PISA 2009: Our 21st century learners at age 15 Publications
Publication Details
This report provides a high level picture of New Zealand’s 15-year-old performance in reading literacy (main focus), mathematical literacy and scientific literacy. It compares New Zealand’s results with other top- and high-performing countries. In July and August 2009 4,643 New Zealand 15 year-old students from 163 New Zealand schools took part in PISA 2009.
Author(s): Maree Telford with Steve May [Ministry of Education]
Date Published: December 2010
Further information
More detailed information is available in the OECD PISA 2009 international reports (five volumes). These reports can be accessed from PISA Information on Education Counts. An interactive data selection facility which allows selected analyses of international contextual information to student performance is also available from this site, along with the international versions of the student, school and parent questionnaires.
PISA will be administered in New Zealand again in 2012 during July and August. The PISA 2012 results will be published by the OECD in December 2013.
Definitions and technical notes45
Reading Literacy: | An individual’s ability to understand, use, reflect on and engage with written texts, in order to achieve one’s goals, to develop one’s knowledge and potential, and to participate in society. |
---|---|
Mathematical Literacy: | An individual’s capacity to identify and understand the role that mathematics plays in the world, to make well-founded judgements, and to use and engage with mathematics in ways that meet the needs of that individual’s life as a constructive, concerned and reflective citizen. |
Scientific Literacy: | An individual’s scientific knowledge and use of that knowledge to identify questions to acquire new knowledge, to explain scientific phenomena, and to draw evidence-based conclusions about science-related issues, understanding of the characteristic features of science as a form of human knowledge and enquiry, awareness of how science and technology shape our material, intellectual, and cultural environments, and willingness to engage in science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen. |
Technical Notes
Mean
Student performances in PISA are reported using means, which is a type of average, for groupings of students. In general, the mean of a set of scores is the sum of the scores divided by the number of scores, and is often referred to as ‘the average’. Note that for PISA, as with other large-scale studies, the means for a country are adjusted slightly (in technical terms ‘weighted’) to reflect the total population of 15-yearolds rather than just the sample. Throughout this report, where appropriate, mean scores presented within the text usually appear in parentheses.
OECD mean or average
The OECD mean, sometimes referred to as the OECD average, includes only the OECD countries –non-OECD (partner) countries are not included in this average. The OECD mean is the average of the means for the OECD countries. An OECD mean score of 500 points was constructed for reading literacy overall in PISA 2000, with about two-thirds of students across OECD countries scoring between 400 and 600 points. The reading literacy scale used for PISA 2009 is the same as PISA 2000; the lower PISA 2009 OECD mean (493) reflects the inclusion of new countries to the OECD as well as any changes in student performance over the nine years.
Percentile
The percentages of students performing below or above particular points on the scale can be used to describe the range of achievement. The lowest reported achievement is the 5th percentile – the score at which only 5 percent of students achieved a lower score − and 95 percent achieved a higher score. The highest reported achievement is the 95th percentile – the score at which only 5 percent of students achieved a higher score and 95 percent a lower score; thus 90 percent of the 15-year-old student scores lie between the 5th and 95th percentiles. The difference between the 5th and 95th percentiles provides a measure of the spread of scores.
Proficiency levels
PISA developed proficiency levels to describe the range in literacy across 15-year-old students. The proficiency levels describe the competencies of students achieving at that level and are anchored at certain score points on the achievement scale. Note that students were considered to be proficient at a particular level if, on the basis of their overall performance, they could be expected to answer at least half of the items in that level correctly. Typically, students who were proficient at higher levels had also demonstrated their abilities and knowledge at lower levels. The score points defining the proficiency levels and characteristics of tasks for each of the proficiency levels are provided in this report.
Statistically significant
In order to determine whether a difference between two means is actual, it is usual to undertake tests of significance. These tests take into account the means and the error associated with them. If a result is reported as not being statistically significant, then although the means might be slightly different, we do not have sufficient evidence to infer that they are different. All tests of statistical significance referred to in this report are at the 95 percent confidence level.
Footnote
- For further information on the PISA assessment instruments and the methods used in PISA, see the PISA 2009 Technical Report (OECD, forthcoming) and the OECD PISA website.
Navigation
Where to find out more
Contact Us
Education Data Requests
If you have any questions about education data then please contact us at:
Email:
Requests Data and Insights
Phone:
+64 4 463 8065