Methodological advances in cross-nation surveys of educational achievement

This volume arose from papers presented at a symposium held by the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education of the US National Research Council, a body set up by the US National Academy of Sciences. According to the editors the papers in this volume `represent the most up-to-date and comprehensive assessment of methodological strengths and weaknesses of international comparative studies of student achievement' (p. ix). The volume contains 11 chapters written from a variety of viewpoints, although, as I shall argue, they tend to share common assumptions, which, together, place certain limitations on this claim. The opening chapter by the editors sets the scene and embodies most of these assumptions and I will start by examining this in detail.