How does PIAAC differ from international student assessments?
• As an international assessment of adult competencies, PIAAC differs from student assessments in several ways. PIAAC assesses a wide range of ages (persons between the ages of 16 and 65) whereas student assessments target a specific age (e.g., 15-year-olds in the case of PISA) or grade (e.g., grade 4 in PIRLS). PIAAC is a household assessment (i.e., an assessment administered in individuals homes), whereas the international student assessments (PIRLS, PISA, and TIMSS) are conducted in schools. The skills that are measured in each assessment also differ based on the goals of the assessment. Both TIMSS and PIRLS are curriculum-based and are designed to assess what students have been taught in school in specific subjects, such as science or mathematics, using multiple-choice and open-ended test questions. In contrast, PIAAC and PISA are “literacy” assessments, designed to measure performance in certain skill areas at a broader level than school curricula. So while TIMSS and PIRLS aim to
