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Purpose Since the publication of its first results in 2000, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) implemented by the OECD has repeatedly been the subject of heated debate. In late 2014 controversy flared up anew, with the most severe critics going so far as to call for a halt to the programme. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the methodological design of PISA and the ideological basis of scientific and policy arguments invoked for and against it. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine the soundness of the survey methodology and identify the conflicting interpretations and values fuelling the debate. Findings The authors find that while PISA has promoted the focus on the important subject of children's education worldwide there are legitimate concerns about what PISA measures, and how. The authors conclude that the OECD should be more transparent in the documentation of the methodological choices that underlie the creation of the data and more explicit about the impact of these choices on the results. More broadly, the authors advise caution in the attempt to derive and apply evidence-based policy in the domain of education; the authors furthermore propose an alternative model of social inquiry that is sensitive and robust to the concerns of the various actors and stakeholders that may be involved in a given policy domain. Originality/value The issues and tensions surrounding the PISA survey can be better understood in the framework of post-normal science (PNS), the application of which to the PISA controversy offers a potential solution to a stalemate.

This study investigates how reading achievement relates to student and school characteristics in countries with different reading scores at the fourth grade level. Data comes from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2011 for Denmark, Sweden, and France and the multilevel analysis includes two levels: student/home and schools. The school effectiveness and the home literacy models informed the selection of the independent variables. Results show that students' early literacy skills, home literacy practices and resources, and reading behavior are associated with reading scores in all countries. Furthermore, across different countries there are student/home universals and school particulars that explain variation in reading achievement. Educational policies should address home and school literacy skills and practices, school climate, and school composition to improve students' reading ability.

Abstract:Research on media and information literacy has been growing exponentially over the past years, but it has focused more on the examination of media practices than on the assessment of media and information literacy skills. In this paper we describe the process of designing and implementing a Media and Information Literacy Test comprising 20 items. We present the results of the analysis carried out to validate the items and to construct a scale of media and information literacy skills using Item Response Theory (IRT). Findings indicate that the conceptual framework adopted is adequate to measure media and information literacy and that the test has good discrimination and difficulty parameters. The test is based on a more comprehensive framework used to assess media and information literacy skills than those used in previous studies and can be used on an item-by-item basis. In this sense, it is a novel contribution to current efforts to measure media and information literacy skills.

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The relevance of reading prosody on reading comprehension has been theoretically proposed and empirically recognised. The present study aimed to investigate longitudinal and concurrent relationships between reading prosody and reading comprehension processes, beyond decoding and word reading efficiency. Two cohorts of Portuguese children, ranging different grade levels (grades 2 to 3 and 4 to 5), were tested. Reading prosody was assessed through a rating scale, and text reading comprehension and context fluency effect were used to measure effortful and effortless reading comprehension processes, respectively. Results showed no bidirectional longitudinal effects between reading prosody and reading comprehension processes. In contrast, they revealed a concurrent contribution of reading prosody to the measure that mainly captures the effortless processes of reading comprehension from grades 2 to 5 but not for effortful ones. Results also highlighted the key role of decoding and word reading efficiency in the relationship between reading prosody and reading comprehension. Highlights What is already known about this topic• Prosody is an important component of oral reading fluency.• Decoding is crucial for reading prosody and reading comprehension.• Reading prosody is associated with reading comprehension. What this paper adds• The relation between reading prosody and reading comprehension may depend on grade level and may vary according to orthographic depth.