The TIMSS science assessment also includes a
cognitive dimension that is broken into three
categories: knowing, applying, and reasoning.
“Knowing” tests a student’s ability to recall and
work with provided facts. “Evaluating” involves
using knowledge to develop explanations and
solve problems. With “reasoning”, students
draw upon provided data to analyze, synthe-
size, and generalize. 14
er-scoring countries can imitate the educational
strategies that may have led to the success of
higher-ranking countries. 17
However, many policy makers caution against
drawing the sweeping conclusion that the
highest scoring countries have superior edu-
cational systems. Many factors can contribute
to a student population’s testing performance.
Some highly important factors, such as cultural
Assessing Reading
attitudes toward education or different levels
of family academic resources, are outside the
In addition to TIMSS, the IEA also conducts realm of educational systems. 18
the Progress in International Reading Literacy
Study (PIRLS) to assess the reading knowledge Although international assessments help de-
of fourth grade students. This assessment has termine how well students perform on tests,
been offered since 2001 and is administered assessments and tests, by their very nature,
every five years, with the last cycle taking place cannot consider social, cultural, and economic
in 2016. The last two cycles included PIRLS Lit- differences. There is no one-size-fits-all when
eracy, a less difficult version of PIRLS designed it comes to education. For example, although
for countries where fourth graders are still de- many Asian countries consistently rank in the
veloping fundamental reading skills. In 2016, an top five or ten positions in these global assess-
online reading assessment called ePIRLS was ments, applying learning strategies common in
included for the first time. 15
Asian educational systems to Western schools is
unlikely to succeed. For instance, the rote-learn-
PIRLS seeks to assess two broad categories of ing approach common in Asian schools appears
reading that are common to the typical fourth to successfully produce high test scores in those
grade student. These include reading for a lit- countries. But this practice is incompatible with
erary experience (for interest or pleasure) and Western cultures that place more value in cre-
reading texts to acquire and use information. ative thinking and an entrepreneurial spirit. A
Both categories test reading comprehension, better use of international assessments would
or how well young readers can retrieve infor- be for educators to use the survey results as an
mation and make inferences from the provided opportunity to reflect on their own practices. 19
passages. Students are also assessed on their
ability to interpret, evaluate, and critique vari- Despite the criticisms leveled against the var-
ous ideas and information. The questions pro- ious international educational assessments,
vide reading passages followed by either multi- these surveys provide valuable and extensive
ple-choice questions or open-ended questions data on educational systems worldwide. Be-
requiring written answers. 16
cause they are administered periodically over
time, assessments also provide opportunities
What Can Be Learned from International
to study trends at both the international level
Assessments
and within individual countries. Interest and
support for PISA, TIMSS, and PIRLS remains
The international community uses these three high globally, so we can expect to see these as-
assessments to provide insights into which fea- sessments at the center of policy debates
tures of the various educational systems result
in higher performing students. The aim of in-
ternational assessments is to raise the level of
education across the globe. By creating a rank-
ing system of overall educational “success”, low-
48
SPRING 2017
Ranking Educational Systems Across the Globe
Singapore:
The Leading Country in Global Education
Reference:
”International Surveys PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS.” Cambridge International Examinations, Education Brief 7, November 2015.
http://www.cie.org.uk/images/271193-international-surveys-pisa-timss-pirls.pdf.
1
OECD (2016)