International Civic and Citizenship Education Study; a study conducted by the IEA

International Computer and Information Literacy Study; a study conducted by the IEA

international quality control monitor

information and communication technologies/technology

International Database or Inter-American Development Bank (conducts the PRIDI study)

International Data Explorer

International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement; conducts studies such as ICCS, ICILS, PIRLS, and TIMSS

international large-scale assessment

the sampling frame is sorted prior to sampling according to specific characteristics

the organization behind an ILSA; not necessarily identical with the author or the original source of an ILSA in its strict sense, as the establishment of such a study is typically a process in which many parties are involved

umbrella term for comprehensive, transnational studies in education, regardless of whether they include a cognitive assessment component; for example, a representative study that measures educational achievement or development outcomes (e.g., participants’ knowledge, performances, or skills, or all of them in a particular domain) with an explicit focus on international, system-level comparisons; ILSAs are typically accompanied by a comprehensive evaluation of education contexts, and one of their major aims is to inform education policy

International Quality Control Monitor

item response theory

international study centre

International Standard Classification of Education

international socio-economic index of occupational status

a question in a survey, a test, or a (background or context) questionnaire

the rules or criteria determining when and how various assessment items may be released to the public

measurement theory that describes the probability of a response to a test or questionnaire item on the basis of characteristics of the items (mainly difficulty, discrimination, and guessing), and location of the individual on an overall difficulty continuum