Indicators Part II: Academic Performance

Together, the indicators in the academic performance section provide an overview of academic performance in 2011 or 2012 (indicators 5–8) in key content areas, a more detailed look at academic performance in particular aspects of those content areas (indicators 9–11), and an examination of changes over time in mean student performance (indicators 12–14).

• Indicators 5–7 describe the distribution of students across performance levels corresponding to international bench-marks in reading, mathematics, and science at the fourth and eighth grades and at 15 years of age.
• Indicator 8 describes the distribution of adults across levels of proficiency in literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments. This is the first indicator in the G-8/G-20 series to use data from the new OECD assessment of adults.
• Indicators 9–11 examine the mean performance of students on reading, mathematics, and science subscales at the fourth and eighth grades and at 15 years of age. These indicators show relative strengths and weaknesses in subcontent areas within countries and differences in those strengths and weaknesses across countries.
• Indicators 12–14 present changes in countries' mean scores in reading, mathematics, and science over time and across grades and ages.

The indicators in this section draw on data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), which assesses reading literacy in the fourth grade every 5 years; the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which assesses mathematics and science achievement in the fourth and eighth grades every 4 years; the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which assesses 15-year-old students in reading, mathematics, and science literacy every 3 years; and the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which assesses literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments.