The purpose of this article is to identify the order of significance of the variables that affect science and mathematics achievement in middle school students. For this aim, the study deals with the relationship between science and math in terms of different angles using the perspectives of multiple causes-single effect and of multiple…

Those who work in second- and foreign-language testing often find Koretz's concern for validity inferences under high-stakes (VIHS) conditions both welcome and familiar. While the focus of the article is more narrowly on the potential for two instructional responses to test-based accountability, "reallocation" and "coaching,"…

We investigate the extent to which language versions (English, French and Arabic) of the same science test are comparable in terms of item difficulty and demands. We argue that language is an inextricable part of the scientific literacy construct, be it intended or not by the examiner. This argument has considerable implications on methodologies…

This study examines direct and indirect effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) and parental expectations on adolescents' mathematics and problem-solving achievement in mainland China. SES here is composed of family wealth, home educational resources, and parental education. Over 5,000 ninth-grade students in 5 geographical districts of China…

Despite considerable interest in research and practice in the effect of classroom disciplinary climate of schools on academic achievement, little is known about the generalizability of this effect over countries. Using hierarchical linear analyses, the present study reveals that a better classroom disciplinary climate in a school is significantly…

This article offers a qualitative analysis of videotaped mathematics lessons taught by four teachers in a provincial university city in Finland. My study is framed not only by Finnish success on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) but also by the objectives of current mathematics education reform, which are consistent with PISA's…

Using an international educational database, PISA 2009, this study investigates and analyzes 15-year-old students' attitudes toward school in 11 Asia-Pacific units (country, city, or area). For each unit, the study demonstrates four types of students' attitudes toward school, compares male and female students, and examines the relationships of the…

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) was designed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to evaluate the quality, equity, and efficiency of school systems around the world. Specifically, the PISA has assessed 15-year-old students' reading, mathematics, and science literacy on a 3-year cycle, since…

In this article, the authors review International Large-Scale Assessment (ILSA)-based research over the last several decades, with specific attention on cross-national analysis of mean differences between and variation within countries in mathematics education. They discuss the role of sampling design and "opportunity to learn" (OTL)…

Active participation in the information society requires the ability to find some order in the chaotic nature of the Web and not to get lost within the endemic presence of inaccurate, misleading, biased and false information. This article presents an approach to Information Problem Solving (IPS)--that is, finding, understanding and assessing…

Background: On the basis of a 'problem solving as an educational outcome' point of view, we analyse the contribution of math and science competence to analytical problem-solving competence and link the acquisition of problem solving competence to the coherence between math and science education. We propose the concept of math-science coherence and…

Background: The PISA study (assessing the competences of 15-year-old students in their mother tongue, in mathematics and in natural sciences) deals with the benchmarking of the OECD member states when it comes to meeting globally defined educational standards. Transnational educational experts now form the most powerful group within the…

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] is a global policy organization that includes the United States and about half of the Western Europe countries. It administers international comparison tests, called Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), for 15 year-old students in Mathematics and other subjects. I…

This paper reports how the context in which a mathematics item is embedded impacts on students' performance. The performance of Year 10 students on four PISA items was compared with performance on variants with more familiar contexts. Performance was not better when they solved items with more familiar contexts but there was some evidence that…

The chart of Indonesian student of mathematical ability development in Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) event during the last 4 periods shows an unstable movement. PISA aims to examine the ability of children aged 15 years in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. The concept of mathematical literacy is…