Schooling Across the Globe
What We Have Learned from 60 Years of Mathematics and Science International Assessments

This research examines 17 international assessments over 60+ years highlighting the critical role that schooling plays around the world.

William H. Schmidt (Author), Richard T. Houang (Author), Leland S. Cogan (Author), Michelle L. Solorio (Author)

9781107170902, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 November 2018

336 pages, 26 b/w illus. 33 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.3 cm, 0.62 kg

'I am mightily impressed with this book and am not surprised given the senior author. I learned a great deal and found the 'story' of the various math assessments fascinating. The authors have done a terrific job of explaining how these assessments came about and most especially what they mean. I am most grateful for the instruction the book provided.' Patricia Albjerg Graham, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education, Emerita, Harvard University, Massachusetts

Schooling matters. The authors' professional pursuits for over twenty-five years have been focused on measuring one key aspect of schooling: the curriculum - what students are expected to study and what they spend their time studying. This documents their conviction that schools and schooling play a vital and defining role in what students know and are able to do with respect to mathematics and science. This research examines seventeen international studies of mathematics and science to provide a nuanced comparative education study. Whilst including multiple measures of students' family and home backgrounds, these studies measure the substance of the curriculum students study which has been shown to have a strong relationship with student performance. Such studies have demonstrated the interrelatedness of student background and curriculum. Student background influences their opportunities to learn and their achievements, yet their schooling can have even greater significance.

Part I. The Historical Development of Modern International Comparative Assessments: 1. Beginning the modern investigation of the role of schooling across the globe
2. The arrival of TIMSS and PISA
Part II. Conducting International Assessments in Mathematics and Science: 3. Who participates in international assessments?
4. What students know: from items to total scaled scores
5. Relating assessment to OTL: domain-sensitive testing
6. The evolution of the concept of opportunity to learn
7. The 1995 TIMSS curriculum analysis and beyond
8. Characterizing student home and family background
Part III. The Lessons Learned from International Assessments of Mathematics and Science: 9. Pitfalls and challenges
10. What has been learned about the role of schooling: the interplay of SES, OTL, and performance
11. Where do we go from here?

Subject Areas: Educational psychology [JNC], Education [JN], Psychological methodology [JMB], Psychology [JM]