ICCS 2009 Technical Report - IEA

• The School Sampling Manual (ICCS International Study Center, 2008d): this defined theICCS target populations and sampling goals and described the procedures to be usedwhen carrying out sampling of schools.• The School Coordinator Manual (ICCS International Study Center, 2008e): this describedthe role and responsibilities of the school coordinator. This person was the main contactperson within each participating school. His or her responsibilities included assisting thenational center in identifying classes, teachers, and students, supporting the administrationof the test and questionnaires, and keeping test materials secure and confidential whilethey were in the school.• The Test Administrator Manual (ICCS International Study Center, 2008f ): this described therole and responsibilities of the test administrator. His or her work included distributionof the student test instruments according to the student tracking forms, supervising thetesting sessions, ensuring the testing sessions took place within the specified times, andrecording student participation.• The International and National Quality Control Monitor Manuals (ICCS International StudyCenter, 2008g, 2008h): these provided quality control monitors (QCMs) with informationabout ICCS and described their role and responsibilities during the project. The manualsspecified the timelines, actions, and procedures that the QCMs needed to follow in orderto carry out the international and national quality assurance programs.• The Scoring Guides for Constructed-Response Items (ICCS International Study Center, 2008i):these provided detailed, explicit guidelines on how to score each constructed-responseitem.• The Windows ® Within-School Sampling Software (WinW3S, IEA DPC, 2008a): this enabledthe ICCS national centers to randomly select classes in each sampled school. The centersalso used the software to track school, teacher, and student information, prepare the surveytracking forms, and assign test instruments to students. The software furthermore providedcenters with the means to print labels for all the test booklets and questionnaires.• The Windows ® Data-Entry Manager Software (WinDEM, IEA DPC, 2008b): this provided atool for entering, editing, and verifying the ICCS data. Along with the software, countriesalso received codebooks describing the properties and the layout of the variables to beentered from each ICCS assessment instrument.• The IEA SurveySystem: this computer software enabled text passages on the paperquestionnaires to be transferred to online questionnaires and these online versions to thenbe delivered to respondents.In addition to its work preparing the software and manuals, the IEA DPC conducted a datamanagementseminar designed to train national center staff in the use of the WinDEM,WinW3S, and IEA SurveySystem software.Survey tracking formsICCS relied on six survey forms to sample classes, assign booklets and questionnaires, and trackthe participation status of students and teachers. These forms facilitated the data-collection anddata-verification process. They also provided information on how to compute sampling weightsand were used to evaluate the quality of the sampling process.Most of these forms were created automatically by the WinW3S software. The forms were thencompleted by schools and returned to the national centers. The six tracking and listing formsused in ICCS were:• The school tracking form: the IEA DPC sampling team sent this form to national centers andasked them to list the sampled schools and their replacements, provide the various school90 ICCS 2009 technical report