Alternative models for analysing and representing countries’ performance in PISA
Peter Mortimore
This independent report has been commissioned by Education International. Its purpose is to raise questions about the current form and focus of PISA and, where possible, to suggest how these might be improved.
It is recognised that PISA offers a great deal of information to all those involved with schooling and school systems. It provides a treasure trove of valid and reliable data.
At the same time, PISA also suffers some limitations: it assesses a very limited amount of what is taught in schools; it can adopt only a cross-sectional design; it ignores the role and contribution of teachers; and the way its results are presented – in some, at least, of its tables – encourages a superficial, „league table‟ reading of what should be a more interesting but essentially more complex picture.
