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This report examines the efficacy of services provided by iScoil to a cohort of students funded under the Department of Education (DE) Home Tuition Scheme. It examines a mixture of academic and non-academic outcomes. It does not examine the curriculum content or quality of pedagogical support offered as part of the iScoil model. This introductory chapter provides a brief overview of the Home Tuition Scheme, iScoil, and the research aims. More detail on each is provided in subsequent chapters

This report examines performance on reading items included as part of PIRLS 2016 (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) and its related online reading assessment, ePIRLS. It has a particular focus on the responses of pupils in Ireland, including items on which Irish pupils performed particularly well or poorly, and on which gender differences were markedly different to the general pattern of girls outperforming boys (in Ireland, and internationally)

This report draws on data collected as part of the 2015 cycle of TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), one of the largest and most in-depth studies of educational achievement in the world. TIMSS is designed to assess the mathematics and science skills of students in Fourth grade (equivalent to Fourth Class in Ireland) and Eighth grade (Second Year) in participating countries. Ireland was one of the 56 countries and seven benchmark participants that took part in the 2015 cycle of TIMSS.

PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) is a project of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). It is designed to assess the reading achievement of Fourth Class pupils. It was first conducted in 2001, while Ireland took part for the first time in 2011. The 2016 study included an optional component assessing online reading skills, called ePIRLS. The present volume is published at the same time as the IEA’s main reports on PIRLS (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Hooper, 2017a) and ePIRLS (Mullis, Martin, Foy, & Hooper, 2017b). It summarises the main achievement-related findings from both studies, focussing on Irish performance and findings most likely to be of interest to an Irish audience. A more in-depth series of reports on PIRLS and ePIRLS from an Irish perspective will be released in 2018

PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is designed to assess the scientific, mathematical, and reading literacy skills of 15-year-olds. It is a project of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). First conducted in 2000, PISA runs in three yearly cycles. This guide focuses on how Irish students performed on science in PISA 2006, compared to students in other countries. The target audience for the guide is teachers of science in postprimary schools in Ireland. Several reports on PISA 2006 have already been published. Readers who would like more information on PISA 2006 than is presented here are referred to the relevant Irish (Eivers, Shiel & Cunningham, 2007, 2008) and OECD reports (OECD, 2007b). This guide is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides some background to PISA and explains how scientific literacy was assessed. Chapter 2 compares the performance of Irish students on science to the OECD average and to the performance of students in other countries. Chapter 3 provides examples of PISA science items, and describes the types of response provided by students. Chapter 4 compares science as conceptualised in PISA and the Junior Certificate science syllabus, and Chapter 5 describes students’ science-related attitudes. Chapter 6 examines factors relating to test performance. Finally, Chapter 7 summarises the findings and presents some conclusions.