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

1 Total 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.