part in the study. I urge you to support this effort by encouraging your teenager to take part; however, participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Previous experience suggests that students actually enjoy taking part, and all students participating in the paper-and-pencil assessment will receive $25. About half of the students will also be selected to participate in a second, computer-based test session. These students will receive an additional $15. NCES may contact your teenager after the PISA assessment for a follow up study to look at the relationship between performance on PISA and other outcomes. In order to do so NCES will ask your teenager for contact information.

NCES is authorized to conduct this study under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002), 20 U.S. Code, § 9543. By law, the data provided by your schools, staff, and students may only be used for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S. Code, § 9573). Students and schools are never identified in any reports. All reported statistics are based on aggregated data.

If you have any objection to your teenager joining in the PISA activities, please let us know by completing the attached consent form and returning it to the school.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about this important study. We wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Enclosures:

Facts for Parents About PISA 2012

Parent/Guardian Consent Form

Implicit Consent Form

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2012)

Parent Permission Form

Your teenager has been asked to participate in an international study of student learning called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). This assessment will be conducted by a team of researchers from Westat, who are operating under contract on behalf of the U. S. Department of Education. In the fall of 2012, approximately 165 schools across the United States will participate in the study.

If you grant permission for your teenager to participate in PISA 2012, you do not need to return this form.

If you do not consent to your teenager’s participation in the PISA 2012, please return this form to your teenager’s school as soon as possible.

I do not grant permission for my teenager, _______________________________, to participate in the Program for International Student Assessment.

__________________________________________________________________

(Signature of parent or guardian)

Date of signature: _______/_______/____________

Student name: _____________________________________________ (PLEASE PRINT)

School name: ______________________________________________ (PLEASE PRINT)

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY:

Student ID: ________________________________________________

Sample Explicit Consent Letter, PISA

SCHOOL LETTERHEAD

{DATE}

Dear Parent or Guardian,

This letter is to inform you about an important international study of student learning being conducted in fall 2012. This study is called the Program for International Student Assessment or PISA for short. PISA provides important information for internationally benchmarking performance in reading, mathematics, and science of 15-year-old students in the United States against top countries around the world.

Our school has accepted an invitation from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), U.S. Department of Education, to participate in PISA 2012. Fifty of our 15-year-old students, along with your teenager, will take part in this study. The enclosed summary sheet provides some background to PISA, explains what is involved for each student selected to participate in the study, and gives a contact phone number and email address where you can find answers to any questions you might have. If enough of our selected students participate, our school will receive a report comparing our students’ performance with other countries.

To have an accurate picture of what U.S. 15-year-old students can do, it is important that each student selected take part in the study. I urge you to support this effort by encouraging your teenager to take part; however, participation in this study is entirely voluntary. Previous experience suggests that students actually enjoy taking part, and all students participating in the paper-and-pencil assessment will receive $25. About half of the students will also be selected to participate in a second, computer-based test session. These students will receive an additional $15. NCES may contact your teenager after the PISA assessment for a follow up study to look at the relationship between performance on PISA and other outcomes. In order to do so NCES will ask your teenager for contact information.

NCES is authorized to conduct this study under the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (ESRA 2002), 20 U.S. Code, § 9543. By law, the data provided by your schools, staff, and students may only be used for statistical purposes and may not be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose except as required by law (20 U.S. Code, § 9573). Students and schools are never identified in any reports. All reported statistics are based on aggregate data.

Before we can allow your teenager to join in the PISA study we must have your written consent. Please let us know by completing the attached form and returning it to the school.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about this important study and consider your teenager’s participation in it. We wish you all the best.

Sincerely,

Enclosures:

Facts for Parents About PISA 2012

Parent/Guardian Consent Form

Explicit Consent Form

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA 2012)

Parent/Guardian Consent Form

Your teenager has been asked to participate in an international study of student learning called the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). This assessment will be conducted by a team of researchers from Westat, who are operating under contract on behalf of the U. S. Department of Education. In the fall of 2012, approximately 165 schools across the United States will participate in the study.

• Yes, I do grant permission for my teenager to participate in the PISA 2012.

• No, I do not grant permission for my teenager to participate in the PISA 2012.

__________________________________________________________________

(Signature of parent or guardian)

Date of signature: _______/_______/____________

Student name: _____________________________________________ (PLEASE PRINT)

School name: ______________________________________________ (PLEASE PRINT)

FOR OFFICE USE ONLY:

Student ID: ________________________________________________

Facts for Parents About PISA

F

CBA-PP

acts for Parents

About PISA 2012

In the fall of 2012, your teenager’s school will participate in PISA 2012. The schools were selected randomly to represent the nation’s schools and, within each school, about 50 students were selected randomly to take part. Your teenager was among those students selected to take part in the study.

What is PISA?

PISA (the Program for International Student Assessment) is an international assessment that measures student learning in reading, mathematics, and science. The assessment occurs every three years and provides information about how students in the United States compare in achievement with students in other countries. More than 60 countries will be participating in PISA 2012. The National Center for Education Statistics within the U.S. Department of Education sponsors U.S. participation in PISA.

What is involved?

PISA staff will visit the school and administer the assessment, which consists of two sessions. The first session will take approximately 3 hours; it includes time for instructions, the administration of the paper-and-pencil assessment, and a brief questionnaire that students complete about themselves. The second session is administered on computer; about half of the students who took the paper-based assessment will participate in the approximately 80 minute session, which includes time for instructions. As part of a follow-up study to look at the relationship between performance on PISA and other outcomes, NCES may contact participating students after the PISA assessment.

Why both paper and pencil and computer-based sessions?

All participating countries currently administer the paper-based PISA assessment and a growing number are administering PISA on computer as well. Computers are increasingly being used in and outside of classrooms. Computers offer multiple ways of presenting information that cannot be provided in a paper-based assessment. Computer-based assessments allow students to interact more directly with the assessment tasks presented in order to solve problems and answer questions. PISA 2012 is the beginning of a transition to a wider use of computer-based assessments in future PISA cycles. When more countries are able to adminsiter PISA on computer it is anticipated that PISA will be administered only on computer. .

What are the benefits?

The nation as a whole benefits from PISA by having a greater understanding of how the knowledge and skills of U.S. students compare with those of students from other countries. Schools that participate in PISA will receive an honorarium, and each student who participates in the paper-and-pencil assessment will receive $25. Those students that also participate in the second, computer-based session will receive an additional $15.

Where can I find out more about PISA?

More information about PISA is available at the PISA website at http://www.nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/. If you have specific questions you can call PISA staff at 1-888-638-2597 or e-mail us at [email protected].

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