Downloads & Free Reading Options - Results

This report presents results from the first cycle of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). PISA is a new international assessment of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science literacy. The United States has joined with 27 other member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 4 non-OECD countries to assess their students performance against international benchmarks through PISA. PISA content is not drawn strictly from school curricula, but rather from a framework agreed to nationally on what reading, mathematics, and science literacy mean. After the year 2000, PISA results are scheduled to be available every 3 years so that progress for each of the subjects can be tracked over time. As a first step toward measurement of cross-curricular competencies, in PISA 2000, student questionnaires sought information about student attitudes toward reading and learning strategies. This information, in conjunction with achievement data, provide baseline information for later PISA studies. Four appendixes contain technical notes, descriptions of the international studies in subject areas, supporting statistical data, and the released items from the PISA 2000 assessments. (Contains 38 tables, 26 figures, and 41 references.) (SLD)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert