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The Programme for International Student Assessment: What is PISA 2009?

Sixty-five countries and economies participated in PISA 2009, including all 33 OECD member countries. Between 5,000 and 10,000 students aged 15 from at least 150 schools were typically tested in each country.

With reading being the first of the PISA domains to be reassessed as the major domain, the reading framework developed in 2000 was revisited to account for changes in the domain in the past decade. Much of the substance of the PISA 2000 reading framework was retained in 2009, which allows reporting on trends in performance over time. However, two major modifications in the 2009 framework focus on the incorporation of reading of electronic texts and the elaboration of the constructs of reading engagement and metacognition. In 2009, the assessment of reading of electronic texts was implemented as an international option in which Canada elected not to participate. Therefore, this report presents the Canadian results for the core paper-and-pencil assessment of reading in which Canada, along with the other 65 countries and economies participated. Since the same reading scales are relevant to all PISA participating countries it is appropriate to compare the performance of countries involved in this assessment directly and to report on trends in performance between 2000 and 2009.

As was the case in PISA 2000, PISA 2009 reports results globally and for the three aspects identified in the framework (Accessing and Retrieving, Integrating and Interpreting, and Reflecting and Evaluating). Additionally it reports on two text formats used in PISA (Continuous texts and Non-continuous texts). … Further information is available in the PISA 2009 framework. Although there is a high correlation between these sub-scales, reporting results on each subscale may reveal interesting interactions which could be linked to curriculum and teaching methodology used.

Why did Canada participate in PISA?

Canada's continued participation in PISA 2009 stems from many of the same questions motivating other participating countries. In Canada, provinces and territories responsible for education invest significant public resources in the provision of elementary and secondary education and Canadians are interested in the outcomes of compulsory education provided to their youth. How can expenditures be directed to the achievement of higher levels of knowledge and skills upon which lifelong learning is founded and to potentially reduce social inequality in life outcomes?

Elementary and secondary education systems play a key role in providing students with the knowledge and skills that form an essential foundation necessary to further develop human capital either through participation in the workforce, post-secondary education or lifelong learning. Previous studies based on PISA data have shown the effects of strong skills at age 15 in later life. Youth with strong reading skills were much more likely to have finished high school, pursue post-secondary education and finish it. For example, results from the Youth in Transition Survey (YITS) show that there is a strong association between reading proficiency and education attainment. Canadian students in the bottom quartile of PISA reading scores were much more likely to drop out of secondary school and less likely to have completed a year of post-secondary education than those in the high quartile of reading score. In contrast, Canadian students in the top PISA level (Level 5) of reading performance were twenty times more likely to go to university than those in the lowest PISA level (at or below Level 1).

Questions about educational effectiveness can be partly answered with data on the average performance of Canada's youth in key subject areas. However, two other questions with respect to equity can only be answered by examining the distribution of competencies: Who are the students at the lowest levels? Do certain groups or regions appear to be at greater risk? These are important questions because, among other things, acquisition of knowledge and skills during compulsory schooling influences access to postsecondary education, eventual success in the labour market and the effectiveness of continuous, lifelong learning.