Westat Logo Image - link to Westat.com home page

International Education and Literacy

Westat has been at the forefront of international student assessment and literacy research since the early 1990s. We conduct many of the leading international education studies, with samples ranging in size from 5,000 to more than 20,000 pupils in public and private schools at both elementary and secondary levels.

All of the studies listed here were sponsored by NCES with Westat being the prime contractor for the U.S. data collection for all except TIMSS 2007.

  • Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007),
  • Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (2000, 2003),
  • Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) (2001),
  • Civics Education Study (CivEd),
  • International Reading Literacy Study, and
  • Adult Literacy and Lifeskills (ALL).
International Health Person Picture Typical samples for these studies range in size from 5,000 to more than 20,000 pupils in public and private schools at both elementary and secondary levels. In each case, Westat and/or subcontractors conduct the data collection, assessment scoring, preliminary data processing, analysis, and reporting.

The data brought in for these studies are staggering. In the current cycle of TIMSS, for example, more than 60 countries are participating, with over half a million students involved.

In each cycle of PISA from 2000 to 2009, Westat has also taken a leading role in the following:

  • Selecting school samples for each country;
  • Preparing the school and student sampling manuals for each cycle;
  • Preparing sample weights for all the school and student samples
  • Adjudicating whether the data from individual countries meet the PISA standards; and
  • Preparing reports on population coverage and response rates, and sections of the project technical report.

 

For more information about the International Research Area, please send us a message.