This annex offers a brief overview of the frameworks that were used to develop and interpret the scales used to measure prose and document literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in the International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey (IALSS). The importance of developing a framework is thought to be central in construct-based approaches to measurement. Among the things that should be included in any such framework are an agreed upon definition of what ought to be measured and the identification of characteristics that can be used in the construction and interpretation of tasks. In addition to describing these characteristics for each measure, this annex also includes sample items along with the identification of item features that are shown to contribute to item difficulty. Collectively this information provides a means for moving away from interpreting survey results in terms of discrete tasks or a single number and towards identifying levels of performance sufficiently generalized to
In 1992, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (OECD, 1992) concluded that low literacy levels were a serious threat to economic performance and social cohesion on an international level. But a broader understanding of literacy problems across industrialized nations – and consequent lessons for policy makers – was hindered due to a lack of comparable international data. Statistics Canada and Educational Testing Service (ETS) teamed up to build and deliver an international comparative study of literacy.
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was the first comparative survey of adults designed to profile and explore comparative literacy distributions among participating countries. In 2000, a final report was released (OECD and Statistics Canada, 2000) which included the results from three rounds of assessments involving some 23 country/language groups representing just over 50 percent of the world’s GDP. While IALS laid an important foundation for international comparative surveys of adults, there were also calls to expand what was being measured. There was a growing concern among governments and policy makers as to what additional competencies are relevant for an individual to participate fully and successfully in a modern society and for a society to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing world. One project aimed at addressing this issue was entitled Definition and Selection of Key Competencies (DeSeCo) and was carried out under the leadership of Switzerland. Its goal was to lay out, from a theoretical perspective, a set of key competencies that are believed to contribute to a successful life and a well-functioning society (Rychen and Salganik, 2003).