Federal

PISA Called Inappropriate for U.S. Benchmarking

By Sean Cavanagh — February 26, 2009 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Includes updates and/or revisions.

As state leaders and education advocates weigh evaluating U.S. students using international benchmarks, a new report argues that one prominent test, PISA, is flawed and may not be appropriate for judging American schools on global standards.

The author, Tom Loveless, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, also contends that questions asked on the Program for International Student Assessment surveys of students’ beliefs and attitudes about science reflect an ideological bias, which undermines the test’s credibility.

He cites an example from one PISA questionnaire, which seeks to gauge “a sense of students’ responsibility for sustainable development,” and asks test-takers if they agree with certain statements, such as “having laws that protect the habitats of endangered species.”

A response requires a “political judgment,” Mr. Loveless writes. Also, the questions are vague, making it difficult for the scientifically literate to know how to answer, he argues.

“It is difficult to see how declaring support or opposition to a policy without knowing the details” is related to responsible citizenship, Mr. Loveless adds.

Andreas Schleicher, the head of education indicators for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Paris-based group that oversees the test, called the report “disingenuous” and misleading on some points.

‘A First Reading’

He noted that the student questionnaire is not in any way connected to the main, publicly reported PISA scores for science and math, which are most commonly cited in the news media and by policymakers. It is clear, he said, that the test scores and the questionnaire give policymakers two different sets of information. Results from the questionnaire are put in separate indices in PISA reports, he noted.

“These questions explore significant science-related contemporary issues,” Mr. Schleicher said in an e-mail, and give policymakers “a first reading” of students’ attitudes about science, even if the phrases are not perfect.

Mr. Loveless also casts doubt on whether PISA’s practice of measuring skills that students pick up both in and out of school makes it useful for state policymakers who want to improve their K-12 systems. Another international test, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or TIMSS, and the U.S.-based National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, focus primarily on in-school skills.

In addition, he said the OECD takes policy positions that it should not be doing if it collects and interprets score data, because it creates potential for conflict.

Mr. Schleicher said PISA emphasizes students’ ability to apply knowledge in an out-of-school context, but that doesn’t mean students necessarily learned those skills outside the classroom.

One central PISA goal is to assess students’ “capacities to extrapolate from what they know and transfer and apply their knowledge and skills to novel settings,” Mr. Schleicher said, which, he added, is a prized skill in science.

Last September, the National Governors Association, Achieve, and the Council of Chief State School Officers announced plans to create an advisory group to produce a “road map” to benchmark U.S. school performance with that of top-performing nations.

Mr. Loveless writes that the NGA would “like states to use PISA” in that process. But Dane Linn, the director of the NGA’s education division, disputed that, saying the organizations are not committed to any particular approach, but considering a range of rigorous international exams.

“It behooves us to not exclude PISA in examining how other countries measure performance,” Mr. Linn said. Different elements of PISA, TIMSS, and other international tests are likely to appeal to state policymakers. Debates about which kind of test material, emphasizing in-school “content,” as opposed to the “application of knowledge,” miss the point, Mr. Linn added. “It’s both.”

A version of this article appeared in the March 04, 2009 edition of Education Week as PISA Called Inappropriate for U.S. Benchmarking

Events

Mathematics K-12 Essentials Forum Helping Students Succeed in Math
Student Well-Being Live Online Discussion A Seat at the Table: The Power of Emotion Regulation to Drive K-12 Academic Performance and Wellbeing
Wish you could handle emotions better? Learn practical strategies with researcher Marc Brackett and host Peter DeWitt.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Federal Trump Admin. Says Undocumented Students Can't Attend Head Start, Early College
The administration issued notices saying undocumented immigrants don't qualify for Head Start and some Education Department programs.
7 min read
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami.
Children play during aftercare for the Head Start program at Easterseals South Florida, an organization that gets about a third of its funding from the federal government, on Jan. 29, 2025, in Miami. The Trump administration said Thursday that undocumented children are ineligible for Head Start and a number of other federally funded programs that the administration is classifying as similar to welfare benefits.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Federal How Medicaid, SNAP Changes in Trump's Big Budget Bill Could Affect Schools
The bill will stress a major funding stream schools rely on, leading to ripple effects that make it harder for schools to offer free meals.
6 min read
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington.
President Donald Trump signs his signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts at the White House on July 4, 2025, in Washington. The bill cuts federal spending for Medicaid and food stamps—cuts that stand to affect students and trickle down to schools.
Evan Vucci/AP
Federal Opinion A D.C. Insider Explains What’s Changed in Education Policy
The biggest thing that people don’t understand about federal education policy? How much the details really matter.
7 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
Federal What Superintendents Think About a Steady Clip of Federal K-12 Changes
A state superintendent and two district leaders shared their thoughts on the latest changes coming from Washington.
4 min read
From left, Quentin J. Lee, superintendent of Talladega City Schools, Keith Konyk, superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District, and Eric Mackey, Alabama's state superintendent of education, discuss the latest K-12 policy changes at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 on July 2, 2025.
From left, Quentin J. Lee, superintendent of Talladega City Schools in Alabama; Keith Konyk, superintendent of Elizabeth Forward School District in Pennsylvania; and Eric Mackey, Alabama's state superintendent of education, discuss the latest K-12 policy changes at the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 on July 2, 2025.
Kaylee Domzalski/Education Week