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<p>The object of study is the international knowledge assessments and attention is given to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). As a way to explain the content in the international knowledge assessments an historical exposition about the IEA and OECD is written. International knowledge assessment is studied in relation to the national and international perspective, but also in relation to educational governing. By doing this concepts of globalisation and internationalisation are discussed as communication patterns. It is then possible to understand organisations like the IEA and OECD as institutionalised communication channels. If this is done it is possible to discuss globalisation and internationalisation as something else than an inevitable endpoint. </p><p>Through institutionalised communication channels international knowledge assessments appear in national contexts and some observations can be made. The first one is that international knowledge assessments reformulate relationships. In this the educational actors on national levels are observed. These actors are involved in a struggle for power over definition in what should be seen as educational problems and solutions. In this the actors and the educational system they represent tries to strive and communicate modernity, strong international competitiveness and development. Secondly the actors when reformulating the international ideologies into national contexts transform extern priorities to internal priorities. Thirdly an international ideology might be understood as isomorphic ideology. When the isomorphic ideology impacts national contexts it has to be mediated. The mediation is driven by the fact that it is constituted by the national context, but also by the different roles the actors take or are given. The notion about isomorphic ideology is investigated more properly in Appendix I, in relation to UNESCO, and it is declared that international cooperations are part of nations urge to make their educational institutions more effective. In relation to the conclusion from Appendix I international knowledge assessments are interpreted as a technological/instrumental method for making the production process more effective.</p><p>When the international knowledge assessments come down in national contexts some empirical reactions can be discussed. This is analysed from examples taken from the Swedish context, but these results are also in relation to the contexts in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. In the study examples are given on how international knowledge assessments are given meaning by political, administrative and media actors. It is primarily three results that can be uplifted. International knowledge assessments are used as an arena for communication in which arguments can be fetched and discussions can be made. International knowledge assessments are also used as present point descriptions, and point of departure for descriptions of educational vision of the future. And finally they are used for legitimising or repudiating politics of education.</p>

Lästester genomförda av IEA, PIRLS och PISA, både inom Europa och i världen, har visat att eleverna i Sverige genom åren har uppnått allt sämre resultat på lästester. Att kunna läsa är något som är nödvändigt för att kunna fungera i vårt samhälle, både i skolan, senare i yrkeslivet och i privatlivet. Examensarbetets övergripande syfte är att undersöka vilka faktorer i skolan som kan ha del i den sjunkande läs- och skrivförmågan hos eleverna. Examensarbetet förtydligar begreppet literacy närmare och redogör för de faktorer som vi, genom en avgränsad sökning, funnit kan ha påverkan på elevernas studieresultat. Då läroplanen är det dokument som skolan ska förhålla sig till, finns det i examensarbetet en jämförelse om vad som skrivs om undervisning och ämnet svenska mellan Lgr 80, Lpo 94 och Lgr 11. Metoden som används i denna uppsats är kvalitativ intervju. I studien deltog tre lärare som arbetat i ca 15 år inom läs- och skrivundervisning.   Resultaten i examensarbetet har visat att majoriteten av de intervjuade lärarna anser att elevernas läskunnighet blivit bättre, snarare än sämre, vilket är vad de internationella undersökningarna visat. Resultaten visar också att läs- och skrivundervisningen har förändrats till att mer fokus läggs på innehåll än form, jämfört med tidigare. Enligt de intervjuade lärarna är det viktigt att både lärare och föräldrar har en positiv attityd till läsning, för att även eleverna ska få en positiv attityd.

Tarptautinis švietimo tyrimas PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) tiria penkiolikmečių mokinių skaitymo gebėjimus, matematinį ir gamtamokslį raštingumą. Taip pat tyrimo metu renka informaciją apie mokinį, jo pomegius, informacinius ir komunikacinių technologijų išmanymą ir naudojimą, namų aplinką, mokyklą kurioje jis mokosi ir pan. Informacija surinkta tyrimo metu yra vertinga švietimo tyrėjams, sprendimų priėmėjams, švietimiečiams ir pan. Šio darbo tikslas – taikant hierarchinė regresiją rasti mokinių matematinio raštingumo rezultatų prikausomybę nuo mokymo(si) aplinkos veiksnių. Kadangi mokiniai yra pirmojo lygmens objektai, o mokyklos – antrojo lygmens, todėl analizuojant duomenis reikia atsižvelgti į duomenų hierarchiškumą. Besąlyginio hierarchinio modelio analizė atskleidė, kad 32 % Lietuvos penkiolikmečių matematinio raštingumo rezultatų skirtumų lemia mokyklos. Taikant hierarchinį tiesinį modeliavimą, sudarytas geriausias hierarchinis tiesinis modelis su atitinkamais kintamaisiais bei užrašyta lygtis, kuri gali būti naudojama Lietuvos penkiolikmečių matematinio raštingumo rezultatų prognozavimui. / International education survey PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) examine 15-yers-old reading, mathematical and science literacy. A lot of information about student‘s, theirs hobbies, knowledge and use of information and comunication technology, home and school environment and etc. is collected during PISA survey. The collected information is valuable source of information for researchers, policy makers, educators and ect. The main purpose of this work, “Analysis of Lithuanian Students Literacy Using International Survey PISA 2009 Data“, is using hierarchical regression to find the students' mathematical literacy dependency of training and learning environment factors. The students are first-level objects and schools - at the second level, so data analysis should take into account the data hierarchy. Unconditional hierarchical model analysis revealed that 32 % of Lithuanian 15-years-old students’ mathematical literacy outcomes determined by the school. Best hierarchical linear model with relevant variables was done using hierarchical linear modelling. Also a prognostic equation of Lithuaninan 15-years-old students matematic literacy was created.

This thesis answers the question of whether and to what extent the goals of PISA align with the Manitoba Government’s goals and priority action areas, and whether the published results of PISA 2012 provide information that addresses the Manitoba Government’s education goals and priority action areas, within the context of mathematics. This thesis provides a qualitative analysis of three PISA 2012 documents, and explores and compares Manitoba PISA 2012 achievement data to Manitoba grade 9 mathematics credit achievement data for English and Français program students, EAL and Aboriginal students to determine whether and to what extent the goals of PISA align with the goals and priority action areas of Manitoba Education and Training, and whether the published results of PISA 2012 provide information addressing the goals and priority action areas of Manitoba Education and Training, within the context of mathematics. / February 2017

The aim of the thesis is to compare current approaches to the development of reading skills at the primary school level in Czech Republic and Norway. In the thesis are staked out the terms of reading (čtenářství) and reading literacy. Further there is comparison of the PIRLS research results and marginally the PISA-reading literacy part results. The topic is implanted in the context of the school reform in Czech Republic and Norway. The thesis includes a brief characterization of Norwegian school system. The foundation of this thesis is that the current level of reading literacy in Norwegian schools is similar to the Czech ones. The thesis gives answers to questions: Which approaches uses the Norwegian and Czech school system to develop reading skills of the pupils. Do this approaches react on the reading skill's level of the pupils? Are these approaches functional? Is it possible to apply some of the Norwegian approaches in the Czech environment? There are used methods of analysis of the materials, observation and interviews in this work. The main conclusion of this thesis is that the biggest benefit of Norwegian school system is it's unity, orderliness and presence of vision which are the missing factors in Czech school system.

Sweden has been through an educational crisis lately. The declining performance in the TheProgramme for International Student Assessment (PISA), has been the subject of mediaheadlines for several years. Sweden ranks among the wealthiest countries in the world with agenerously welfare model that provide its citizens with free, quality education. Sweden scoressignificantly lower in contrast to Finland a comparable, nearby country in Scandinavia.Sweden has a top educational system but despite this, 15-year-old students barely score on theOECD-average while Finland with its similar school system is a top performer in PISA. Whatare the factors behind Finland’s success and Sweden’s failure? The aim of this study is to seeka deeper understanding of student factors that influence the PISA-results in both countries.This study is based on large-scale assessment data from PISA 2015. The R software and the‘intsvy’ package are used for creating multiple regression analysis with the intention toexplore how various student related variables are linked to the PISA score in science for bothcountries. Furthermore, this study is constructed with a complex sample design, based on thesample used by PISA. This paper concludes several student factors that affect Sweden andFinland’s performances in PISA, for instance socioeconomic background, immigration status,motivational factors and student attendance have an impact on student’s rate in PISA. Acomparison between Finland and Sweden regarding those factors were conducted and thereview showed a difference in the student’s motivation and attendance between Swedish andFinnish students affecting the PISA-result of the two countries.

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att undersöka vad forskningen säger om vilken slags läsning som testas i de nationella proven och PISA, svenska elevers resultatutveckling i PISA över tid, samt att redogöra för undervisningsmetoder för läsförståelse. Resultaten visar att de läsarter som prövas i de bägge proven är relativt lika, men att vissa läsarter får olika stort utrymme i de olika proven. Svenska elevers läsförståelse utifrån PISA visar sig ha försämrats över tid. Gällande undervisningsmetoderna redogörs det för två olika metoder där störst fokus har lagts på litteratursamtalet.

Syftet med undersökningen är att ta reda på hur en kommun arbetar med läs- och skrivutveckling i grundskolan. Vilka är riktlinjerna för ett gemensamt arbete och hur arbetar skolan för att höja elevernas förmåga. Undersökningen är av kvalitativ data och använder semistrukturerade intervjuer för att kunna återge informanternas tankar om läs- och skrivinlärning. Intervjupersonerna var lärare, specialpedagoger och en språk-, läs- och skrivutvecklare i kommunen. Kommunens arbete i frågan är omfattande även om resultatet för elevgruppen på läs- och skrivförståelsetester har sjunkit. Kommunens arbete har på många plan precis påbörjats när det handlar om att arbeta fram språkplaner för åk F-3, åk 4-6 och åk 7-9 samt ett arbetsdokument med rutiner för hur arbetet med läs- och skrivsvårigheter ska gå till. Det är upp till varje skola att arbeta utifrån de kommungemensamma arbetsdokumentens bestämda planer och rutiner. Det som kom fram i undersökningen var att arbetsgången, vem som gör vad i arbetet med elevernas läs- och skrivutveckling inte är helt fastställt utan ett pågående arbete. Elevernas läs- och skrivutveckling behöver bli en helhet, då det i intervjuerna togs upp att progressionen i grundskolans arbete med läs- och skrivutveckling behöver förbättras. Det behöver finnas ett samarbete mellan de olika årskurserna i grundskolan. / The purpose of the survey is to find out how a municipality works with reading and writing development in primary school. What are the guidelines for a joint work and how does the school work to increase the students’ ability? The survey is based on qualitative data and uses semi-structured interviews to reflect the informants’ thoughts on reading and writing learning. The interviewees were teachers, special educators and a language-, reading and writing developer in the municipality. The municipality’s work on this issue is extensive, although the result for the student group on reading and writing comprehension tests has dropped. The municipality’s work has just begun on many levels when it comes to developing language plans for preschool - year 3, year 4-6 and year 7-9 as well as a working document with routines for how the work with reading and writing difficulties should proceed. Based on the municipal working documents, it is up to each school to work on the specific plans and routines. What emerged in the survey was that the workflow, who does what in the work with the students' reading and writing development, is not fully established but it is an ongoing work. The students’ reading and writing development needs to become a whole, as it was mentioned in the interviews the progression in the compulsory school’s work with reading and writing development needs to be improved. There is a need for cooperation between the different grades in primary school.

In 2007, the Student Equity and Talent Management Unit (SETMU) at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) initiated a programme called the Targeting Talent Programme (TTP). One of the objectives of the TTP is to equip students to be successful at university. The first cohort of students consisted of 270 talented Grade 9 students from disadvantaged rural and urban schools. They were identified at the end of 2006, and they attended enrichment sessions at the University during 2007, 2008 and 2009. Thirty seven of the students enrolled for Engineering at Wits in 2010. They were given no further assistance by the TTP. The TTP based the planning of its curriculum on the Competencies identified by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The primary aim of the PISA assessment is to determine the extent to which young people have acquired the wider knowledge and skills in reading, mathematical and scientific literacy that they will need in adult life, hence the TTP attempted to incorporate the PISA Competencies in their curriculum in order to equip students for tertiary education. Habits of Mind identified by Cuoco and others were also used in planning the TTP curriculum in order to equip students with thinking skills. The TTP was successful in helping students to achieve university entrance, but there is a need to investigate to what extent the three year intervention program enables the students to succeed at university. This report focuses on the 37 students who enrolled for Engineering at Wits in 2010. They are compared to a sample of 37 students from the 2010 cohort who did not attend the TTP. The sample of non-TTP students was chosen by matching the National Senior Certificate Mathematics and Science marks obtained by the ex-TTP students as closely as possible. Thus two samples with an almost identical initial academic profile were created. One of the differences between the samples is that the ex-TTP students had had input which was aimed at equipping them to attain university entrance and to succeed there, whereas the other students had had no such formal assistance. The ex-TTP students were also compared with the cohort as a whole. This report shows that 16 of the 37 students (43%) passed the Mathematics, Mechanics and Physics courses that they were enrolled for. It also shows that the ex-TTP students scored lower on average than the non-TTP students and the cohort, for the Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics courses that they were enrolled for. Interviews with 9 of the ex-TTP students show that they did not consciously transfer study techniques from the TTP to university. The TTP was thus only partially successful in its objective of enabling students to be successful at university.