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This article presents an overview of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 Problem-Solving assessment. The assessment examined the capabilities of 15-year-olds in 40 nations and four large international cities, as well as the Canadian Provinces, to solve a set of 16 problem units presented in contextualized situations. These units each had two or three tasks for students to solve. Students' performances on these items served as a basis for developing the PISA score scale and the associated proficiency levels for each of the participating entities. Student performances on the PISA 2012 mathematics, reading, and science assessments provided an avenue to estimating student performances on the problem-solving assessment for students having similar score backgrounds in the three content areas. Student performances were also examined by item types and by differing problem situations. These latter two analyses provide interesting perspectives for comparing problem solving profiles across the participating entities. Finally, some conclusions are drawn concerning the study as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides an overview of the mathematics assessment program of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments' (OECD) Program for Student Assessment (PISA). As such, it provides a comparative view of the PISA results for Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It outlines the program, its frameworks, and competencies PISA uses to describe the achievement of 15-year-olds in over 40 countries participating in the PISA assessments. Particular attention is given to the PISA conception of mathematical literacy and cross-disciplinary problem-solving. These two areas were a focus of the 2003 assessment. In addition to a discussion of general results, two sample problems are presented, one from the mathematical literacy and one from cross-disciplinary problem-solving, along with detailed information about student performances in the items. The article concludes with a consideration of the lessons to be learned from the PISA study relative to the teaching and learning of mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]