2003

Executive Summary
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a collaborative effort among the participating countries to measure how well 15-year-olds, approaching the end of compulsory schooling, are prepared to meet the challenges of today's societies. PISA administers tests and background questionnaires to between 4,500 and 10,000 students in each participating country to assess three forms of literacy: reading, mathematical and scientific. The assessments focus on how well students apply knowledge and skills to tasks that are relevant to their future life, rather than on the memorisation of subject matter knowledge.

The assessment was first administered in 2000 in 32 countries, all but four of them members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (See Figure 1). In response to considerable worldwide interest in the study, the assessment was extended in 2001 to 11 additional non-OECD countries, bringing the total number of countries surveyed to 43. Theresults for the first 32 countries were reported in Knowledge and Skills for Life published in 2001. Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow expands on this analysis with particular reference to the results in the 15 non-OECD countries.

PISA provides important information on factors associated with students' literacy proficiency, including student engagement in the learning process, gender and family background, and offers insights into how characteristics of schools, such as the organisation of learning and the availability and management of resources, are associated with educational success.

As the programme is administered once every three years, it offers policy-makers a lens through which to monitor student outcomes over time and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of their own systems in the light of other countries' performance. Through PISA and related work, OECD and UNESCO seek to contribute to a shift in policy focus from educational inputs to learning outcomes, in order to assist countries in seeking to bring about improvements in schooling and better preparation for young people as they enter an adult life of rapid change and deepening global interdependence.

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