Interrogating IEA Data on Educational Achievements, Challenges, and Struggles

Neoconservatism emphasizes the importance of traditional values, national identity, and the role of the state in promoting social order and stability at the expense of democracy. In the context of education, this often translates into policies that prioritize centralization, standardized testing, accountability, and measurable outcomes. The use of educational data, however, should not be limited to ensuring standardization, resource allocation and control based on curricula and educational policies. Data can be used for reflecting upon the status quo, as well as being a basis for rethinking the purposes and priorities of education. Evidence from IEA trend studies (e.g. Mullis, Martin, and Loveless 2016) mounts that even where educational systems are proactively aiming to make meaningful progress in areas such as socio-economic disparities in educational attainment, gender differences in achievement, the presence of violence in school, the wellbeing of students and their teachers etc., they struggle to achieve the desired results. With these contributions, we seek to demonstrate how the use of educational data from research can aid in the implementation of effective education policy reform. The first input, on IEA Research on Education for Educators, will introduce IEA and its trend studies, highlighting key aspects of the available data compared to other cyclical international large-scale assessments (Rocher and Hastedt, 2020), demonstrating what makes IEA data useful for researchers. In addition, example findings will provide a brief record of how systemic inequalities (structural violence) within education systems manifest in schools, impacting students and educators (Mullis et all, 2023; Schulz at all, 2024; Fraillon, 2025, von Davier et all, 2025). It will conclude with reflection on how educational communities (spanning educational researchers, teachers’ educators and teachers) can support each other, demonstrating the opportunities IEA provides to different stakeholders. This will be exemplified by How Portuguese Teachers Can Benefit from PIRLS. The PIRLS assessment is based on whole texts and could become a good resource to work with classrooms, allowing teachers to deepen students' reading skills in different dimensions and for different purposes. Teacher Snippets, produced by IEA with Portuguese teachers, proved to be of great value for educators’ work in classrooms with students. After introducing PIRLS (Mullis at all, 2023), its framework and benchmarks, this second contribution will highlight PIRLS use in Portugal since 2011 and document some of the contextual variables and practices from the classroom that gave some insights into the Portuguese students’ results on PIRLS, evaluating potential and providing input for improvement. Next, Making Benchmarking Inclusive will spotlight IEA’s newest assessment of mathematics and reading - Literacy and Numeracy Assessment (LaNA) – and its introduction of new Basic International Benchmarks for Mathematics and Reading. This development aligns with and extends the TIMSS and PIRLS benchmarks (von Davier at all, 2025) to offer a valid, reliable, and globally comparable assessment of emerging reading and mathematics skills that can serve as a new indicator for monitoring the progress of countries towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4.1.1. The last presentation on the Monitoring of Progress Under the NIPUN Haryana Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) will provide overview of a large-scale, sample-based assessment conducted across all 22 districts of the state of Haryana, India with the aim to measure student learning outcomes (SLOs) in Grades 1 to 3. Using a rigorously developed tool aligned with NIPUN and national FLN frameworks, a robust sampling strategy and Common Test Theory (CTT)-backed item analysis, over 22,000 students were assessed in literacy and numeracy. The use of digital tools (Tangerine app), structured field investigator training, piloting protocols, and supervisory checklists ensured data integrity. The process closely mirrored IEA and OECD standards and methodologies that emphasize technical rigor, piloting, psychometric validation, and decentralized training to reduce assessment error. The findings, disaggregated by grade, competency, and district, offer valuable insight into student performance trends and equity indicators easily shared with the state using dynamic dashboards. This sharing enables evidence-based planning and targeted interventions, including provision of practical materials for teachers, such as IEA’s Research for Educators book series translated into the local Hindi language. This model is replicable in other Indian states aiming to institutionalize assessment for foundational learning in line with SDG 4.1.1a and the IEA’s mission to enhance educational progress through high-quality assessment systems and data use. The symposium will then hear reflections on the science communication from a prominent researcher and educator, who will consider the topic from the perspective of high-risk school settings in emerging economies. The symposium will conclude with an open discussion among the speakers and the symposium audience. References Bruggink, M., Swart, N., van der Lee, A., Segers, E. (2022). Putting PIRLS to Use in Classrooms Across the Globe. Evidence-Based Contributions for Teaching Reading Comprehension in a Multilingual Context. IEA/SPRINGER https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-75121-9 Fraillon, J. Eds. (2024) ICILS 2023 International Report: An International Perspective on Digital Literacy. Retrieved: ICILS 2023 International Report: An International Perspective on Digital Literacy | IEA.nl Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O. & Loveless, T. (2016). 20 Years of TIMSS International Trends in Mathematics and Science Achievement, Curriculum, and Instruction. Retrieved: https://timss2015.org/timss2015/wp-content/uploads/2016/T15-20-years-of… Mullis, I. V. S., von Davier, M., Foy, P., Fishbein, B., Reynolds, K. A., & Wry, E. (2023). PIRLS 2021 International Results in Reading. Boston College, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. https://doi.org/10.6017/lse.tpisc.tr2103.kb5342 Rocher, T., & Hastedt, D. (2020, September). International large-scale assessments in education: a brief guide IEA Compass: Briefs in Education No. 10. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: IEA Schulz, W., Ainley, J., Fraillon, J., Losito, B., Agrusti, G., Damiani, V., and Friedman, T. (2023). Education for Citizenship in Times of Global Challenge. IEA International Civic and Citizenship Education Study 2022 International Report. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-65603-3 von Davier, M., Kennedy, A., Reynolds, K., Fishbein, B., Khorramdel, L., Aldrich, C., Bookbinder, A., Bezirhan, U., & Yin, L. (2024). TIMSS 2023 International Results in Mathematics and Science. Boston College, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. https://doi.org/10.6017/lse.tpisc.timss.rs6460 von Davier, M., Khorramdel, L., Reynolds, K., Aldrich, C. E. A., Bookbinder, A., Kennedy, A., Gonzalez, E. (2025). LaNA 2023 Linking Study Results. Boston College, TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center. https://doi.org/10.6017/lse.tpisc.bk4721