N°
77
11 May 2012
Immigrant Status and Secondary School Performance as Determinants of Post-Secondary Participation Garnett Picot
This working paper seeks to explore the reasons why educational attainment in the immigrant population varies between North America and Europe. Specifically, the examples of Canada and Switzerland are used as Canada has an immigrant population with a typically higher rate of post-secondary...
N°
76
15 May 2012
Open Educational Resources Jan Hylén, Dirk Van Damme, Fred Mulder, Susan D’Antoni
OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) has worked on Open Educational Resources (OER) in the past, which led to the publication Giving Knowledge for Free – the Emergence of Open Educational Resources (2007). This working paper thus builds on exploratory and forward-looking...
N°
75
02 May 2012
Immigrant Children's Age at Arrival and Assessment Results Anthony Heath, Elina Kilpi-Jakonen
While a number of single-country studies have been done to explore whether or not there is a "critical
age" at which the arrival in a new country becomes a steep disadvantage to the immigrant student, this
study aims to determine whether the steepness of the age-at-arrival/test score profile...
N°
74
03 May 2012
School Funding Formulas Mihály Fazekas
This study provides a literature review on school funding formulas across OECD countries. It looks at three salient questions from a comparative perspective: i) What kind of school formula funding schemes exist and how are they used, particularly for promoting the needs of socially...
N°
73
07 May 2012
Parental Involvement in Selected PISA Countries and Economies Francesca Borgonovi, Guillermo Montt
Studies have highlighted the beneficial effects of parental involvement in children’s educational lives. Few studies, however, analyse parental involvement in a cross-national perspective and few evaluate a wide array of forms of involvement. In 2009, 14 countries and economies implemented the...
N°
72
27 Mar 2012
Ageing and Skills Richard Desjardins, Arne Jonas Warnke
The relationship between ageing and skills is becoming an important policy issue, not least in the context of population ageing. Data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) will potentially add considerably to the understanding of the relationship...
N°
71
22 Feb 2012
The Policy Impact of PISA Simon Breakspear
Little research has been done into how the results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) affect national educational reform and policy-making. This paper examines the normative impact of PISA by investigating how, and the extent to which , national policy actors use PISA...
N°
70
22 Feb 2012
Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-Border Higher Education Stéphan Vincent-Lancrin, Sebastian Pfotenhauer
The Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education were developed and adopted to support
and encourage international cooperation and enhance the understanding of the importance of quality provision
in cross-border higher education. The purposes of the Guidelines are to...
N°
69
14 Feb 2012
Technical Feasibility of Reporting YITS 2010 Skill Assessment Results on the PISA 2000 Reading Scale Fernando Cartwright
This study examines the feasibility of reporting scores of a test based on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 instrument that was administered to a sample of 25-year-old Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) respondents on the PISA scale. Each of these respondents also...
N°
68
08 Feb 2012
A Literature Review of School Practices to Overcome School Failure Brenton Faubert
This working paper was prepared as part of the OECD thematic review Overcoming School Failure: Policies
that Work, www.oecd.org/edu/equity. The project provides evidence on the policies that are effective to reduce
school failure by improving low attainment and reducing dropout, and proactively...
N°
67
08 Feb 2012
Exploring the Complex Interaction Between Governance and Knowledge in Education Mihály Fazekas, Tracey Burns
Governments in all OECD countries are facing the challenge of governing increasingly complex
education systems. There is a growing need for governance structures that can handle this complexity and
which can provide actors with the knowledge they need to make decisions. This working paper asks...
N°
66
31 Jan 2012
School Choice and Equity Pauline Musset
This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning school choice schemes, and how they intertwine with equity considerations, through a literature review and analysis of the effects different types of school choice programmes have on equity. In the last 25 years, more than two-thirds of...
N°
65
11 Oct 2011
Student Standardised Testing Allison Morris
This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning student standardised testing in which there are no-stakes for students ("standardised testing") through a literature review and a review of the trends in standardised testing in OECD countries. Unlike standardised tests in which there...
N°
64
02 Dec 2011
Alignment in Complex Education Systems Janet W. Looney
The majority of OECD countries now implement one form or another of standards-based assessment and evaluation. The core logic of standards-based systems rests upon the alignment of three key elements: standards defining the knowledge and skills – or competences – students are expected to have...
N°
63
17 Oct 2011
An Analysis of Skill Mismatch Using Direct Measures of Skills Richard Desjardins, Kjell Rubenson
The focus of this study is on the potential causes of skill mismatch, the extent of skill mismatch, the sociodemographic make-up of skill mismatch, and the consequences of skill mismatch in terms of earnings as well as employer sponsored adult education/training. A distinction is made between...
N°
62
06 Feb 2012
Access to Education Over the Working Life in Sweden Anders Stenberg
To facilitate individuals to adjust their skills to changes in market demands, Sweden has a relatively
generous policy to stimulate formal adult education at the compulsory, upper secondary and tertiary levels.
This paper provides an overview of what research has reported to assess if and/or...
N°
61
20 Sep 2011
ICT and Initial Teacher Education Caroline Rizza
This working paper aims to give an overview of the national policies that exist in the field of ICT and initial teacher education. Information on this topic was initially gathered via a survey, in the form of a country questionnaire, which was conducted as part of the analytical strand of the...
N°
60
21 Feb 2011
A Tuning-AHELO Conceptual Framework of Expected Desired/Learning Outcomes in Engineering OECD
The OECD Secretariat, at the invitation of the AHELO Group of National Experts, contracted the
Tuning Association to undertake initial development work on learning outcomes to be used for valid and
reliable assessments of students from diverse institutions and countries. The two disciplines...
N°
59
21 Feb 2011
Tuning-AHELO Conceptual Framework of Expected and Desired Learning Outcomes in Economics OECD
The OECD Secretariat, at the invitation of the AHELO Group of National Experts, contracted the Tuning Association to undertake initial development work on learning outcomes to be used for valid and reliable assessments of students from diverse institutions and countries. The two disciplines...
N°
58
08 Apr 2011
Integrating Formative and Summative Assessment Janet W. Looney
A long-held ambition for many educators and assessment experts has been to integrate summative and formative assessments so that data from external assessments used for system monitoring may also be used to shape teaching and learning in classrooms. In turn, classroom-based assessments may...
N°
57
17 Feb 2011
Gendered Career Expectations of Students Joanna Sikora, Artur Pokropek
This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Its
main focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in high
school. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high...
N°
56
01 Feb 2011
OECD Educationtoday Crisis Survey 2010 Dirk Van Damme, Kiira Karkkainen
The second OECD educationtoday Crisis Survey was carried out in 2010. Twenty-five OECD member countries completed the questionnaire. The results of the survey relies largely on the informed opinion of education officials regarding various aspects of the impact of the economic recession and...
N°
55
07 Jan 2011
Workforce Skills and Innovation Phillip Toner
This paper provides an account of the main approaches, debates and evidence in the literature on the role of workforce skills in the innovation process in developed economies. It draws on multiple sources including the innovation studies discipline, neoclassical Human Capital theory,...
N°
54
22 Nov 2010
Using Student Test Results for Accountability and Improvement Morten Anstorp Rosenkvist
This report discusses the most relevant issues concerning using student test results in OECD
countries. Initially the report provides an overview of how student test results are reported in OECD
countries and how stakeholders in these countries use and perceive of the results. The report then...
N°
53
09 Nov 2010
Taking on the Completion Challenge Cecilia S. Lyche
This paper reviews international research in the field of dropout from upper secondary education and training in OECD countries in order to present possible solutions to policymakers faced with the completion challenge. The paper begins by presenting existing definitions of dropout and upper...
N°
52
21 Oct 2010
Markets in Education Sietske Waslander, Cissy Pater, Maartje van der Weide
In the last three decennia, many governments have introduced market mechanisms in education. They
have done so by enhancing parental choice and encouraging school competition, through policies like
abolishing catchment areas, creating voucher programmes and setting up charter schools. These...
N°
50
01 July 2010
Education, Alcohol Use and Abuse Among Young Adults in Britain Maria del Carmen Huerta, Francesca Borgonovi
In this article we explore the relationship between education and alcohol consumption. We examine
whether the probability of abusing alcohol differs across educational groups. We use data from the British
Cohort Study, a longitudinal study of one week’s birth in Britain in 1970. Measures of...
N°
49
09 June 2011
The Impact of the 1999 Education Reform in Poland OECD
Increasing the share of vocational secondary schooling has been a mainstay of development policy for
decades, especially in formerly socialist countries. However, the transition to market economies led to
significant restructuring of school systems and a decline in the number of vocational...
N°
48
01 July 2010
Initial Teacher Education and Continuing Training Policies in a Comparative Perspective Pauline Musset
To design policies that allow to educate and train teachers, capable of helping students to acquire the competencies needed to evolve in today‘s societies and labour markets is an amazing challenge. In today‘s context, with the undergoing economic and social changes, high-quality schooling is...
N°
47
01 Apr 2010
International Approaches to Teacher Selection and Recruitment Andrew J Hobson, Patricia Ashby, Joanna McIntyre, Angi Malderez
This report presents the findings of our review of the evidence base on comparative practices of teacher selection and recruitment, specifically on the different mechanisms countries use to assess teacher readiness to take up teaching posts, with particular emphasis on testing or examinations.1...
N°
46
31 Mar 2010
Analysis of PISA 2006 Preferred Items Ranking Using the Percent-Correct Method Ray Adams, Alla Berezner, Maciej Jakubowski
This paper uses an approximate average percent-correct methodology to compare the ranks that would
be obtained for PISA 2006 countries if the rankings had been derived from items judged by each country to
be of highest priority for inclusion. The results reported show a remarkable consistency...
N°
45
05 Mar 2010
How Technology Changes Demands for Human Skills Frank Levy
This paper places the competencies to be measured by the OECD’s Programme for the International
Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) in the context of the technological developments which are
reshaping the nature of the workplace and work in the 21st century. The largest technological...
N°
44
04 Mar 2010
1-1 in Education Oscar Valiente
Over the last decade, more and more public and private stakeholders, in developed and developing countries, have been supporting 1:1 initiatives in education (i.e. every child receives her/his own personal computing device). These 1:1 initiatives represent a qualitative move forward from...
N°
43
05 Feb 2010
Summary of the June 2009 educationtoday Crisis Survey Kiira Karkkainen
This paper provides initial reflections on the impact of the economic crisis on education across the OECD area by analysing the OECD educationtoday crisis survey responses of June 2009. It first looks at the impact of the crisis on education demand and participation, after which the focus turns...
N°
42
15 Dec 2009
School Evaluation Violaine Faubert
This paper examines the current academic and policy literatures concerning school evaluation in
primary and secondary education within the OECD countries. First, it provides a typology of the existing
systems of school evaluation across the OECD. It encompasses the diverse criteria and...
N°
41
18 Dec 2009
21st Century Skills and Competences for New Millennium Learners in OECD Countries Katerina Ananiadou, Magdalean Claro
This paper discusses issues related to the teaching and assessment of 21st century skills and competencies in OECD countries drawing on the findings of a questionnaire study and other relevant background material such as white papers or curriculum documents. Although all OECD countries were...
N°
39
10 Dec 2009
Education and Obesity in Four OECD Countries Franco Sassi, Marion Devaux, Jody Church, Michele Cecchini, Francesca Borgonovi
An epidemic of obesity has been developing in virtually all OECD countries over the last 30 years.
Existing evidence provides strong suggestions that such epidemic has affected certain social groups more
than others. In particular, education appears to be associated with a lower likelihood of...
N°
38
20 Nov 2009
ICT in Initial Teacher Training: Research Review Ann-Britt Enochsson, Caroline Rizza
This research review reports on articles presenting empirical research in the area of how teacher-training institutions work on preparing future teachers for the integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in their future classrooms. It was conducted mainly in English and...
N°
36
20 Nov 2009
PIAAC Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments: A Conceptual Framework PIAAC Expert Group in Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environments
Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills
of their adult populations for the purposes of monitoring how well prepared they are for the challenges of
the new information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual...
N°
35
24 Nov 2009
PIAAC Numeracy: A Conceptual Framework PIAAC Numeracy Expert Group
Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills
of their adult populations in order to monitor how well prepared they are to meet the challenges of the new
information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework for...
N°
34
20 Nov 2009
PIAAC Literacy: A Conceptual Framework PIAAC Literacy Expert Group
The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework for the assessment of numeracy developed for the OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC).
N°
33
20 Nov 2009
PIAAC Reading Component: A Conceptual Framework John P. Sabatini, Kelly M. Bruce
Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills
of their adult populations in order to examine how well prepared they are to meet the challenges of the
modern knowledge-based society. The current paper provides a conceptual framework for the...
N°
32
22 Apr 2010
Comparing the Similarities and Differences of PISA 2003 and TIMSS Margaret Wu
This paper makes an in-depth comparison of the PISA (OECD) and TIMSS (IEA) mathematics
assessments conducted in 2003. First, a comparison of survey methodologies is presented, followed by an
examination of the mathematics frameworks in the two studies. The methodologies and the frameworks...
N°
31
10 Feb 2010
Does Reading Proficiency at Age 15 Affect Pathways through Learning and Work Tomasz Gluszynski, Justin Bayard
Over the last decade, Canada has experienced a substantial increase in the number of individuals participating in post-secondary education (PSE). This trend emphasizes the importance of understanding the pathways leading to PSE enrolment and the competencies that are associated with them. This...
N°
30
10 Feb 2010
How Does Academic Ability Affect Educational and Labour Market Pathways in Canada Jorgen Hansen
Using data from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS), this paper provides an up-to-date description
of educational and labour market pathways (or transitions) among Canadian youth. It also estimates the
effect of academic abilities, measured by PISA math and reading scores, on such...
N°
29
10 Feb 2010
Impact of Proficiency on Early Entrants to the Labour Market Torben Drewes
The primary purpose of the report is to explore the impact of PISA reading scores on the early labour market outcomes of young Canadians of the Youth in Transition Survey. This inquiry is complicated by two facts. First, family and school characteristics that are positively correlated with PISA...
N°
28
10 Feb 2010
Les compétences bien sûr, mais pas seulement OECD
Ce rapport examine l’influence des compétences acquises à l’âge de 15 ans sur la participation aux études postsecondaires chez les jeunes Canadiens. Ces compétences sont mesurées par les résultats au test PISA obtenus auprès d’un échantillon d’élèves canadiens de 15 ans en 2000. Le rapport tente de répondre aux questions suivantes :
• Quel est...
N°
26
02 Sep 2009
International Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Surveys in the OECD Region William Thorn
Both within and beyond the OECD region, governments and other stakeholders are increasingly interested
in the assessments of the skills of their adult populations in order to monitor how well prepared they are for
the challenges of the knowledge based society. The current paper provides an...
N°
25
04 Aug 2009
Do Quasi-markets Foster Innovation in Education? Christopher Lubienski
This report seeks to address critical issues such as these by synthesising the evidence on innovations
in more market-driven education systems. The analysis draws on data from over 20 OECD and non-OECD
countries, including both developed nations that seek to move beyond established systems of...
N°
24
16 July 2009
Assessment and Innovation in Education Janet W. Looney
Do some forms of student (and school) assessment hinder the introduction of innovative educational practices and the development of innovation skills in education systems? This report focuses on the impact of high-stake summative assessment on innovation and argues that it is possible to...
