The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) is a worldwide study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 24 countries of cognitive and workplace skills.
[3] Since the early 1990s the need for assessing literary skills in developed countries has been addressed by two large international surveys.
[4] Three central basic skills are assessed in PIAAC: literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments.
The literacy domain in PIAAC includes tasks such as reading and understanding a drug label or a brief newspaper article.
Knowledge and skill in recognizing basic vocabulary determining the meaning of sentences, and reading paragraphs of text is expected.
Many tasks require the respondent to construct meaning across larger chunks of text or perform multi-step operations in order to identify and formulate responses.
Many tasks require identifying and understanding one or more specific, non-central idea(s) in the text in order to interpret or evaluate subtle evidence-claim or persuasive discourse relationships.
Tasks often require respondents to be aware of subtle, rhetorical cues and to make high-level inferences or use specialized background knowledge.
This is measured, for example, with items involving the evaluation of a special offer or the interpretation of numerical information in figures and tables.
Below Level 1 0 – 175 Tasks at this level require the respondents to carry out simple processes such as counting, sorting, performing basic arithmetic operations with whole numbers or money, or recognizing common spatial representations in concrete, familiar contexts where the mathematical content is explicit with little or no text or distractors.
Tasks tend to require the application of two or more steps or processes involving calculation with whole numbers and common decimals, percents and fractions; simple measurement and spatial representation; estimation; and interpretation of relatively simple data and statistics in texts, tables and graphs.
Tasks tend to require the application of number sense and spatial sense; recognizing and working with mathematical relationships, patterns, and proportions expressed in verbal or numerical form; and interpretation and basic analysis of data and statistics in texts, tables and graphs.
These tasks involve undertaking multiple steps and choosing relevant problem-solving strategies and processes.
Tasks tend to require analysis and more complex reasoning about quantities and data; statistics and chance; spatial relationships; and change, proportions and formulas.
Tasks at this level may also require understanding arguments or communicating well-reasoned explanations for answers or choices.
Items include sorting and sending e-mails, filling out digital forms, and evaluating the informational content and credibility of different websites.
Only simple forms of reasoning, such as assigning items to categories, are required; there is no need to contrast or integrate information.
[7] Subsequent cycles will allow future changes in adult skills to be monitored and analysed and will provide first indications of where improvements have been achieved and deficits persist.
Gallup principal economist Jonathan Rothwell assessed results collected by PIAAC during 2012 - 2017 for a 2020 economic impact analysis[9] commissioned by the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy,[10] surmising that, of the 33 OECD nations surveyed, the U.S. had placed sixteenth for literacy, with about half of Americans surveyed, aged 16 to 74, demonstrating a below sixth-grade reading level.