ICCS
The third ICCS (International Civic and Citizenship Study) 2027 National Research Coordinator (NRC) meeting took place in Lisbon, Portugal, from 07–11 July. NRCs took the opportunity to draft field trial material and the ICCS International Study Center at the University of Bath presented the procedures and timeline for field trial implementation, which will take place in early 2026. Follow-up action from the NRC meeting includes refining the questionnaire and test items.
A new, optional module for ICCS is also being developed and finalized. The ICCS 2027 11th Grade Module will measure how well education systems prepare students in upper secondary education for their role as citizens by collecting high-quality, comparable, and nationally representative data to facilitate analyses of civic and citizenship education. The module is open to countries that are currently participating in ICCS 2027.
ICILS
The fourth cycle of ICILS (International Computer and Information Literacy Study) 2028 is well underway. NRCs met at the beginning of July to discuss the progress and development of materials for the upcoming pilot and field trial phase of the study. NRCs will meet from 24−28 November in Ljubljana, Slovenia to discuss the development of new questionnaire and assessment materials along with the ICILS 2028 Assessment Framework. There is still time to enroll in ICILS 2028! Please contact Dr. Andrea Netten at IEA Amsterdam with your interest or questions.
LaNA
IEA and the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College have released the LaNA (Literacy and Numeracy Assessment) 2023 Linking Study IDB (International Database), containing achievement and contextual data associated with learning, such as available resources, students’ learning experiences, and the learning environment. Data files in R, SPSS, and SAS are available.
IEA LaNA team members have also been holding meetings with countries that participated in the 2023 linking study to discuss countries’ efforts to disseminate LaNA results and to learn about other capacity-building needs.
Enrollment in LaNA is open. Countries have the flexibility to schedule the administration based on their needs and context. The information package provides further details about enrollment.
PIRLS
The PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) field trial analysis is now complete, the results were discussed at the Reading Development Group where members of the group met from 14−16 July. Following the Reading Development Group’s review, NRCs will receive the results of the field trial at the NRC meeting in Warsaw, Poland, in August. During the NRC, procedures for the main data collection will also be discussed.
TIMSS
The TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) 2023 Longitudinal International Report and Release will take place on Tuesday, 09 December at 10:00 Central European Time in Podgorica, Montenegro, and will be livestreamed. Registration for the event will open shortly. The virtual TIMSS 2023 Longitudinal NRC meeting will take place from 29-30 July 2025 and will be dedicated to reviewing the updated draft exhibits for the international release.
Instrument development for the TIMSS 2027 field trial is well underway, and materials will be discussed at the upcoming NRC meeting in Melbourne, Australia, at the end of July. Participation agreements with IEA must be signed before access to the field trial material is granted, due to its confidential nature. Please contact IEA Amsterdam with any questions. The TIMSS 2027 Data Management Seminar will take place in Hamburg, Germany, from 15–17 October and will discuss digital administration of TIMSS, scoring using IEA Coding Expert, and the usage of Within-School Sampling Software.
IELS
The data collection of the second cycle of IELS (International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study) has been completed and IEA is working on data processing until the end of July. Following this period, there will be a final NPM (National Project Managers Meeting) in November 2025 to discuss the results and reports for the release in March 2026.
PASEC 2024
The sampling team has worked to draw the PASEC (Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems) main survey samples for 21 countries—a task that proved challenging due to complex coordination demands involving multiple partners and delays or gaps in required information. Nonetheless, 19 out of 21 national samples have now been successfully drawn. In parallel, the development of a framework and procedures for quality control of the PASEC main survey data began, which draws upon the submitted field test data. These preparations will ensure that IEA is ready to proceed once the main survey data is received in quarter four of this year.
PIACC
PIACC (Programme for International Assessment for Adult Competencies) has launched its second round in the second cycle of the study with seven participating countries. The first NPM meeting took place and was successful, the second NPM meeting will take place at IEA Hamburg between 20-23 October. IEA will conduct PIACC in the areas of sampling, survey operations, and data management.
PISA 2025
The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2025 main survey was conducted entirely online for the first time, including English as an additional domain. In April and May, 1,217 test sessions, including follow-up sessions, were conducted nationwide. Despite a challenging test design, participation exceeded 85% among students and 80% among teachers, supported by strong school engagement. Data submission and final review in early July signal the end of the study cycle.
Startchancen-Programm
Startchancen has reached a major milestone. At the end of June, 16 federal state secretaries unanimously approved the evaluation framework, which has been elaborated within the last months. Following this decision, the IEA Hamburg team submitted all documents for ministerial approval processes by 07 July. The submitted documents (for the first time) included simplified letters for parents and students—an experimental step to improve accessibility, supported by ChatGPT.
StarS
IEA Hamburg’s team is currently preparing a pilot study for the innovative “StarS (Starting Strong in Primary School) program, developed by IQB with subject didactics partners. It aims to assess and support language and mathematics skills at the transition from early childhood to primary education. Data collection is approaching and will involve 80 schools across 6 federal states, with group and individual sessions for first and second-grade students.
TALIS 2024
The current cycle of TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey) is nearing completion, and IEA Hamburg’s study center and consortium teams continue to support the OECD and participating countries during reporting. Following the main scaling and data work, IEA conducted an in-person analysis workshop where over 100 colleagues in attendance learned about the use and reporting of data from schoolteachers and their principals, as well as from staff and leaders in early childhood settings. The workshop provided in-depth introductions to the analytical opportunities, highlighting a range of approaches and analysis tools.
The final national datasets and the restricted-use international database for the Core Survey at ISCED levels 2, 1, and 3—comprising of 166 individual files—were successfully produced and released to the OECD and all participating countries and territories by now. A public-use international database, mitigating the risk of re-identification, the user guide, and the technical report, are all scheduled for publication in early October at the same time as the international report.
For the TALIS Starting Strong survey component, data will be finalized by the end of July, followed by a public-use database for release in early December along with the international report. Finally, the datasets for the Teacher Knowledge Survey—an assessment of teachers’ general pedagogical knowledge—have been compiled and initially released to underpin the international reporting of this novel survey component developed in cooperation with ACER, in March 2026.
TALIS +
The field trial data collection and data processing phases have been successfully completed for four out of the five participating countries; Greece, Jordan, Qatar, and Ukraine. National data files and adaptations reports have been shared with participating countries. The NPM took place online in May 2025 and the next NPM meeting will take place at IEA Hamburg in September.