Elementary and Secondary Education

Assessments

Table A-26-2. Percentage of 15-year-old students scoring at selected PISA proficiency levels on the mathematics literacy scale, by country: 2003 and 2009

Country	Percent in 2003		Percent in 2009		Percentage point change (PISA 2009 - PISA 2003)
Country	Below level 2	Level 5 and above	Below level 2	Level 5 and above	Below level 2		Level 5 and above
OECD average¹	20.8	14.6	22.0	12.7	†		†
OECD trend average²	20.8	14.6	22.1	12.8	1.3	*	-1.8	*
OECD countries
Australia	14.3	19.8	15.9	16.4	1.5		-3.3	*
Austria	18.8	14.3	23.2	12.9	4.5	*	-1.3
Belgium	16.5	26.4	19.1	20.4	2.6	*	-6.1	*
Canada	10.1	20.3	11.5	18.3	1.4		-2.0	*
Chile²	―	―	51.0	1.3	†		†

Czech Republic	16.6	18.3	22.3	11.6	5.8	*	-6.6	*
Denmark	15.4	15.9	17.1	11.6	1.6		-4.4	*
Estonia²	―	―	12.6	12.1	†		†
Finland	6.8	23.4	7.8	21.7	1.1		-1.7
France	16.6	15.1	22.5	13.7	5.9	*	-1.4

Germany	21.6	16.2	18.6	17.8	-3.0		1.6
Greece	38.9	4.0	30.3	5.7	-8.6	*	1.7	*
Hungary	23.0	10.7	22.3	10.1	-0.7		-0.6
Iceland	15.0	15.5	17.0	13.6	2.0	*	-1.9	*
Ireland	16.8	11.4	20.8	6.7	4.0	*	-4.7	*

Israel²	―	―	39.5	5.9	†		†
Italy	31.9	7.0	24.9	9.0	-7.0	*	1.9	*
Japan	13.3	24.3	12.5	20.9	-0.8		-3.4
Korea, Republic of	9.5	24.8	8.1	25.6	-1.4		0.8
Luxembourg	21.7	10.8	23.9	11.4	2.2	*	0.5

Mexico	65.9	0.4	50.8	0.7	-15.1	*	0.3	*
Netherlands	10.9	25.5	13.4	19.9	2.5		-5.6	*
New Zealand	15.1	20.7	15.4	18.9	0.3		-1.8
Norway	20.8	11.4	18.2	10.2	-2.7		-1.2
Poland	22.0	10.1	20.5	10.4	-1.6		0.3

Portugal	30.1	5.4	23.7	9.6	-6.4	*	4.3	*
Slovak Republic	19.9	12.7	21.0	12.7	1.1		#
Slovenia²	―	―	20.3	14.2	†		†
Spain	23.0	7.9	23.7	8.0	0.8		0.1
Sweden	17.3	15.8	21.1	11.4	3.8	*	-4.4	*

Switzerland	14.5	21.2	13.5	24.1	-1.1		2.9
Turkey	52.2	5.5	42.1	5.6	-10.1	*	0.2
United Kingdom²	‡	‡	20.2	9.8	†		†
United States	25.7	10.1	23.4	9.9	-2.3		-0.2

Non-OECD countries
Albania	―	―	67.7	0.4	†		†
Argentina	―	―	63.6	0.9	†		†
Azerbaijan	―	―	45.3	1.1	†		†
Brazil	75.2	1.2	69.1	0.8	-6.0	*	-0.4
Bulgaria	―	―	47.1	3.8	†		†

Chinese Taipei	―	―	12.8	28.6	†		†
Colombia	―	―	70.4	‡	†		†
Croatia	―	―	33.2	4.9	†		†
Dubai-UAE	―	―	38.8	6.5	†		†
Hong Kong-China	10.4	30.7	8.8	30.7	-1.6		#

Indonesia	78.1	‡	76.7	‡	-1.5		†
Jordan	―	―	65.3	‡	†		†
Kazakhstan	―	―	59.1	1.2	†		†
Kyrgyz Republic	―	―	86.6	#	†		†
Latvia	23.7	8.0	22.6	5.7	-1.2		-2.3	*

Liechtenstein	12.3	25.6	9.5	18.1	-2.8		-7.6
Lithuania	―	―	26.3	7.0	†		†
Macao-China	11.2	18.7	11.0	17.1	-0.2		-1.5
Montenegro, Republic of³	―	―	58.4	1.0	†		†
Panama	―	―	78.8	‡	†		†

Peru	―	―	73.5	0.6	†		†
Qatar	―	―	73.8	1.8	†		†
Romania	―	―	47.0	1.3	†		†
Russian Federation	30.2	7.0	28.6	5.2	-1.6		-1.8
Serbia, Republic of³	42.1	2.3	40.6	3.5	-1.5		1.2

Shanghai-China	―	―	4.9	50.4	†		†
Singapore	―	―	9.8	35.6	†		†
Thailand	54.0	1.6	52.5	1.3	-1.4		-0.4
Trinidad and Tobago	―	―	53.2	2.5	†		†
Tunisia	78.0	‡	73.6	‡	-4.4	*	†
Uruguay	48.1	2.8	47.6	2.4	-0.5		-0.4

―Not available.

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

‡ Reporting standards not met. There are too few observations to provide reliable estimates.

* p<05. Significant percentage point change from 2003 to 2009 at the05 level of statistical significance.

¹ The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average is based on 34 OECD countries in 2009 and 29 OECD countries in 2003.

2 The OECD trend average used for the analysis of mathematics literacy trends is based on the averages of the 29 OECD countries with comparable data for 2003 and 2009, with each country weighted equally. The five current OECD members not included in the OECD averages used to report on trends in mathematics literacy were Chile, Estonia, Israel, and Slovenia, which did not participate in 2003; and the United Kingdom, which did not meet the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) response rate standards for the 2003 assessment.

³The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united country under the PISA 2003 assessment.

NOTE: Proficiency in mathematics was defined in terms of levels based on student performance scores on each mathematics literacy scale. Mathematics literacy was assessed along a continuum, with proficiency below level 2 indicative of the low-performing students and proficiency level 5 and above indicative of the high-performing students. In mathematics, proficiency below level 2 is defined by scoring below 420, and proficiency level 5 and above is defined by scoring 607 and above. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD countries are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries and are not included in the OECD average. Italics indicate education systems in non-national entities. UAE is the United Arab Emirates. For more information on PISA, see Appendix B - Guide to Sources.

SOURCE: Fleischman, H.L., Hopstock, P.J., Pelczar, M.P., and Shelley, B.E. (2010). Highlights From PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2011-004), table M4A; OECD. (2010). PISA 2009 Results: Learning Trends - Changes in Student Performance Since 2000 (Volume V), table V.3.2; and OECD, previously unpublished tabulations (October 2011).

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