Has Peak PISA passed? An investigation of interest in International Large-Scale Assessments across countries and over time

Abstract

International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have had significant impact on education policy across the globe. But has interest in ILSAs now started to wane? This paper presents new evidence on this issue, exploring how the amount of attention three major ILSAs receive compares across countries, between studies and over time. Using information on Google searches made for ILSAs over time, we illustrate how results from TIMSS and PIRLS results receive significantly less attention than those from PISA. Globally, interest in ILSAs seems to have peaked in 2012 and has been on the decline since. There is however substantial cross-country variation, with increasing interest in some countries over the last decade (e.g. Sweden, Turkey) offsetting some of the fall in others (e.g. Japan, German). Moreover, while changes in scores seem to be related to the attention that ILSAs receive, other factors – including their current position in political and policy narratives – are also likely at play.