The Black Box of the Educational Reforms in Poland:What Caused the Improvement in the PISA Scores of Polish Students? Cover Image

The Black Box of the Educational Reforms in Poland:What Caused the Improvement in the PISA Scores of Polish Students?
The Black Box of the Educational Reforms in Poland:What Caused the Improvement in the PISA Scores of Polish Students?

Author(s): Alicja Zawistowska
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Polskie Towarzystwo Socjologiczne
Keywords: PISA; reform; education; Poland; central examinations.

Summary/Abstract: On the basis of the existing research and available theories this paper attempts to determine whether there is any causative relation between the educational reform introduced in Poland in 1999 and the improvement of Polish pupils’ scores in the PISA study. Analysis suggests that the element of the reformsmost likely to have contributed to the improvement of Poland’s PISAscores was the introduction of externally evaluated examinations with a multiple-choice format. There are also two strongmethodological conclusions that can be drawn from this research: (1) given the complexity of the reform, its aims and outcomes should be ‘decomposed’ for more detailed analysis, and (2) given the cumulative outcomes of the reform, PISA scores between 2000 and 2012 should be explained by a different set of hypotheses for each round.

  • Issue Year: 187/2014
  • Issue No: 3
  • Page Range: 333-350
  • Page Count: 17
  • Language: English