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Table B.1.47. Average scores of 15-year-old students on reading literacy scale, by country: 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009
Country 2000   2003   2006   2009
Score s.e.   Score s.e.   Score s.e.   Score s.e.
OECD trend score1 496 0.7   ― †   ― †   495 0.5
                       
OECD countries                      
Australia 528 3.5   525 2.1   513 2.1   515 2.3
Austria 507 2.4   491 3.8   490 4.1   470 2.9
Belgium 507 3.6   507 2.6   501 3.0   506 2.3
Canada 534 1.6   528 1.7   527 2.4   524 1.5
Chile 410 3.6   ― †   442 5.0   449 3.1
Czech Republic 492 2.4   489 3.5   483 4.2   478 2.9
Denmark 497 2.4   492 2.8   494 3.2   495 2.1
Estonia ― †   ― †   501 2.9   501 2.6
Finland 546 2.6   543 1.6   547 2.1   536 2.3
France 505 2.7   496 2.7   488 4.1   496 3.4
Germany 484 2.5   491 3.4   495 4.4   497 2.7
Greece 474 5.0   472 4.1   460 4.0   483 4.3
Hungary 480 4.0   482 2.5   482 3.3   494 3.2
Iceland 507 1.5   492 1.6   484 1.9   500 1.4
Ireland 527 3.2   515 2.6   517 3.5   496 3.0
Israel 452 8.5   ― †   439 4.6   474 3.6
Italy 487 2.9   476 3.0   469 2.4   486 1.6
Japan 522 5.2   498 3.9   498 3.6   520 3.5
Korea, Republic of 525 2.4   534 3.1   556 3.8   539 3.5
Luxembourg 441 1.6   479 1.5   479 1.3   472 1.3
Mexico 422 3.3   400 4.1   410 3.1   425 2.0
Netherlands2 ― †   513 2.9   507 2.9   508 5.1
New Zealand 529 2.8   522 2.5   521 3.0   521 2.4
Norway 505 2.8   500 2.8   484 3.2   503 2.6
Poland 479 4.5   497 2.9   508 2.8   500 2.6
Portugal 470 4.5   478 3.7   472 3.6   489 3.1
Slovak Republic ― †   469 3.1   466 3.1   477 2.5
Slovenia ― †   ― †   494 1.0   483 1.0
Spain 493 2.7   481 2.6   461 2.2   481 2.0
Sweden 516 2.2   514 2.4   507 3.4   497 2.9
Switzerland 494 4.3   499 3.3   499 3.1   501 2.4
Turkey ― †   441 5.8   447 4.2   464 3.5
United Kingdom3 ― †   ― †   495 2.3   494 2.3
United States4 504 7.0   495 3.2   ― †   500 3.7
                       
Non-OECD countries                      
Albania 349 3.3   ― †   ― †   385 4.0
Argentina 418 9.9   ― †   374 7.2   398 4.6
Azerbaijan ― †   ― †   353 3.1   362 3.3
Brazil 396 3.1   403 4.6   393 3.7   412 2.7
Bulgaria 430 4.9   ― †   402 6.9   429 6.7
Chinese Taipei ― †   ― †   496 3.4   495 2.6
Colombia ― †   ― †   385 5.1   413 3.7
Croatia ― †   ― †   477 2.8   476 2.9
Dubai-UAE ― †   ― †   ― †   459 1.1
Hong Kong-China 525 2.9   510 3.7   536 2.4   533 2.1
Indonesia 371 4.0   382 3.4   393 5.9   402 3.7
Jordan ― †   ― †   401 3.3   405 3.3
Kazakhstan ― †   ― †   ― †   390 3.1
Kyrgyz Republic ― †   ― †   285 3.5   314 3.2
Latvia 458 5.3   491 3.7   479 3.7   484 3.0
Liechtenstein 483 4.1   525 3.6   510 3.9   499 2.8
Lithuania ― †   ― †   470 3.0   468 2.4
Macao-China ― †   498 2.2   492 1.1   487 0.9
Macedonia 373 1.9   ― †   ― †   ― †
Montenegro, Republic of5 ― †   412 3.6   392 1.2   408 1.7
Panama ― †   ― †   ― †   371 6.5
Peru 327 4.4   ― †   ― †   370 4.0
Qatar ― †   ― †   312 1.2   372 0.8
Romania6 ― †   ― †   396 4.7   424 4.1
Russian Federation 462 4.2   442 3.9   440 4.3   459 3.3
Serbia, Republic of5 ― †   412 3.6   401 3.5   442 2.4
Shanghai-China ― †   ― †   ― †   556 2.4
Singapore ― †   ― †   ― †   526 1.1
Thailand 431 3.2   420 2.8   417 2.6   421 2.6
Trinidad and Tobago ― †   ― †   ― †   416 1.2
Tunisia ― †   375 2.8   380 4.0   404 2.9
Uruguay ― †   434 3.4   413 3.4   426 2.6
―Not available.
† Not applicable.
1 The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) trend scores are based on the averages of the 27 countries that participated in both the 2000 and 2009 assessments, met all technical standards, and that are currently members of the OECD. The seven current OECD members not included in the OECD averages used to report on trends in reading literacy include the Slovak Republic and Turkey, which joined the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003; Estonia and Slovenia, which joined PISA in 2006; Luxembourg, which experienced substantial changes in its assessment conditions between 2000 and 2003; and the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, which did not meet the PISA response-rate standards in 2000.
2 Although the Netherlands participated in PISA 2000, technical problems with its sample prevent its results from being included.
3 Although the United Kingdom participated in 2000 and 2003, low response rates prevent its results from being included.
4 PISA 2006 reading literacy results are not reported for the United States because of an error in printing the test booklets. For more details, see Baldi et al. 2007 (available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2008016).
5 The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united country under the PISA 2003 assessment.
6 The 2000 results for Romania were not reported by OECD due to delayed submission of data. Romania did not participate in PISA in 2003.
NOTE: Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD countries are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. Standard error is noted by s.e. In the country column, italics indicate non-national entities. UAE refers to United Arab Emirates.
SOURCE: Fleischman, H.L., Hopstock, P. J., Pelczar, M.P, and Shelly, 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), supplemental table R5. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
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