Lasting effects of quality of schooling: Evidence from PISA and PIAAC

• Has quality of schooling lasting effects on adult skills?
• Changes in PISA results between 2000 and 2012 were estimated for 20 countries.
• Differences in PIAAC performance for corresponding age cohorts were estimated.
• A strong relation (r = 0.70) was found between the PISA trends and the PIAAC cohort differences.
• Achievement levels in compulsory school have lasting impact on adult skills.

The aim was to investigate to what extent quality of compulsory schooling is reflected in adult literacy and numeracy performance levels. Data from five administrations of the PISA survey between 2000 and 2012 for 20 countries were analyzed, along with data from corresponding age cohorts for the same set of countries participating in the cross-sectional PIAAC survey. For each country the PISA data was used to estimate linear achievement trends for literacy, numeracy and science to indicate change in quality of schooling and for the PIAAC data mean differences were computed between a younger and an older age group. The PIAAC performance differences were strongly related to the PISA achievement trends (r = 0.70), and relations held up when controls were introduced for level of education attained (β = 0.55) and for general social and cultural development of the country (β = 0.48). It is concluded that quality of schooling has lasting impact on adult literacy and numeracy performance levels.