Mean scores and percentage distribution of 15-year-olds scoring at each mathematics literacy proficiency level, by country: 2003

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Table 400.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                       |         |               Percentage distribution at levels of proficiency
                       |     Mean|_____________________________________________________________________________
Country                |    score|     Below|          |          |          |          |          |
                       |         |Level 1\1\|Level 1\2\|Level 2\3\|Level 3\4\|Level 4\5\|Level 5\6\|Level 6\7\
_______________________|_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|___________
1                      |        2|         3|         4|         5|         6|         7|         8|          9
_______________________|_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|___________
   OECD total\8\ ......|489(1.07)|11.0(0.32)|14.6(0.32)|21.2(0.28)|22.4(0.32)|17.6(0.25)| 9.6(0.19)|  3.5(0.19)
   OECD average\9\ ....|500(0.63)| 8.2(0.17)|13.2(0.16)|21.1(0.15)|23.7(0.18)|19.1(0.17)|10.6(0.13)|  4.0(0.10)
                       |_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|___________
Australia .............|524(2.15)| 4.3(0.45)|10.0(0.51)|18.6(0.62)|24.0(0.71)|23.3(0.64)|14.0(0.53)|  5.8(0.45)
Austria ...............|506(3.27)| 5.6(0.70)|13.2(0.84)|21.6(0.90)|24.9(1.14)|20.5(0.84)|10.5(0.85)|  3.7(0.52)
Belgium ...............|529(2.29)| 7.2(0.56)| 9.3(0.49)|15.9(0.65)|20.1(0.71)|21.0(0.62)|17.5(0.69)|  9.0(0.48)
Canada ................|532(1.82)| 2.4(0.26)| 7.7(0.36)|18.3(0.61)|26.2(0.67)|25.1(0.60)|14.8(0.55)|  5.5(0.45)
Czech Republic ........|516(3.55)| 5.0(0.69)|11.6(0.90)|20.1(0.96)|24.3(0.95)|20.8(0.87)|12.9(0.80)|  5.3(0.53)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Denmark ...............|514(2.74)| 4.7(0.50)|10.7(0.62)|20.6(0.89)|26.2(0.88)|21.9(0.83)|11.8(0.86)|  4.1(0.50)
Finland ...............|544(1.87)| 1.5(0.23)| 5.3(0.38)|16.0(0.57)|27.7(0.65)|26.1(0.89)|16.7(0.64)|  6.7(0.46)
France ................|511(2.50)| 5.6(0.68)|11.0(0.77)|20.2(0.82)|25.9(0.99)|22.1(0.97)|11.6(0.72)|  3.5(0.40)
Germany ...............|503(3.32)| 9.2(0.84)|12.4(0.81)|19.0(1.05)|22.6(0.82)|20.6(1.02)|12.2(0.87)|  4.1(0.48)
Greece ................|445(3.90)|17.8(1.21)|21.2(1.15)|26.3(1.04)|20.2(1.01)|10.6(0.87)| 3.4(0.53)|  0.6(0.17)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Hungary ...............|490(2.84)| 7.8(0.80)|15.2(0.81)|23.8(1.05)|24.3(0.93)|18.2(0.90)| 8.2(0.73)|  2.5(0.42)
Iceland ...............|515(1.42)| 4.5(0.40)|10.5(0.55)|20.2(1.02)|26.1(0.88)|23.2(0.81)|11.7(0.61)|  3.7(0.36)
Ireland ...............|503(2.45)| 4.7(0.57)|12.1(0.84)|23.6(0.83)|28.0(0.82)|20.2(1.06)| 9.1(0.76)|  2.2(0.33)
Italy .................|466(3.08)|13.2(1.19)|18.7(0.93)|24.7(1.03)|22.9(0.84)|13.4(0.73)| 5.5(0.43)|  1.5(0.19)
Japan .................|534(4.02)| 4.7(0.65)| 8.6(0.72)|16.3(0.80)|22.4(1.02)|23.6(1.24)|16.1(0.96)|  8.2(1.14)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Korea, Republic of ....|542(3.24)| 2.5(0.32)| 7.1(0.65)|16.6(0.80)|24.1(0.98)|25.0(1.08)|16.7(0.81)|  8.1(0.93)
Luxembourg ............|493(0.97)| 7.4(0.41)|14.3(0.65)|22.9(0.87)|25.9(0.79)|18.7(0.85)| 8.5(0.59)|  2.4(0.31)
Mexico ................|385(3.64)|38.1(1.71)|27.9(1.02)|20.8(0.87)|10.1(0.84)| 2.7(0.39)| 0.4(0.10)|   #  (†)
Netherlands ...........|538(3.13)| 2.6(0.65)| 8.4(0.95)|18.0(1.11)|23.0(1.14)|22.6(1.34)|18.2(1.09)|  7.3(0.58)
New Zealand ...........|523(2.26)| 4.9(0.44)|10.1(0.63)|19.2(0.71)|23.2(0.90)|21.9(0.80)|14.1(0.60)|  6.6(0.44)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Norway ................|495(2.38)| 6.9(0.50)|13.9(0.82)|23.7(1.16)|25.2(1.01)|18.9(1.00)| 8.7(0.57)|  2.7(0.35)
Poland ................|490(2.50)| 6.8(0.61)|15.2(0.76)|24.8(0.75)|25.3(0.94)|17.7(0.89)| 7.8(0.49)|  2.3(0.31)
Portugal ..............|466(3.40)|11.3(1.11)|18.8(0.99)|27.1(0.99)|24.0(1.03)|13.4(0.94)| 4.6(0.47)|  0.8(0.16)
Slovak Republic .......|498(3.35)| 6.7(0.85)|13.2(0.86)|23.5(0.88)|24.9(1.08)|18.9(0.82)| 9.8(0.68)|  2.9(0.38)
Spain .................|485(2.41)| 8.1(0.66)|14.9(0.87)|24.7(0.78)|26.7(1.02)|17.7(0.65)| 6.5(0.62)|  1.4(0.25)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Sweden ................|509(2.56)| 5.6(0.52)|11.7(0.60)|21.7(0.84)|25.5(0.95)|19.8(0.81)|11.6(0.57)|  4.1(0.49)
Switzerland ...........|527(3.38)| 4.9(0.45)| 9.6(0.57)|17.5(0.80)|24.3(0.98)|22.5(0.72)|14.2(1.05)|  7.0(0.90)
Turkey ................|423(6.74)|27.7(2.01)|24.6(1.33)|22.1(1.12)|13.5(1.27)| 6.8(1.05)| 3.1(0.82)|  2.4(1.02)
United Kingdom\10\ ....|508(2.43)| 5.2(0.54)|12.5(0.67)|21.2(1.20)|25.6(0.88)|20.6(0.73)|11.0(0.73)|  3.9(0.43)
United States .........|483(2.95)|10.2(0.80)|15.5(0.81)|23.9(0.80)|23.8(0.79)|16.6(0.73)| 8.0(0.53)|  2.0(0.36)
                       |=========|==========|==========|==========|==========|==========|==========|===========
Non-OECD countries     |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  Brazil ..............|356(4.83)|53.3(1.94)|21.9(1.09)|14.1(0.86)| 6.8(0.78)| 2.7(0.47)| 0.9(0.36)|  0.3(0.16)
  Hong Kong-China .....|550(4.54)| 3.9(0.72)| 6.5(0.64)|13.9(1.00)|20.0(1.25)|25.0(1.17)|20.2(1.00)| 10.5(0.94)
  Indonesia ...........|360(3.91)|50.5(2.08)|27.6(1.05)|14.8(1.07)| 5.5(0.71)| 1.4(0.39)| 0.2(0.09)|   #  (†)
  Latvia ..............|483(3.69)| 7.6(0.86)|16.1(1.08)|25.5(1.17)|26.3(1.15)|16.6(1.17)| 6.3(0.70)|  1.6(0.36)
  Liechtenstein .......|536(4.12)| 4.8(1.33)| 7.5(1.66)|17.3(2.78)|21.6(2.54)|23.2(3.09)|18.3(3.22)|  7.3(1.73)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  Macao-China .........|527(2.89)| 2.3(0.60)| 8.8(1.34)|19.6(1.40)|26.8(1.77)|23.7(1.71)|13.8(1.55)|  4.8(0.96)
  Russian Federation ..|468(4.20)|11.4(1.03)|18.8(1.09)|26.4(1.13)|23.1(1.02)|13.2(0.92)| 5.4(0.58)|  1.6(0.38)
  Serbia and Montenegro|437(3.75)|17.6(1.35)|24.5(1.08)|28.6(1.16)|18.9(1.11)| 8.1(0.88)| 2.1(0.41)|  0.2(0.10)
  Thailand ............|417(3.00)|23.8(1.28)|30.2(1.25)|25.4(1.12)|13.7(0.85)| 5.3(0.53)| 1.5(0.31)|  0.2(0.10)
  Tunisia .............|359(2.54)|51.1(1.37)|26.9(0.95)|14.7(0.75)| 5.7(0.61)| 1.4(0.30)| 0.2(0.12)|   #  (†)
                       |         |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  Uruguay .............|422(3.29)|26.3(1.30)|21.8(0.80)|24.2(0.89)|16.8(0.68)| 8.2(0.65)| 2.3(0.33)|  0.5(0.17)
_______________________|_________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|___________

†Not applicable.
#Rounds to zero.
\1\Less than or equal 357.77 score points. Does not meet the requirements for proficiency at level 1.
\2\A score greater than 357.77 and less than or equal to 420.07. Indicates an ability to answer questions involving familiar contexts where all relevant information is present and the questions are clearly defined.
\3\A score greater than 420.07 and less than or equal to 482.38. Indicates an ability to interpret and recognize situations in contexts that require no more than direct inference, extract relevant information from a single source, and employ direct reasoning for literal interpretations of results.
\4\A score greater than 482.38 and less than or equal to 544.68. Indicates an ability to execute clearly described procedures, interpret and use representations based on different information sources, and develop short communications reporting their interpretations, results, and reasoning.
\5\A score greater than 544.68 and less than or equal to 606.99. Indicates an ability to work effectively with explicit models for complex concrete situations that may involve constraints or call for making assumptions, select and integrate different represenations, reason with some insight, and construct and communicate explanations and arguments based on their interpretations and actions.
\6\A score greater than 606.99 and less than or equal to 669.3. Indicates an ability to develop and work with models for complex situations, work strategically using broad, well-developed thinking and reasoning skills, and communicate their interpretations and reasoning.
\7\A score greater than 669.3. Indicates an ability to conceptualize, generalize, and utilize information, link different information sources and representations, and formulate and precisely communicate actions and reflections regarding findings and interpretations.
\8\Illustrates how a country compares with the OECD area as a whole. Computed by taking the OECD countries as a single entity to which each country contributes in proportion to the number of 15-year-olds enrolled in its schools.
\9\Refers to the mean of the data values for all OECD countries, to which each country contributes equally, regardless of the absolute size of the student population of each country.
\10\Response rate was too low to ensure comparability with other countries.

NOTE: Mean score was designed to have an average of 500 points, and a standard deviation of 100. Standard errors appear in parentheses. Possible scores range from 0 to 1000. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2003, Learning for Tomorrow's World, 2003; U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, PISA, 2003, International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics Literacy and Problem Solving, 2003. (This table was prepared March 2005.)

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