Results of the second international science study in the Netherlands

This chapter describes how the Second International Science Study (SISS) was conducted in lower secondary education (population 2) in the Netherlands and summarizes results from the international part of SISS, as well as findings from six national options and secondary analyses.
The findings show that international comparative research can be tuned to the interest of quite different groups of educational researchers. The results show how Dutch students in different school types achieve in science subjects. The differences between the implemented curricula of the school types and the outcomes at student level are particularly clear. Moreover, the results show that even within school types large differences between schools exist. Even without performing international comparisons, these findings have, in particular, a mirror function within the Netherlands, as they show that achievement of particular groups of students is below expectation, despite differences in curricula that are meant to accommodate the learning abilities of students in different school types. The national options offered a large variety of interesting research findings and demonstrate the surplus value that can be gained by adding these options to the international core design.