Exploring Reading and Mathematics Item Difficulty: Teaching and Learning Implications of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) Survey Data

Session Submission Type: Symposium

Abstract

The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a comparative survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds in over 65 countries that has been conducted every three years since 2000. The survey focuses on the extent to which the educational systems in participating countries produce students who are able to use the knowledge and skills they have learned at school to solve problems that involve the application of reading, mathematics or science. In the case both of the reading and mathematics domains, experts in the survey domains have been working for some time to better understand the drivers of item difficulty in their respective domains, and this symposium will report and explore some of the issues uncovered.

Sub Unit

• Division D - Measurement and Research Methodologies / Section 1: Educational Measurement, Psychometrics, and Assessment

Chair

• J Francois Rouet, Université de Poiters

Papers

• Some Drivers of Test Item Difficulty in Mathematics: An Item Analysis Rubric - Ross Turner, Australian Council for Educational Research

• Some Drivers of Test Item Difficulty in Mathematics: An Analysis of the Competency Rubric - Raymond J. Adams, Australian Council for Educational Research

• A Framework for Predicting Item Difficulty in Reading Tests - Tom Lumley, Australian Council for Educational Research

• Extending the Range of Item Difficulty in Reading for PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2009 - Dara Ramalingam, Australian Council for Educational Research

Discussant

• John A. Dossey, Illinois State University