Graeme Aitken is the Dean of Education at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. His
research has focused on teaching effectiveness, and on curriculum development and …

Given the influential role that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) plays in educational governance, we believe it is timely to provide an in-depth …

PISA is an extremely influential large-scale assessment, and its 'policy lessons' are being
incorporated in a range of nations all over the world. In this paper I argue that not only is …

This paper examines whether, to what extent, and how international large-scale
assessments (ILSAs) have influenced education policy-making at the national level. Based …

Since the publication of results from the first iteration of testing within the Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA) and the ensuing media consternation and political …

Modern educational theories emphasise effectiveness enhancing factors at the classroom
level and differential effectiveness for sub-groups of students and across different learning …

The authors, members of the PISA/PIRLS Task Force, provide a summary of major gender
differences in performance found overall on PISA 2009, along with relevant trends since …

What are some factors that assist or impede reform implementation? Why do some
education policies fail, and whom do they fail? What are the considerations that go behind …

Background: PISA results appear to have a large impact upon government policy. The
phenomenon is growing, with more countries taking part in PISA testing and politicians …

Academic performance is predicted by a multitude of demographic, contextual, cognitive,
and noncognitive factors. The noncognitive factors predicting achievement in mathematics …