The 66th General Assembly Meeting (GA) has drawn to a close in Madrid after a productive and inspiring week of informative presentations, lively discourse, and collaborative decision-making.
Hosted by the National Institute of Educational Assessment (INEE), the 66th annual meeting of the GA took place from 04 October to 09 October 2025.
IEA GA representatives come together annually to consider and review the status of IEA activities, and to discuss any critical topics that are impacting the sphere of International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) more broadly.
The GA is a unique opportunity for key stakeholders involved in education policy work around the world to share, learn, and inspire in a spirit of collegiality and mutual support. This year, a special highlight of the week was a series of sessions on Tuesday afternoon relating to policy implications of IEA data and ILSAs at large. The GA heard from the European Commission, the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States, IEA Standing Committee members, and then from each other in group discussions, in what was a powerful affirmation of the influence of scientific research in global efforts to improve education quality.
Amongst the many informative presentations on IEA’s work from IEA colleagues throughout the week, the General Assembly appreciated the annual reporting from study directors on the status of IEA’s core suite of international studies (TIMSS, PIRLS, ICCS, ICILS, LaNA), and enjoyed hearing from Bruce H. Choppin Memorial award winner Dr. Dihao Leng on her doctoral dissertation 'Does Process Data Add Value to the Analysis of International Large-Scale Assessment Data?.' GA members were also treated to excellent presentations on the work of IEA R&D fund awardees, hearing from Dr. Ann Traynor from Purdue University on ‘Gauging the instructional sensitivity of ordinal assessment’ and Mr. Umut Atasever from IEA's Sampling Unit on 'An examination on the performance of sampling variance estimators.'
We are grateful to INEE for proving such wonderful hosts, both in their support for the organization of the GA in advance and for how memorable an occasion they made the event with their remarkable hospitality throughout the week.
Thank you to all GA members and guests for their active participation. IEA looks forward to welcoming you to the next GA meeting in Warsaw, Poland in 2026!
Photo: 66th IEA General Assembly, Madrid, October 2025.