Results from International Student Assessment Make Headlines

On December 7th, Hager Sharp supported the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) with the release of Highlights from PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context, the latest results of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA).  While U.S. students improved in math and science, their performance was still about average in the international rankings. Media coverage on the day of the release included the front page of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CBS Radio, NPR, Bloomberg News, Education Week, The Associated Press, ABC News, CNN, The Christian Science Monitor, and hits on The Huffington Post and The Drudge Report. The report was also featured that night on NBC Nightly News, ABC World News Tonight, and the PBS NewsHour.

The online New York Times story, focused on Shanghai’s high score, was the most-viewed and most-emailed story for several days running. In the two weeks following the release, there were more than 200 print stories, 800 web and blog stories, and 300 broadcast stories, with coverage in almost all national TV and radio outlets and coverage in all 50 states. New print and web coverage continues to appear daily, and the report has spurred commentary in the opinion sections of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CNN.com, The Hill, The Huffington Post, and other publications.

Hager Sharp worked through Synergy Enterprises, Inc. (SEI) to provide support to NCES for the release, including dissemination of the report and design of the release materials. PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It is a system of international assessments that focuses on 15-year-olds’ capabilities in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. It assesses knowledge and skills developed by students throughout their lives – both in school and out of it – as they near the end of compulsory schooling and is administered once every three years. PISA is designed to inform the country about what our students know and can do at a pivotal time in their education, provide a comparison with other nations, and stimulate the education conversation and inform policy -- objectives well-served by this release.