The most recent round of the assessment, PISA 2015, focused on 15-year-olds’ science literacy, defined as “the ability to engage with science-related issues, and with the ideas of science, as a reflective citizen”. To succeed on the PISA science test, students had to display their mastery...

In response to growing demand by policy-makers, various measures to assess tax burdens of households, individual firms and the business sector as a whole have been developed. This study reviews some of the most common measures used to gauge tax burdens of households and corporations. In...

This study examines the difficult task of applying income taxation to the life and property and casualty insurance industries. Particularly in the case of life insurance, OECD countries have pursued a variety of methods to try to tax the income arising in insurance companies. This study analyses...

The International Survey of Upper Secondary Schools (ISUSS) was established to determine how successful upper secondary schools are in preparing young adults for life. It investigates key factors which shape the success of upper secondary students' learning. This publication describes the...

This book presents the theory behind the development of the 2009 PISA survey. The re-worked and expanded framework for reading literacy includes not only the assessment of reading and understanding printed texts, but also an innovative component to assess how well students read, navigate and...

This study reports on the latest trends in long-term care policies in nineteen OECD countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United...

Are students well prepared to meet the challenges of the future? Can they analyse, reason and communicate their ideas effectively? Have they found the kinds of interests they can pursue throughout their lives as productive members of the economy and society? The OECD Programme for International...

This report focuses on the development of reading proficiency during the transition from adolescence to early adulthood. The span of time between the ages of 15 and 24 is a critical period of development for young people. Once compulsory education is completed, individual decisions about...

The PISA 2009 Technical Report describes the methodology underlying the PISA 2009 survey. It examines additional features related to the implementation of the project at a level of detail that allows researchers to understand and replicate its analyses. The reader will find a wealth of...

How can countries prepare teachers to face the diverse challenges in today’s schools? The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) helps answer this question by asking teachers and school leaders about their working conditions and the learning environments at their schools....