Special Analysis 2009

Synthesis of mathematics results

Table A-5. Average PISA scores of 15-year-old students on combined mathematics literacy scale, by jurisdiction: 2000, 2003, and 2006

	20001,2				2003			2006
Jurisdiction	Average score			s.e.	Average score		s.e.	Average score		s.e.
OECD average		500		*0.7*	∆	500	*0.6*	∆	498	*0.5*

OECD
Australia	∆	533		3.5	∆	524	2.1	∆	520	2.2
Austria	∆	515		2.5	∆	506	3.3	∆	505	3.7
Belgium	∆	520		3.9	∆	529	2.3	∆	520	3.0
Canada	∆	533		1.4	∆	532	1.8	∆	527	2.0
Czech Republic		498		2.8	∆	516	3.5	∆	510	3.6
Denmark	∆	514		2.4	∆	514	2.7	∆	513	2.6
Finland	∆	536		2.2	∆	544	1.9	∆	548	2.3
France	∆	517		2.7	∆	511	2.5	∆	496	3.2
Germany		490		2.5	∆	503	3.3	∆	504	3.9
Greece	▼	447		5.6	▼	445	3.9	▼	459	3.0
Hungary		488		4.0		490	2.8	∆	491	2.9
Iceland	∆	514		2.3	∆	515	1.4	∆	506	1.8
Ireland		503		2.7	∆	503	2.4	∆	501	2.8
Italy	▼	457		2.9	▼	466	3.1	▼	462	2.3
Japan	∆	557		5.5	∆	534	4.0	∆	523	3.3
Korea, Republic of	∆	547		2.8	∆	542	3.2	∆	547	3.8
Luxembourg	▼	446		2.0	∆	493	1.0	∆	490	1.1
Mexico	▼	387		3.4	▼	385	3.6	▼	406	2.9
Netherlands		(³)		†	∆	538	3.1	∆	531	2.6
New Zealand	∆	537		3.1	∆	523	2.3	∆	522	2.4
Norway		499		2.8	∆	495	2.4	∆	490	2.6
Poland	▼	470		5.5		490	2.5	∆	495	2.4
Portugal	▼	454		4.1	▼	466	3.4		466	3.1
Slovak Republic		—		†	∆	498	3.3	∆	492	2.8
Spain	▼	476		3.1		485	2.4		480	2.3
Sweden	∆	510		2.5	∆	509	2.6	∆	502	2.4
Switzerland	∆	529		4.4	∆	527	3.4	∆	530	3.2
Turkey		—		†	▼	423	6.7	▼	424	4.9
United Kingdom	∆	529		2.5		(⁴)	†	∆	495	2.1
United States		493		*7.6*		483	*2.9*		474	*4.0*

Non-OECD
Albania	▼	381	⁵	3.1		—	†		—	†
Argentina	▼	388	⁵	9.4		—	†	▼	381	6.2
Azerbaijan		—		†		—	†		476	2.3
Brazil	▼	334		3.7	▼	356	4.8	▼	370	2.9
Bulgaria	▼	430	⁵	5.7		—	†	▼	413	6.1
Chile	▼	384	⁵	3.7		—	†	▼	411	4.6
Chinese Taipei		—		†		—	†	∆	549	4.1
Colombia		—		†		—	†	▼	370	3.8
Croatia		—		†		—	†		467	2.4
Estonia		—		†		—	†	∆	515	2.7
Hong Kong-China	∆	560	⁵	3.3	∆	550	4.5	∆	547	2.7
Indonesia	▼	367	⁵	4.5	▼	360	3.9	▼	391	5.6
Israel	▼	433	⁵	9.3		—	†	▼	442	4.3
Jordan		—		†		—	†	▼	384	3.3
Kyrgyz Republic		—		†		—	†	▼	311	3.4
Latvia	▼	463		4.5		483	3.7	∆	486	3.0
Liechtenstein	∆	514		7.0	∆	536	4.1	∆	525	4.2
Lithuania		—		†		—	†	∆	486	2.9
Macao-China		—		†	∆	527	2.9	∆	525	1.3
Macedonia, FYR	▼	381		2.7		—	†		—	†
Montenegro, Republic of⁶		—		†		—	†	▼	399	1.4
Peru	▼	292		4.4		—	†		—	†
Qatar		—		†		—	†	▼	318	1.0
Romania	▼	426		4.3		—	†	▼	415	4.2
Russian Federation		478		5.5	▼	468	4.2		476	3.9
Serbia, Republic of⁶		—		†	▼	437	3.8	▼	435	3.5
Slovenia		—		†		—	†	∆	504	1.0
Thailand	▼	432	⁵	3.6	▼	417	3.0	▼	417	2.3
Tunisia		—		†	▼	359	2.5	▼	365	4.0
Uruguay		—		†	▼	422	3.3	▼	427	2.6
∆ Score is higher than U.S. score.
▼ Score is lower than U.S. score.
— Not available. (Data were not collected or not reported.)
† Not applicable.
¹Tests for significance have been updated from what was presented in the Program for International Student Assessment 2000 U.S. report (Lemke et al. 2001). Some country differences reported here were not reported as statistically significant in the PISA 2000 U.S. report. In that report, a Bonferroni adjustment was used in all multiple comparisons of countries. This was not the case when PISA 2003 and 2006 data were analyzed and reported, thus PISA 2000 tests have been updated in this report to keep consistency across years. For more details, see appendix A.
²The PISA mathematics framework was revised in 2003. Because of changes in the framework, it is not possible to compare mathematics learning outcomes from PISA 2000 with those from PISA 2003 and PISA 2006. The line dividing PISA 2000 results from those of PISA 2003 and PISA 2006 indicates that these data are not comparable. For more details, see OECD 2007 (available at http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/30/17/39703267.pdf).
³Because of technical problems with its sample, 2000 data for the Netherlands have been omitted from PISA reports.
⁴Because of low response rates, 2003 data for the United Kingdom have been omitted from PISA reports.
⁵Did not participate with other jurisdictions in PISA in 2000; administered PISA in 2001.
⁶The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united jurisdiction for the PISA 2003 assessment.
NOTE: The OECD average is the average of the national averages of the OECD member jurisdictions. Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD jurisdictions are displayed separately from those of the OECD jurisdictions and are not included in the OECD average. Jurisdictions are ordered alphabetically. Combined mathematics literacy scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between the United States and one country may be significant while a large difference between the United States and another country may not be significant. Standard error is noted by s.e.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2000, 2003, and 2006.

For more information: Baldi, S., Jin, Y., Skemer, M., Green, P.J., and Herget, D. (2007). Highlights From PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2008–016), table 3 and table C-7. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC; Lemke, M., Sen, A., Pahlke, E., Partelow, L., Miller, D., Williams, T., Kastberg, D., Jocelyn, L. (2004). International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics Literacy and Problem Solving: PISA 2003 Results From the U.S. Perspective (NCES 2005–003), table 2 and table B-3. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (2003). Literacy Skills for the World of Tomorrow: Further Results from PISA 2000, figure 3.2. Paris: Author.

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