PIAAC, What’s What?
We hope everyone saw that the OECD released the international Survey of Adult Skills or some of the press coverage it has attracted. Because the federal government was shutdown, ED was not able to participate to the level originally planned. This announcement may help clarify what has been released and provide an update on next steps. The web hub for reports, resources, events, and press links can be found at www.piaacgateway.com. (You may recall that we have used the term “PIAAC” to refer to this dataset, but the OECD is using the term Survey of Adult Skills; it is the same data, collected on adults aged 16-65 in 23 countries.) The findings from this Survey are of great importance to the adult education field, are already being discussed in the Groups, and will continue to inform conversations. We hope you join in.
Released on October 8:
- The main OECD international comparison report, the data files, and “country notes” for each participating country
- The main report called, OECD Skills Outlook 2013: First Results from the Survey of Adult Skills, a freely-accessible PDF book
- A 32-page international summary called Skilled for Life? Key Findings
- The U.S. country note called Survey of Adult Skills, First Results: United States
- Secretary Duncan’s remarks at NBC’s Education Nation can be found on www.piaacgateway.com
- A one-hour webinar on the 8th by Andreas Schleicher of the OECD explaining the findings
Released on October 18: ED’s National Center for Education Statistics “First Look” report, which presents the U.S. performance in the international rankings, as well as some U.S. specific data
Upcoming on November 12: the OECD-authored report "Time for the United States to Reskill? What the Survey of Adult Skills Says" will be released. This report was funded by the OVAE. It will:
- Interpret the U.S. main findings
- Offer a detailed profile of low-skilled adults in the U.S.
- Identify policy implications and offer broad policy recommendations for the U.S.
- A live and webcast event will take place to release the report. More detailed information regarding this event will be posted at www.piaacgateway.com