Methodological Advances in Cross-National Surveys of Educational Achievement

by Porter, Andrew C.; Gamoran, Adam; National Research Council (U. S.) Board on International Comparative Studies in Education; National Research Council (U. S.) Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

• ISBN13: 9780309083331
• ISBN10: 0309083338
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780309169813
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-01
• Publisher: Natl Academy Pr
• More Book Details
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Summary

In November 2000, the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) held a symposium to draw on the wealth of experience gathered over a four-decade period, to evaluate improvement in the quality of the methodologies used in international studies, and to identify the most pressing methodological issues that remain to be solved. Since 1960, the United States has participated in 15 largescale cross-national education surveys. The most assessed subjects have been science and mathematics through reading comprehension, geography, nonverbal reasoning, literature, French, English as a foreign language, civic education, history, computers in education, primary education, and second-language acquisition. The papers prepared for this symposium and discussions of those papers make up the volume, representing the most up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of methodological strengths and weaknesses of international comparative studies of student achievement. These papers answer the following questions: (1) What is the methodological quality of the most recent international surveys of student achievement? How authoritative are the results? (2) Has the methodological quality of international achievement studies improved over the past 40 years? and (3) What are promising opportunities for future improvement?

Table of Contents

Introduction
Progress and Challenges for Large-Scale Studies	3	(24)
Andrew C. Porter
Adam Gamoran
PART I: STUDY DESIGN
The Measurement of Student Achievement in International Studies	27	(31)
Robert L. Linn
Adapting Achievement Tests into Multiple Languages for International Assessments	58	(22)
Ronald K. Hambleton
Sampling Issues in Design, Conduct, and Interpretation of International Comparative Studies of School Achievement	80	(37)
James R. Chromy
PART II: CULTURE AND CONTEXT
Cultural-Cognitive Issues in Academic Achievement: New Directions for Cross-National Research	117	(33)
Janine Bempechat
Norma V. Jimenez
Beth A. Boulay
Measuring Family Background in International Studies of Education: Conceptual Issues and Methodological Challenges	150	(48)
Claudia Buchmann
Advancements in Conceptualizing and Analyzing Cultural Effects in Cross-National Studies of Educational Achievement	198	(33)
Gerald K. LeTendre
PART III: MAKING INFERENCES
The Measurement of Opportunity to Learn	231	(36)
Robert E. Floden
Statistical Issues in Analysis of International Comparisons of Educational Achievement	267	(28)
Stephen W. Raudenbush
Ji-Soo Kim
Drawing Inferences for National Policy from Large-Scale Cross-National Education Surveys	295	(26)
Marshall S. Smith
CONCLUSION
Large-Scale, Cross-National Surveys of Educational Achievement: Promises, Pitfalls, and Possibilities	321	(42)
Brian Rowan
APPENDIXES
A Symposium Agenda and Participants	353	(5)
B Biographical Sketches of Board Members	358	(5)
Index	363