Dr. Tracey Burns is a Senior Analyst in the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation. She heads a portfolio of projects including Innovative Teaching for Effective Learning, 21st Century Children and Trends Shaping Education. Until recently she was also responsible for the OECD work on Governing Complex Education systems. Previous to…

A multistage adaptive testing (MST) design was implemented for the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) starting in 2012 for about 40 countries and has been implemented for the 2018 cycle of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for more than 80 countries. Using examples from PISA and PIAAC,…

Solving non-routine problems is a key competence in a world full of changes, uncertainty and surprise where we strive to achieve so many ambitious goals. But the world is also full of solutions because of the extraordinary competences of humans who search for and find them. We must explore the world around us in a thoughtful way, acquire knowledge…

This paper briefly discusses four measurement challenges of data science or "big data" in educational assessments that are enabled by technology: 1. Dealing with change over time via time-based data. 2. How a digital performance space's relationships interact with learner actions, communications and products. 3. How layers of…

Are there computers in the classroom? Does it matter? "Students, Computers and Learning: Making the Connection" examines how students' access to and use of information and communication technology (ICT) devices has evolved in recent years, and explores how education systems and schools are integrating ICT into students' learning…

Developed jointly by OECD member countries through the OECD's Directorate for Education, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) aims to measure how far students approaching the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills essential for full participation in the knowledge society. The assessment is…

The original data strategy on which PISA was based suggested that, after the completion of the first three assessments in 2000, 2003 and 2006, the cycle would repeat itself with three-yearly assessments in the areas of reading, mathematics and science. However, in light of newly emerging policy priorities and the experience gained with PISA so…

Selecting elite students out of a huge collective is a difficult task. The main problem is to provide automated processes to reduce human work. ECMS (Educational Contest Management System) is an online tool approach to help--fully or partly automated--with the task of selecting such elite students out of a mass of candidates. International tests…