International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA): The Mathematics Study

IEA Studies and Educational Policy

“…They relate to differences in average achievement between countries (which have been particularly large when industrialized and developing countries are compared) and to differences between countries in intended and implemented curricula and in the course-taking patterns of students. They also relate to gender differences in achievement and to a number of correlates of achievement including students' opportunity to learn, the amount of time that a subject is studied (including homework), and a variety of factors and resources in the homes of students (Bloom, 1975;Platt, 1975;Postlethwaite, 1975;McKnight et al, 1987;Jones, 1988;Anderson & Postlethwaite, 1989;Kifer, 1989;Postlethwaite & Wiley, 1991;Keeves, 1992, Lambin, 1995.…”

“…During the 1970s, some form of randomized controlled field trials was being recommended to deal with this issue. Such trials, it was argued, were necessary to determine whether or not a reform indicated by the results of an international study might have the desired effects in a particular country (Light, 1975;Postlethwaite, 1975;Smith, 1975). This proposal was made at a time when societal experimentation (see Campbell, 1969;Riecken & Boruch, 1974) was in vogue and before the many pitfalls associated with it were fully recognized.…”

Voyages of Measurement in Education in the Twentieth Century: Experts, Tools and Centres

“…There were certain differences between school systems in terms of age of entry to school, the structure of the system, the curriculum content, teaching methods, teacher training and the like. Would it be possible, they asked themselves, to conduct international (or inter-system) studies on a comparative basis which would yield results from which each system could learn about improving itself (Postlethwaite, 1966)? With the same logic and more developed research tools, they were following in the footsteps of the earlier regional researchers in the United States, and were their (intellectually) linear descendants.…”

Didactics of Mathematics as a Scientific Discipline

“…407 5. IEA SURVEYS IEA, established in 1960, is a cooperative network of research centers (Postlethwaite, 1971). The organization began with a group of researchers from around the world who, notes Purves (1989), "were concerned with a number of issues that could not be studied well within the confines of one school system" (p. vii).…”