|
(ISA) Acer Test
The International Schools' Assessment (ISA) is a program initiated by the
Australian Council for Educational Research and is designed specifically for
international schools. In the Secondary School the students are assessed in
three areas of learning: Mathematical Literacy, Reading and Writing, using
pencil and paper tests designed for Years 7 through 10.
Students at ISL participated for the first time in 2003. In the results
below, "Other like schools" refers to schools with a similar percentage
of native English speakers to non-native English speakers. "All other
schools" includes all of the schools that participated in the
assessment. In both cases, our results were removed from the data when the
statistics were calculated.
Year 7
2009-2010
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
496
|
71
|
445
|
71
|
483
|
61
|
519
|
40
|
|
Other like schools
|
475
|
79
|
428
|
83
|
489
|
64
|
494
|
56
|
2008-2009
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
484
|
68
|
419
|
66
|
536
|
81
|
559
|
55
|
|
Other like schools
|
474
|
78
|
400
|
84
|
517
|
72
|
511
|
60
|
2007-2008
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
436
|
82
|
388
|
97
|
532
|
66
|
519
|
51
|
|
Other like schools
|
465
|
80
|
412
|
85
|
505
|
69
|
532
|
56
|
2006-2007
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
481
|
76
|
438
|
88
|
548
|
75
|
503
|
55
|
|
Other like schools
|
469
|
80
|
405
|
100
|
512
|
73
|
513
|
62
|
Year 8
2009-2010
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
336
|
68
|
285
|
89
|
346
|
63
|
380
|
36
|
|
Other like schools
|
314
|
79
|
250
|
90
|
355
|
58
|
391
|
48
|
2008-2009
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
519
|
80
|
479
|
89
|
568
|
50
|
555
|
33
|
|
Other like schools
|
506
|
81
|
468
|
87
|
558
|
79
|
543
|
62
|
2007-2008
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
497
|
64
|
459
|
66
|
561
|
60
|
553
|
54
|
|
Other like schools
|
504
|
77
|
445
|
89
|
542
|
72
|
556
|
57
|
2006-2007
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
515
|
83
|
488
|
112
|
565
|
71
|
507
|
60
|
|
Other like schools
|
512
|
85
|
454
|
96
|
544
|
74
|
540
|
59
|
Year 9
2009-2010
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
552
|
70
|
523
|
76
|
562
|
63
|
556
|
51
|
|
Other like schools
|
542
|
76
|
504
|
81
|
551
|
67
|
557
|
57
|
2008-2009
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
578
|
75
|
540
|
85
|
617
|
66
|
591
|
59
|
|
Other like schools
|
554
|
81
|
528
|
77
|
582
|
71
|
569
|
65
|
2007-2008
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
533
|
56
|
501
|
87
|
574
|
75
|
595
|
52
|
|
Other like schools
|
539
|
82
|
505
|
85
|
570
|
67
|
584
|
58
|
2006-2007
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
549
|
89
|
507
|
83
|
602
|
65
|
588
|
59
|
|
Other like schools
|
545
|
80
|
498
|
85
|
574
|
67
|
579
|
64
|
Year 10
2009-2010
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
583
|
66
|
574
|
67
|
587
|
81
|
609
|
41
|
|
Other like schools
|
558
|
72
|
535
|
75
|
570
|
64
|
568
|
62
|
2008-2009
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
584
|
67
|
572
|
74
|
629
|
65
|
616
|
60
|
|
Other like schools
|
553
|
79
|
557
|
79
|
601
|
69
|
593
|
62
|
2007-2008
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
592
|
87
|
575
|
71
|
583
|
60
|
625
|
61
|
|
Other like schools
|
556
|
91
|
549
|
84
|
588
|
74
|
601
|
60
|
2006-2007
|
|
Mathematical
Literacy
|
Reading
|
Writing Task A
|
Writing Task B
|
|
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean
|
SD
|
|
ISL
|
584
|
72
|
555
|
79
|
636
|
68
|
626
|
46
|
|
Other like schools
|
553
|
76
|
534
|
93
|
596
|
69
|
586
|
69
|
A world perspective
The ACER scoring scale is directly correlated to the PISA test designed
for 15 year olds (Year 11). The PISA test has been administered twice
throughout the world in the last four years. It does not contain the writing
element that ACER provides, but does assess mathematical literacy and
reading. The following tables are a comparison of the PISA results (2003)
from countries of interest to our community and the ISL results of 2004.
|
Reading
Results
|
Mathematics
Results
|
|
Country
|
Mean Score
|
|
Year 8
|
546
|
|
Finland
|
543
|
|
Korea
|
534
|
|
Canada
|
528
|
|
Australia
|
525
|
|
Ireland
|
515
|
|
Sweden
|
514
|
|
Netherlands
|
513
|
|
Norway
|
500
|
|
Switzerland
|
499
|
|
Year 6
|
499
|
|
Japan
|
498
|
|
France
|
496
|
|
United States
|
495
|
|
Denmark
|
492
|
|
Austria
|
491
|
|
Germany
|
491
|
|
Portugal
|
478
|
|
Italy
|
476
|
|
|
Country
|
Mean Score
|
|
Year 8
|
611
|
|
Japan
|
553
|
|
Switzerland
|
540
|
|
Korea
|
552
|
|
Finland
|
539
|
|
Netherlands
|
526
|
|
Australia
|
521
|
|
Canada
|
518
|
|
Austria
|
515
|
|
Denmark
|
512
|
|
France
|
508
|
|
Germany
|
500
|
|
Sweden
|
498
|
|
Year 6
|
498
|
|
Norway
|
483
|
|
Ireland
|
476
|
|
United States
|
472
|
|
Italy
|
470
|
|
Portugal
|
450
|
|
While flattering, it should be noted that the PISA test was administered
to whole populations, rather than to a small compressed socio-economic group
of students in an international school.
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