The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has launched the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to monitor the outcomes of education systems in terms of student achievement and within an internationally accepted framework. The frameworks and assessments for PISA 2000 are the product of a multi-year development process. This volume introduces the PISA approach to comparative measurement and describes the PISA 2000 assessment instruments in terms of the content that students need to acquire, the processes that need to be performed, and the contexts in which knowledge and skills are applied. In PISA, literacy is regarded as knowledge and skills for adult life, and its acquisition is seen as a lifelong process. Each of the assessment domains is illustrated with a range of sample items. Following an introduction and overview, the chapters are: (1) "Assessing Reading Literacy in PISA"; (2) "Assessing Mathematical Literacy in PISA"; and (3) "Assessing Scientific Literacy in PISA." Appendixes list members of the "Functional Expert" group for PISA development and the test development team.