PISA is the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment http://www.pisa.oecd.org/. It is an ongoing programme of testing of 15-year-old school students in about 30 OECD countries, and in a number of non-OECD countries.
The objective of the PISA testing is to determine how well students are prepared to meet some of the challenges of their future lives. In particular, levels of Reading literacy, Mathematical and Scientific literacy are assessed using items (http://pisa-sq.acer.edu.au/) that require students to show how effectively they can apply their reading, mathematical and scientific skills and knowledge to solve problems set in real-world contexts. These problems are designed to reflect some of the kinds of thinking, tasks and activities the students might be expected to carry out in their day-to-day lives.
The survey was implemented in 43 countries in the first assessment in 2000, in 41 countries in the second assessment in 2003 and at least 58 countries will participate in the third assessment in 2006.
Tests are typically administered to between 4,500 and 10,000 students in each country.
You can see a proļ¬le of Student Performance Mathematics here:
http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/58/41/33917867.pdf
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