The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), created in 1997, represents a commitment by the governments of OECD Member Countries to monitor the outcomes of education systems in terms of student achievement, within a common international framework. In 2000, the PISA focused on the assessment of reading literacy. The focus of PISA 2003 is now on mathematical literacy, defined as the capacity of students to identify, understand and engage in mathematics and to make well-founded judgements about the role that mathematics plays in life.
This current manuscript presents the guiding principles of the PISA 2003 assessment, described in terms of the content that students need to acquire, the processes that need to be performed, and the contexts in which knowledge and skills are applied. It also illustrates the assessment domains with a range of sample tasks in mathematics, reading, science, and problem solving.
Warning: This manuscript is 194 pages and may take a while to download. The link we provide will take you to the PISA site where you can download it (scroll down the PISA home page until you see the "The PISA 2003 Assessment Framework - Mathematics, Reading, Science and Problem Solving Knowledge and Skills," title and then click the "Click here to download the report" link).