In low-income countries, there exists a common concern about the effect of hunger and food insecurity on educational outcomes. However, income inequalities, economic slowdown, conflict, and climate change have raised those concerns globally. Yet, little is known about how widespread the problem of hunger in schools is worldwide. This study…

Modern international studies of educational achievement have grown in terms of participating educational systems. Accompanying this development is an increase in heterogeneity, as more and different kinds of educational systems take part. This growth has been particularly pronounced among low-performing, less economically developed systems.…

To answer the calls for stronger evidence by the policy community, educational researchers and their associated organizations increasingly demand more studies that can yield causal inferences. International large scale assessments (ILSAs) have been targeted as a rich data sources for causal research. It is in this context that we take up a…

Over time international large-scale assessments have grown in terms of number of studies, cycles, and participating countries, many of which are a heterogeneous mix of economies, languages, cultures, and geography. This heterogeneity has meaningful consequences for comparably measuring both achievement and non-achievement constructs, such as…

In this article I advocate for a new discussion in the field of international large-scale assessments; one that calls for a reexamination of international large-scale assessments (ILSAs) and their use. Expanding on the high-quality work in this special issue I focus on three inherent limitations to international large-scale assessments noted by…

Are U.S. and, in particular, Hoosier students competitive and ready to succeed in an ever-changing and increasingly global economic landscape? This question is frequently considered by K-12 education stakeholders at all levels, including national, state, and local officials. One of the central ways in which education systems can compare themselves…

The current study uses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 data to investigate international determinants of private school attendance. In particular, we seek to understand whether student achievement and home background factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) or motivational and goal-oriented factors are more predictive…

A recent study in the USA documented the existence and growth of "excellence gaps" among students. These gaps are similar to the minimum competency achievement gaps that proliferate in policy discussions in many Western countries, but excellence gaps focus on the highest level of achievement rather than minimum competency. We extend this…

In addition to collecting achievement data, international large-scale assessment programmes gather auxiliary information from students and schools regarding the context of teaching and learning. In an effort to clarify some of the opacity surrounding international large-scale assessment programmes and the potential problems associated with less…

The paper draws on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007 data for nearly 60 educational systems to explore the characteristics and patterns of school violence across a number of countries and the extent to which measures of violence are associated with achievement in mathematics and science. Using a multi-level…