Introduction to the International Schools Assessment ISA June

Introduction to the International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) June 2014

Background to the ISA

The ISA is a service of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) ACER’s MISSION About ACER. . . To create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. • independent • not-for-profit • 75 years’ experience • more than 300 staff • offices in Australia (Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide), India (Delhi) and UAE (Dubai)

ACER and international assessment Consortium leader for the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 1998 – 2012 Member of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)

What kind of assessment do international schools need? • One that provides reliable evidence for accountability purposes - international benchmarking - feedback to parents and school boards - accreditation reviews • One that provides useful information on which to base curricular and pedagogical decisions - culturally and pedagogically appropriate material for international school populations - reports that describe what students know and can do

Sources for the ISA • Discussions with international schools - ISA trial testing, feedback from curriculum coordinators and teachers, ISA Reference Group Meetings. . . • Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) - domain frameworks for mathematical literacy, reading literacy and scientific literacy - some common tasks - parallel reporting scale • Assessment design for population testing in Australia and overseas - assessment of children in Grades 3, 5 and 7 - assessment in mathematics (‘numeracy’), reading and writing

Essential Features of the ISA • An assessment of mathematical literacy, reading and writing • For children in international schools at Grades 3 to 10 • Designed on the principle of cultural eclecticism • Mathematical literacy and reading based on the frameworks and scales of OECD PISA

Administration of the ISA • Pencil and paper tests for Mathematical Literacy, Reading and Writing (Grades 3 to 10) • Online assessment of Scientific Literacy (Grades 8 and 10) • Administered by teachers using detailed administration guides • Tasks include multiple-choice, short answer and extended responses • Each test takes 45 minutes to 1 hour (two mornings of testing altogether for pencil and paper tests) - Mathematical literacy (two sessions) - Reading (one session) - Writing (two sessions) -Scientific literacy (one session)

How is the ISA reported?

Features of ISA Reports • A combination of fixed and interactive (MS Excel) reporting services • delivered electronically • for individuals, classes and schools • show progress on a continuum against described proficiency scales • give diagnostic information • allow valid and useful comparisons to be made, for example -with other ‘like’ schools -between cohorts in your school in a given year -between performances of cohorts or individuals over time

Reporting: five standard reports • Individual student report (. pdf) • Class report (. xls &. pdf) • School report (. xls &. pdf) • National comparisons report for Grades 8, 9 &10 only (. pdf) • ISA Interactive diagnostic report (. xlsx) • ISA Interactive tracking report (. xlsx) optional For examples see www. acer. edu. au/tests/isa/sample-reports

National comparisons report Grade 9 compared with national results from PISA 2009 (15 -year-olds)

Detail of National comparisons report Your school’s results National results for PISA participating countries

A profile of ISA Schools

ISA 2013– 14 • Over 70, 000 students • 333 international schools • Number of schools by region: Asia 146 Europe 101 Africa & Middle East 67 Americas 15 Oceania 4

Distribution of ISA participating schools by country 2013– 14

Growth of the ISA, 2002 to 2013– 14

Profile of ISA Schools • School size - modal size 200 -500 students - range from ten schools with fewer than 50 students to one with over 3000 • Over half of schools offer Pre-school to Grade 12 • Only 11 of 333 schools run on southern hemisphere academic calendar • More than one fifth of the schools offer instruction in another language as well as in English

Profile of ISA Schools continued • Curriculum style - Tends to be mixed - More than two thirds use an IB component in their curriculum (178 schools use PYP and/or MYP) - Others predominantly use ‘USA’, then ‘British’ or ‘other national curricula’ or in their description e. g Australian, Indonesian, with or without ‘international’ • More boys than girls in 2013 -14 (between 49% and 55% of each grade level) • At each grade level, almost all students fall within a two-and-a-half year age range

Language Background ISA 2013– 14 English-speaking vs non-English speaking background

For more information Check our website: www. acer. edu. au/isa OR email us: isa@acer. edu. au