PISA Testing Starts in Nation's Schools
From today through May 4, 15-year-olds at 206 selected schools around the country will be filling out test forms for the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an OECD-organized study conducted worldwide every three years.
The aim of PISA 2012 is to assess whether 15-year-old students have acquired the necessary skills for full participation in society by the end of their compulsory education.
In total, 6,450 Estonian students born in 1996 will take part in the survey, which presents a number of problems set in real-world contexts. Participanting schools were drawn at random from all types of schools providing compulsory education.
This year's PISA will focus specifically on the students' knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences, assessing them through tests they will fill out electronically. In addition, 1,200 randomly-chosen students will have to fill out a separate financial literacy survey.
In total, 67 countries are participating in the survey, with the results to be made public by the end of 2013.
The PISA survey was first conducted in 2000. Estonia began participating in 2006.
Ingrid Teesalu