Introduction The origins of modern day international assessments of student skills are often traced back to the First International Mathematics Study (FIMS) conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in the early 1960s. The undertaking of an international project at that time, with few modern technological conveniences to speak of (no email, fax, internet and only minimal access to international phone lines) and a shoestring budget, speaks to the dedication and vision of the scholars that were willing to attempt such a feat. The first executive director of the IEA, T. Neville Postlethwaite (1933-2009), once recounted the story of sending off the first round of assessments and not knowing for months if the assessment booklets had even arrived at their destinations, let alone whether or not the assessment was actually being administered in the 12 countries that initially participated-- Technological and statistical advances, along with a strong interest in gathering more information about the state of our educational systems, have made it possible to assess more students, in more countries, more often, and in more subject domains. The Handbook of International Large-Scale Assessment: Background, Technical Issues, and Methods of Data Analysisbrings together recognized scholars in the field of ILSA, behavioral statistics, and policy to develop a detailed guide that goes beyond database user manuals.After highlighting the importance of ILSA data to policy and research, the book reviews methodological aspects and features of the studies based on operational considerations, analytics, and reporting. The book then describes methods of interest to advanced graduate students, researchers, and policy analysts who have a good grounding in quantitative methods, but who are not necessarily quantitative methodologists. In addition, it provides a detailed exposition of the technical details behind these assessments, including the test design, the sampling framework, and estimation methods, with a focus on how these issues impact analysis choices.
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