International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs): what have they done for education?

For over two centuries, education scholars and policy communities have sought to measure and compare education. However, it is only in recent decades that comparative measurements of learning began rising to prominence above all other educational data. Comparative learning measures are now so established that gathering comparative learning data has become an educational purpose in itself. This Commentary Paper provides a timely critical reflection on the impact of International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) 30 years on from a key moment in their emergence. The first part of the paper offers a brief history of the rise of ILSAs and overview of ILSA research. The second part presents reflections from scholars who have made a significant contribution in this field – Rutkowski, Waldow, Gorur, Takayama, and Grek. They discuss what ILSAs have done for education, whilst reflecting on how ILSAs have created absences in the educational debate, and where attention might be productively re-directed in future scholarship.