Average scale scores among 15-year-olds on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) reading, mathematics, and science literacy assessments, by participating country and race/ethnicity in the United States: 2009

NCES 2012-026
December 2011

Youth Indicators 2011
America’s Youth: Transitions to Adulthood

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Table 13.	Average scale scores among 15-year-olds on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) reading, mathematics, and science literacy assessments, by participating country and race/ethnicity in the United States: 2009

Reading		Mathematics		Science
Country and race/ethnicity	Average score	Country and race/ethnicity	Average score	Country and race/ethnicity	Average score
OECD average	493	OECD average	496	OECD average	501

United States¹	500	United States¹	487	United States¹	502
White	525	White	515	White	532
Black	441	Black	423	Black	435
Hispanic	466	Hispanic	453	Hispanic	464
Asian	541	Asian	524	Asian	536
Two or more races	502	Two or more races	487	Two or more races	503

Countries whose score was higher than		Countries whose score was higher than		Countries whose score was higher than
the U.S. score		the U.S. score		the U.S. score
Korea, Republic of	539	Korea, Republic of	546	Finland	554
Finland	536	Finland	541	Japan	539
Canada	524	Switzerland	534	Korea, Republic of	538
New Zealand	521	Japan	529	New Zealand	532
Japan	520	Canada	527	Canada	529
Australia	515	Netherlands	526	Estonia	528
		New Zealand	519	Australia	527
Countries whose score was not measurably		Belgium	515	Netherlands	522
different from the U.S. score		Australia	514	Germany	520
Netherlands	508	Germany	513	Switzerland	517
Belgium	506	Estonia	512	United Kingdom	514
Norway	503	Iceland	507	Slovenia	512
Estonia	501	Denmark	503
Switzerland	501	Slovenia	501	Countries whose score was not measurably
Poland	500	Norway	498	different from the U.S. score
Iceland	500	France	497	Poland	508
Sweden	497	Slovak Republic	497	Ireland	508
Germany	497			Belgium	507
Ireland	496	Countries whose score was not measurably		Hungary	503
France	496	different from the U.S. score		Czech Republic	500
Denmark	495	Austria	496	Norway	500
United Kingdom	494	Poland	495	Denmark	499
Hungary	494	Sweden	494	France	498
		Czech Republic	493	Iceland	496
Countries whose score was lower than		United Kingdom	492	Sweden	495
the U.S. score		Hungary	490	Austria	494
Portugal	489	Luxembourg	489	Portugal	493
Italy	486	Ireland	487
Slovenia	483	Portugal	487	Countries whose score was lower than
Greece	483	Spain	483	the U.S. score
Spain	481	Italy	483	Slovak Republic	490
Czech Republic	478			Italy	489
Slovak Republic	477	Countries whose score was lower than		Spain	488
Israel	474	the U.S. score		Luxembourg	484
Luxembourg	472	Greece	466	Greece	470
Austria	470	Israel	447	Israel	455
Turkey	464	Turkey	445	Turkey	454
Chile	449	Chile	421	Chile	447
Mexico	425	Mexico	419	Mexico	416

¹Total includes other racial/ethnic groups not shown separately.
NOTE: The scale range for the PISA assessment is from 0 to 1,000. The scale was designed to have an average score of 500 points, with approximately two-thirds of students achieving between 400 and 600 points. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.