Programme for International Student Assessment

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an achievement test given in more than 70 countries and in certain cities and special administrative regions in China such as Hong Kong, Macau, and Shanghai. The assessment is given every 3 years to 15-year-old students; it was given in 2015 and was scheduled to be given again in 2018. The sample of over 500,000 students is randomly selected and then weighted to be equivalent to about 28 million students who are representative of both the country and the students’ school.

The test does not reflect any specific school curriculum, and it goes beyond simple achievement to determine the students’ ability to apply content to authentic situations. The test covers reading, mathematics, and science with an emphasis on ...