Released Assessment Questions

A variety of resources have been created by NCES to make PISA information available to schools in a ready-to-use form.

Using Concepts and Items from PISA in the Classroom

• Reading Concepts and Reading Items part 1 (922 KB)
• Reading Concepts and Reading Items part 2 (633 KB)
• Mathematics Concepts and Mathematics Items (643 KB)
• Science Concepts and Science Items (479 KB)
• Reading Items part 1 (834 KB)
• Reading Items part 2 (734 KB)
• Mathematics Items (562 KB)
• Science Items (530 KB)

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The Reading Concepts and Reading Items documents contain 45 released reading items from the PISA 2000 assessment, the Mathematics Concepts and Mathematics Items book contains 11 mathematics items, and the Science Concepts and Science Items book contains 8 released science items. Every item is accompanied by a scoring guide to provide assistance in scoring written responses, as well as international results that indicate the percent of students in each country who answered the question correctly. In addition, an excerpt from the PISA curriculum framework is included at the back of each volume.

The separate Reading Items, Mathematics Items, and Science Items documents contain the same assessment items as in the other three books described above, but in a ready to use format. Each item is presented on a separate page without the scoring guide and percent correct indicated for each country, making them ready for photocopying.

There are a number of ways you can use these resources. Examples include:

• To inform discussions about your schools' reading, mathematics and science curriculum;
• To explore the links between concepts you teach and ways to measure students understanding;
• To design your own assessment according to your needs; and
• To reflect on the performance of your students in comparison to the performance of students in other countries, including the United States.

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