International Testing Sub-Scale Data Comparisons
American Institutes of Research Meeting June 2012
The AIR American Institutes of Research meeting was held at the AIR center located in Illinois, and included state officials from Departments of Education in all the Midwestern states that comprise the Midwest Consortium. The focus was on the process and progress in implementing Common Core Standards in each state. The INSTEAD International presentation carefully explained the construct of the international testing programs of PIRLS (Gr. 4 Reading), TIMSS (Gr. 4 & 8 Math/Science) and PISA (Age 15 Reading/Math/Science). This presentation includes slides with excellent overview of the testing programs. In addition, there are slides from the Prague presentation that focus on achievement in Math and Science, and a special focus on Gender disparities. The emphasis in the presentation was on developing a higher level awareness of the similarities across sub-score constructs in the international testing programs and the Common Core Standards. A similar balance of sub-score emphasis in Common Core can have the additional advantage of improving education in the U. S. as well as achievement within the larger context of international test scores and rankings. It is more imperative than ever for policy-makers to be aware of the constructs in international testing, as in this age of globalization, education in the U. S. is no longer defined by achievement within, but by our larger profile across international rankings.