Many socio-economically disadvantaged students excel in PISA. Students who succeed at school despite a disadvantaged background -- resilient students -- are the focus of Against the Odds. The report shows that overcoming barriers to achievement is possible, and provides students, parents, policy...

Volume II of PISA's 2009 results looks at how successful education systems moderate the impact of social background and immigrant status on student and school performance. The volume opens with an introduction to PISA and a Reader's Guide providing information that will help readers understand...

This report uses recent economic modelling to relate cognitive skills – as measured by PISA and other international instruments – to economic growth, demonstrating that relatively small improvements to labour force skills can largely impact the future well-being of a nation. The report also...

Across OECD countries, almost one in every five students does not reach a basic minimum level of skills. In addition, students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are twice as likely to be low performers. Lack of fairness and inclusion can lead to school failure and this means that one...

This publication provides all the information required to understand the PISA 2003 educational performance database and perform analyses in accordance with the complex methodologies used to collect and process the data. It enables researchers to both reproduce the initial results and to...

This publication provides all the information required to understand the PISA 2003 educational performance database and perform analyses in accordance with the complex methodologies used to collect and process the data. It enables researchers to both reproduce the initial results and to...

It’s elementary: students benefit from pre-primary education. The OECD’s PISA 2009 results show that in practically all OECD countries 15-year-old students who had attended some pre-primary school outperformed students who had not. In fact, the difference between students who had attended...

Based on the survey results of OECD's PISA 2000 programme, this report looks at: the extent to which the schools that students attend make a difference in performance; the relative impact of school climate, school policies and school resources on quality and equity; the relationship between the...