As the stakes for education have risen, so has the call for more and improved use of scientific evidence as a basis for educational policymaking, both in the Gulf and worldwide. Evidence-based decision-making has become a staple of educational reform and funding requirements worldwide. Significant multinational organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank have made evidence-based policymaking a priority both in their own work as influential research and policy organizations as well as for their member or client nations.


This volume's goal is to definitively describe, synthesize and forecast how large-scale data is used for evidence-based policymaking in national education systems. It will look at many large-scale datasets that are relevant to evidence-based educational policymaking, including the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), Progress in International Reading and Literacy Study (PIRLS), and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).