International Large-Scale Assessments: Challenges in Reporting and Potentials for Secondary Analysis

International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have been used to draw comparisons among countries on a variety of topics in education and, more broadly, for example, in adolescent development. These assessments can inform the public about influential factors on the micro and macro levels, foster interdisciplinary and international collaboration, and provide important data for studying the context and processes of education and development. In short, their potential is great. However, there are also challenges, in particular with the validity of using country rankings to estimate educational achievement of students within countries and the unintended consequences of this use. Promising directions for analysis and reporting are identified in this article – including secondary analysis informed by a conceptual framework that focuses on the context and processes of education. Examples of secondary analysis using data from an ILSA in civic education are given.