2020 Learning Objects

Social Analysis of International Assessments of Student Achievement

Pizmony-Levy, Oren

This graduate seminar provides students with a comprehensive curriculum on international large-scale assessments (ILSAs), including OECD-PISA and IEA-TIMSS. The seminar includes three complementing sections. The first section of the course is focused on the methodology behind global and regional projects. Here, we will discuss limitations and ways to further develop sampling methods, instruments and measurements. The second section is dedicated to the history of international assessments and to conditions that facilitated their emergence and diffusion. The third section is focused on critical analysis of the ways in which scholars, media, and policy makers use data from international assessments. The seminar will consist of short lectures accompanied by class discussions and exercises based on careful reading of the assigned materials. Students are expected to read all the materials identified for the session before each class, participate actively in the discussion, and complete all written assignments.