threshold point or minimum score along an achievement distribution; study participants who meet a benchmark are considered to have the knowledge and skills related to the proficiency level defined by the benchmark; for example, a score of 120 on a science metric could be a benchmark for acceptable performance in science after completion of primary school

regional jurisdictions of countries (e.g., states or provinces) that participate in an ILSA; in some instances entire countries (e.g., in TIMSS 2015, where Norway assessed its fifth and ninth grades but also collected benchmark data at fourth and eighth grades so that the results for the latter were reported separately)

board of participating countries

background questionnaire

balanced repeated replication