Chinese and foreign officials and educational specialists gathered in north China's Shanxi Province Tuesday to launch the Program of International Students Assessment(PISA).

It is the first time the Paris-headquartered Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has entered educational cooperation with a provincial area rather than a country.

The PISA will analyze and test sample middle school students in the province every three years. After nine years, related figures will be used to demonstrate the education levels of the country, thus providing guidance for the government's educational policy-making.

The PISA has been carried out in 29 member countries of the OECD and some other countries since 1998, sources with the OECD said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2002)