Administering PISA in your school

A brochure and a sample parent/guardian letter are available to be shared with students and their parents/guardians before the assessment. The assessment date must be confirmed with the school contact and the primary test administrator prior to distributing the letter.   

Click here to access the PISA brochure and parent/guardian letter.

Parental/guardian permission is not necessary for students to write PISA. However, if a parent/guardian requests that their child not participate in PISA, the test administrator will record the appropriate code for parental refusal on the Student Tracking Form during the pre-assessment meeting or on assessment day.

CMEC does not need to be informed if a parent/guardian refuses to allow their child to write the assessment.  

If the assessment date change occurs after a test administrator was assigned to your school:

• please contact the test administrator to set a new date. The test administrator should then communicate the new date to CMEC.

If the preferred assessment dates change occurs before a test administrator is assigned to your school:

• please contact the PISA administrative team to advise them of your new preferred dates.

Your PISA School ID is a 1- to 4-digit number that will be shared with you by your ministry/department of education. You can also find your PISA School ID in the subject line of any communication sent to the school contact from CMEC.

CMEC does not cover any additional expenses the school may incur as a result of administering PISA (e.g., purchasing extra supplies or snacks).

All assessment forms will be sent to the school contact and to the primary test administrator by email a minimum of 10 days before the selected assessment date. If the school contact has not received assessment materials by five business days before the school’s first assessment date, they should first check their spam folder, and then, if required, contact the PISA administrative team.

The Assessment Script will be sent out to the test administrator by Purolator.

If required, schools will receive loan laptops or other equipment about three days prior to their assessment date. School contacts should communicate with the CMEC Tech Support Team for any questions or late equipment.

To contact the PISA Administrative or Technical Support teams, please click here.

Please run the regular session(s) and hold one makeup session if the student participation rate for the class is under 85 percent. Do not administer more than one makeup session, even if the minimum rate is still not met. Student data will be analyzed in spite of lower student participation.

Note: Only students listed on the Student Tracking Form are eligible to participate—student substitution is not permitted.