Using International Surveys Of Achievement And Literacy

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increasing number of international surveys of learning achievement of children and of functional literacy of adults. These include the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), the Trends in International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS), the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). The next few years will see the publication of results from further rounds of TIMSS and PISA, along with the successor to IALS, the Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (ALLS). Details are given in Appendix A, and the countries included in the surveys from which results have already been published are listed in Appendix B. This paper will draw on experience from using and interpreting data from TIMSS, PISA and IALS. A range of practical issues of importance to users and potential users of these surveys will be discussed. The research community is now faced by a plethora of survey data on achievement/literacy. It is important that lessons learned about the quirks and peculiarities of each source and about appropriate methods for analysis and presentation of this sort of data are documented and made widely available. The paper will cover use of both published summary data and microdata from the surveys.