Overview

The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is a survey about teachers, teaching, and learning environments. Sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), TALIS is composed of two questionnaires—one for teachers and one for their principals—that ask questions about their backgrounds, work environments, professional development, and beliefs and attitudes about teaching. TALIS is unique because it is the only comparative international education study that collects data on nationally representative samples of teachers. For the United States, TALIS provides key information on teachers and principals and how they and their working and learning environments compare internationally.

The core target population in TALIS is ISCED^* level 2 (lower secondary) teachers and school principals. ISCED level 2 corresponds to grades 7, 8, and 9 in the United States. Education systems also have the option to survey at ISCED level 1 (primary) or level 3 (upper secondary). However, the United States and most other education systems only participate at the lower secondary level.

TALIS was first administered in 2008 and then in 2013 and 2018. The United States first participated in the 2013 cycle, along with 37 other education systems. The most recent round of data collection was in 2018, with 49 education systems participating. U.S. results for the 2018 administration of TALIS are available on the TALIS 2018 U.S. Results page. Full results from all three rounds of TALIS are available on the OECD TALIS website.

Data collection for the next cycle of TALIS currently scheduled for the spring of 2024.

^* ISCED stands for the International Standard Classification of Education. Details on the ISCED classification system can found at http://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/international-standard-classification-of-education-isced-2011-en.pdf.