Following the decision of the Ministers for Culture and Education of its federal states, the Federal Republic of Germany is participating in the PISA international school proficiency study (PISA = Programme for International Student Assessment). PISA is part of the INES indicator programs (INES = Indicators of Educational Systems) run by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The programme aims to periodically provide OECD member States with comparative data on the proficiency of their education systems.

PISA is a cyclical study and surveys performances across all school types in the areas of reading comprehension, mathematics and the sciences.

Extensive information about the international PISA Study can be found at: www.pisa.oecd.org.

The data of the first cycle was gathered in May/June 2000. The focal point of this first survey was reading literacy. Mathematical literacy and science literacy were secondary components.

In Germany the age-based sample was extended to include a grade-based sample. In addition to the 15-year-olds, ninth-grade students who were not 15 years old were also tested. In this way, findings were gathered on the proficiency of young people at the end of phase one of secondary education.

In order to better represent the situation in the individual German States, the school sample was extended beyond the stipulated international framework. In Germany close to 1,500 schools took part in PISA 2000.

A second testing day was organised in all schools, during which national tests and questionnaires were used.

In 2003 the second cycle was implemented. On this occasion, the main point of interest was the mathematical literacy of 15-year-olds and ninth-graders.

As in the first cycle, PISA 2003 included a second national test day and in a few selected schools a third test day was added (computer-supported problem solving). The second test day included national proficiency tests with newly developed test exercises and questionnaires.

A national consortium headed by Prof. Dr. Manfred Prenzel of the Leibniz Institute for Science Education (IPN) at the University of Kiel is responsible for the academic management of the 2006 PISA study in Germany

PISA 2006 focused on the scientific knowledge and abilities of 15-year-olds and ninth-graders. Mathematical literacy and reading literacy constituted secondary components of this cycle. The students worked on exercises:

• in the sciences, requiring comprehension of scientific terms, theory and methods;
• in mathematics, requiring the use of mathematical comprehension to solve problems; and
• in reading comprehension, where the aim was to draw information from texts, use it and evaluate it.

In the third cycle, the German consortium also extended the international study through a range of national options. As in the 2000 and 2003 surveys, the 2006 survey included a second test day for all PISA schools. The results of this test day, which was requested by the Conference of Ministers for Culture and Education, were used to produce standardised exercises for developing national education standards for middle school graduation examination in mathematics.

In the fourth PISA cycle the emphasis was again placed on the reading literacy of 15-year-old students. In Germany, the academic management of the 2009 PISA survey was supervised by a national consortium headed by Prof. Dr. Eckhard Klieme of the German Institute for International Educational Research (DIPF) in Frankfurt.

The PISA 2012 study will be conducted in 68 countries around the world. This fifth PISA cycle will focus primarily on assessing the mathematical literacy of 15-year-old school pupils for a second time. However, pupils will also complete reading, natural science, and problem-solving exercises. Some of these exercises will be completed with the assistance of computers.

The responsibility for the project management of PISA 2012 in Germany lies with the recently established Center for International Large Scale Assessment (ZIB) at the Technical University of Munich under the direction of Prof. Dr. Manfred Prenzel.

New test questions and procedures were trialled in a preliminary study (field test) in 2011. The findings of these field tests determined which test questions and procedures were to be used in the PISA 2012 main survey. Particular attention was given to ensuring the comparability of the data collected across the participating states.

The results of the PISA 2012 main survey will allow researchers to asess the impact of the changes initiated in the German education system in the aftermath of PISA 2003 on the performance of school pupils. The conditions under which competencies are acquired will also be the subject of analysis.

PISA Plus is designed as a follow-up study to the main PISA 2012 survey and has the objective of assessing the learning and performance development of students within one school year. It will therefore include the same students that were already selected for the main PISA 2012 survey.

The responsibility for the academic management of PISA Plus lies with the School of Education at TU Munich (TUM) under the direction of Prof. Dr. Manfred Prenzel.

The IEA Data Processing and Research Center is in charge of field operations, all coding, data entry and processing.

Anja Waschk
IEA Data Processing and Research Center
PISA-Studie Deutschland
Mexikoring 37
22297 Hamburg
Germany

Phone: +49 40 48 500 604
Fax: +49 40 48 500 608
Email: pisaiea-dpc.de