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It examines OECD’s PISA and related McKinsey & Company reports that rely on PISA data to connect policy agendas with research-driven change. Findings emphasize salvation-oriented promises of a better future through governance, the fabrication of universals through numbers, and a paradoxical notion of science and evidence that both compares and produces divisions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/calculating-the-future-the-historical-assemblage-of-empirical-evidence-benchmarks-pisa/600976/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/calculating-the-future-the-historical-assemblage-of-empirical-evidence-benchmarks-pisa/600976.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"mieayamfan","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does the article address regarding educational reform standards?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It examines how “benchmarks” and “empirical evidence” link policy and research to effective educational change, especially in international settings.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How do the reports connect the future to governing the present?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"They express salvation themes that promise a better future by using data and models to pursue goals such as social equality, economic prosperity, and participatory democracy.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What does “empirical evidence” mean in the context of international assessments like PISA?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"It entails a specific notion of science and evidence that uses purported universals for comparison, while paradoxically creating divisions among students and societies.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},600976,1792211071,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090893677,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","ECNU Review of Education  \nISSN: 2096-5311  \nCN: 31-2150/G4  \n[http://www.roe.ecnu.edu.cn](http://www.roe.ecnu.edu.cn)  \nCalculating the Future: The Historical Assemblage of Empirical Evidence, Benchmarks & PISA  \nDOI 10.30926/ecnuroe2018010106  \nThomas S. Popkewitz, Jingying Feng, and Lei Zheng University of Wisconsin-Madison  \n© East China Normal University & East China Normal University Press  \nCalculating the Future: The Historical Assemblage of Empirical  \nEvidence, Benchmarks & PISA1,2 Thomas S. Popkewitz, Jingying Feng, and Lei Zheng University of Wisconsin-Madison  \n© East China Normal University & East China Normal University Press, Shanghai, China  \nAbstract  \nPurpose—Prominent at the intersections of national educational agencies, higher education, and international educational performance assessments are two reform standards: “benchmarks” determining optimal student performance, and “empirical evidence” for determining the quality of reform practices. These two notions are often taken as connecting policy and research to effective changes in many countries. The article examines the historical and cultural principles about educational change and its sciences embedded in these standards through examining OECD’s PISA and the McKinsey & Company reports that draw on PISA’s data.  \nFindings/Originality/Value—First, the reports express salvation themes associated with modernity; that is, the promise of a better future through governing the present. The promise is to provide nations with data and models to achieve social equality, economic prosperity, and a participatory democracy. Second, the promise of the future is not descriptive of some present reality but to fabricate the universal characteristics about society and individuals. The numbers embody social and psychological categories about a desired unity of all students. Third, the “empirical evidence” of the international assessment entails a particular notion of science and “evidence”; one that paradoxically uses the universals in comparing and creating divisions.  \nKeywords  \nEmpirical evidence; benchmarks; international assessment; system of reason; historicization  \nThere is almost a truth to contemporary school reform. The truth is that to guarantee the quality of reform is to identify benchmarks as standards to achieve and to judge students and teacher success through research that provides “empirical” or “scientific evidence”. Benchmarks and empirical evidence are what makes possible the connection of policy and research to effective change. This notion of change is prominent at the intersections of national educational agencies, higher education, and comparative metrics of educational performance assessments in many countries, such as China and Sweden. The use of benchmarks and empirical evidence are assumed as foundational for models of change found in social services agencies and national educational systems.  \nThe notions of benchmarks and having “empirical evidence” to validate reforms, are not merely about science. When thought historically and culturally, they embody  \nCorresponding Author: Thomas S. Popkewitz  [thomas.popkewitz@wisc.edu](thomas.popkewitz@wisc.edu)  \n108 Thomas S. Popkewitz, Jingying Feng, and Lei Zheng  \nsalvation themes that promise a better future through governing the present. The promise is to provide nations with data and models to achieve social equality, economic prosperity, and a participatory democracy. This is expressed, for example, in international assessments such as OECD’s PISA. This future is sometimes given names, such as “the Knowledge Society” and “the Innovative Society” in many international documents. The international ranking lists of universities and school systems, for example, are coupled with models of change that speak about the assessment reports as providing the data that can enable nations to have the world’s best-performing school systems (Mourshed, Chijioke, & Barber, 2010) . Benchmarks are the technolog","cbCaigsyNh74t4Kg","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaigsyNh74t4Kg","pdf",225346,13,"English","# Abstract\n## Purpose\n## Findings/Originality/Value\n# Keywords","[{\"question\":\"What problem does the article address regarding educational reform standards?\",\"answer\":\"It examines how “benchmarks” and “empirical evidence” link policy and research to effective educational change, especially in international settings.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the reports connect the future to governing the present?\",\"answer\":\"They express salvation themes that promise a better future by using data and models to pursue goals such as social equality, economic prosperity, and participatory democracy.\"},{\"question\":\"What does “empirical evidence” mean in the context of international assessments like PISA?\",\"answer\":\"It entails a specific notion of science and evidence that uses purported universals for comparison, while paradoxically creating divisions among students and societies.\"}]","Calculating the Future - The Historical Assemblage of Empirical Evidence, Benchmarks & PISA | PDF",1792091734,33]