BACKGROUND
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students that provides information on a range of factors that contribute to the success of students, schools, and education systems. PISA is a collaborative effort among member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) that first started in 2000. Canada has participated in PISA since its inception through a partnership among the Council of the Ministers of Education Canada (CMEC), Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), and Statistics Canada (STC) until 2014. Since then, CMEC has been responsible for the implementation of PISA in Canada through a partnership with ESDC. The assessment takes place every three years and covers three domains: reading, mathematics, and science. Although each assessment includes questions from all three domains, the primary focus shifts from one cycle to the next.
PISA 2021 will have mathematics as the major domain, and reading, science, and creative thinking as the minor domains. It is expected that over 80 countries and economies will be participating in PISA 2021. In Canada, students in all 10 provinces will participate, including over 20,000 English-speaking and French-speaking students randomly selected from approximately 1,000 schools. This large sample size allows results to be reported for each province, as well as for both the French- and English-language school systems. As well, contextual questionnaires will be administered to students and school principals.
Financial Literacy component of PISA 2021
As was the case in 2015 and 2018, financial literacy is an additional domain that will also be assessed in eight provinces. As such, a separate module is to be developed by the OECD based on the previous PISA cycles. As is the case for the core component of PISA 2021, the CMEC Secretariat will manage the administration of the financial literacy component in the participating provinces. Although all details regarding the administration of this component have not been finalized by the OECD, the following assumptions have been used for this agreement:
According to the PISA 2021 specifications, 40 per cent of sampled students in participating schools will be assigned to the financial literacy (FL) component. This represents 28 students per school in the field test and 17 students per school in the main study.
According to PISA 2021 requirements, it is expected the FL option will be implemented in all schools in provinces participating in PISA regardless of the school sample size.
In Canada approximately 1,000 schools are expected to participate in the PISA 2021 main study, including approximately 650 schools from the eight provinces participating in the FL option.
The FL assessment will be integrated in the regular test design as an additional test form.
Source material for the FL option will be based on the 2015 and 2018 assessments. Additional adaptation and translation will be required for the new 2021 items.
The key deliverables under this agreement include the finalization of instruments, delivery of the financial literacy module as part of the administration of the field trial and the main study for PISA 2021, scoring, data processing and cleaning. The Canadian financial literacy data file, in addition to subsequent updates by OECD, will be delivered to FCAC after completion of the required confidentiality forms by all those working the data while it is under embargo.
CMEC will publish a national report on the financial literacy module. The report will be prepared and validated jointly by CMEC, ESDC, and FCAC. The review process will involve CMEC, ESDC, FCAC, and experts from contributing jurisdictions.
CURRENT REQUIREMENTS
The contractor must be an established organization with experience in administering surveys, on behalf of the OECD, to 15-year-old students in Canadian schools. In its capacity as Canada’s official representative on the OECD’s PISA Governing Board, the contractor must be an authoritative body with the capacity of conveying the views of ministries of education from all jurisdictions in Canada. The Contractor must have the authority to collect and control access to confidential data, as per OECD’s confidentiality policies and procedures.
The contractor is required to provide the following:
Work with the OECD towards the finalization of assessment instruments, deliver the financial literacy module as part of the administration of the field trial and the main study for PISA 2021, collect, clean, process and analyse data, calculate students’ scores and report on findings. The final Canadian financial literacy data file, in addition to subsequent updates by OECD, will be delivered to FCAC after completion of the required confidentiality forms by all those working the data while it is under embargo.
The contractor will publish a national report on the financial literacy module. The report will be prepared and validated jointly by the contractor, ESDC, and FCAC.
Any interested supplier must demonstrate by way of a statement of capabilities that it can meet the following requirements:
The potential supplier must have significant experience in fielding and analysing student assessment of PISA’s magnitude.
The supplier must be able to conduct an assessment of 15-year-old students’ financial literacy capabilities, as part of the PISA assessment, in more than 1000 schools across Canada;
The potential supplier must be an authoritative body with the capacity and authority to convey the views of ministries of education from all jurisdictions in Canada in meetings of the PISA Governing Board;
