Our school recently participated in PISA 2018 (the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment).
The PISA test assesses 15-year-old students very three years to evaluate how well education systems have helped students develop the cumulative skills and knowledge they will need after they finish school.
Key areas of focus are whether students can think like a scientist, reason like a mathematician and distinguish between good and bad arguments in written texts.
PISA identified these competences as foundational for lifelong learning.
Over half a million 15-year-olds from 80 countries and economies took part in PISA 2018, including 6,000 students from 175 schools across New Zealand.
While world statistics and the Ministry of Education’s first reports analysing the New Zealand data for PISA 2018 will be released later this year, earlier PISA results showed a decline in New Zealand’s average scores in science, reading and mathematics between 2009 and 2012. PISA 2015 results were similar to 2012.
ACG Strathallan results for PISA 2018 show scores well above national averages in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy.
Principal Danny O’Connor said Strathallan’s results reinforce the school’s offering of the internationally recognised Cambridge International curriculum.
“The most recent PISA results show a significant improvement in these key areas of knowledge since the last test in 2015. We will continue to emphasise literacy and numeracy in our academic programme as it provides students with crucial knowledge and skills that supports learning in all subject areas.”
