Pisa and Pirls The Effects of Culture and School Environment

International comparative studies of student achievement have caught the attention of governments, policy-makers, school leaders and educational researchers globally. They have become benchmarks of education for countries in the world and provide a broad perspective for countries to evaluate their education achievement. However, culture and school environment are two critical factors affecting educational achievement that deserve careful consideration and re-interpretation. This book brings light to these conceptual and methodological issues.The 14 articles in this book deal with various aspects of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), including cultural and social environments, principals' roles and views, achievements in Reading, Science, and Mathematics, and the trustworthiness of international comparisons. The articles use PISA and PIRLS data to present new insights and interpretations of international surveys. These insights will help educators, administrators, and policy-makers understand the working mechanisms of their school systems and the relationships between students' achievement and the culture and school environment they are in.This book is a companion volume to the author's earlier publication -- PISA: Issues and Effects in Singapore, East Asia, and the World (World Scientific, 2017).