Average PISA reading literacy scores of 15-year-old students, by jurisdiction: 2000, 2003, and 2006

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Table B.1.06.

Average PISA reading literacy scores of 15-year-old students, by jurisdiction: 2000, 2003, and 2006

Jurisdiction	2000¹					2003				2006
Jurisdiction	Average score			s.e.		Average score		s.e.		Average score	s.e.
OECD average		500		0.6			494	0.7		492	0.6

OECD countries
Australia		528		3.5	∆		525	2.1	∆	513	2.1
Austria		507		2.4			491	3.8		490	4.1
Belgium		507		3.6			507	2.6	∆	501	3.0
Canada		534		1.6	∆		528	1.7	∆	527	2.4
Czech Republic		492		2.4			489	3.5		483	4.2

Denmark		497		2.4			492	2.8		494	3.2
Finland		546		2.6	∆		543	1.6	∆	547	2.1
France		505		2.7			496	2.7		488	4.1
Germany		484		2.5	▼		491	3.4		495	4.4
Greece		474		5.0	▼		472	4.1	▼	460	4.0

Hungary		480		4.0	▼		482	2.5	▼	482	3.3
Iceland		507		1.5			492	1.6		484	1.9
Ireland		527		3.2	∆		515	2.6	∆	517	3.5
Italy		487		2.9	▼		476	3.0	▼	469	2.4
Japan		522		5.2	∆		498	3.9		498	3.6

Korea, Republic of		525		2.4	∆		534	3.1	∆	556	3.8
Luxembourg		441		1.6	▼		479	1.5	▼	479	1.3
Mexico		422		3.3	▼		400	4.1	▼	410	3.1
Netherlands		(2)		†			513	2.9	∆	507	2.9
New Zealand		529		2.8	∆		522	2.5	∆	521	3.0

Norway		505		2.8			500	2.8		484	3.2
Poland		479		4.5	▼		497	2.9		508	2.8
Portugal		470		4.5	▼		478	3.7	▼	472	3.6
Slovak Republic		—		†			469	3.1	▼	466	3.1
Spain		493		2.7			481	2.6	▼	461	2.2

Sweden		516		2.2			514	2.4	∆	507	3.4
Switzerland		494		4.2			499	3.3		499	3.1
Turkey		—		†			441	5.8	▼	447	4.2
United Kingdom		523		2.6	∆		(3)	†		495	2.3
United States		504		*7.0*			495	*3.2*		(4)	†

Non-OECD jurisdictions
Albania		349	⁵	3.3	▼		—	†		—	†
Argentina		418	⁵	9.9	▼		—	†		374	7.2
Azerbaijan		—		†			—	†		353	3.1
Brazil		396		3.1	▼		403	4.6	▼	393	3.7
Bulgaria		430	⁵	4.9	▼		—	†		402	6.9

Chile		410	⁵	3.6	▼		—	†		442	5.0
Chinese Taipei		—		†			—	†		496	3.4
Colombia		—		†			—	†		385	5.1
Croatia		—		†			—	†		477	2.8
Estonia		—		†			—	†		501	2.9

Hong Kong-China		525	⁵	2.9	∆		510	3.7	∆	536	2.4
Indonesia		371	⁵	4.0	▼		382	3.4	▼	393	5.9
Israel		452	⁵	8.5	▼		—	†		439	4.6
Jordan		—		†			—	†		401	3.3
Kyrgyz Republic		—		†			—	†		285	3.5

Latvia		458		5.3	▼		491	3.7		479	3.7
Liechtenstein		483		4.1	▼		525	3.6	∆	510	3.9
Lithuania		—		†			—	†		470	3.0
Macao-China		—		†			498	2.2		492	1.1
Macedonia, FYR		373	⁵	1.9	▼		—	†		—	†

Montenegro, Republic of⁶		—		†			412	3.6	▼	392	1.2
Peru		327	⁵	4.4	▼		—	†		—	†
Qatar		—		†			—	†		312	1.2
Romania		428		3.5	▼		—	†		396	4.7
Russian Federation		462		4.2	▼		442	3.9	▼	440	4.3

Serbia, Republic of⁶		—		†			412	3.6	▼	401	3.5
Slovenia		—		†			—	†		494	1.0
Thailand		431	⁵	3.2	▼		420	2.8	▼	417	2.6
Tunisia		—		†			375	2.8	▼	380	4.0
Uruguay		—		†			434	3.4	▼	413	3.4

∆ Score is higher than U.S. score (p <.05).

▼ Score is lower than U.S. score (p <.05).

— Not available. (Data were not collected or not reported.)

† Not applicable.

1 Tests for significance have been updated from what was presented in the PISA 2000 U.S. report (Lemke, Calsyn, Lippman, Jocelyn, Kastberg, Liu, Roey, Williams, Kruger, and Bairu, 2001). Some jurisdiction differences reported here were not reported as statistically significant in the PISA 2000 U.S. report. In that report, a Bonferroni adjustment was used in all multiple comparisons of jurisdictions. This was not the case when PISA 2003 and 2006 data were analyzed and reported, thus PISA 2000 tests have been updated in this report to keep consistency across years. For more details, see appendix A of Provasnik, Gonzales, and Miller (2009).

²Because of technical problems with its sample, 2000 data for the Netherlands have been omitted from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) reports.

³Because of low response rates, 2003 data for the United Kingdom have been omitted from PISA reports.

⁴PISA 2006 reading literacy results for the United States were compromised because of an error in printing the test booklets.

⁵Did not participate with other jurisdictions in PISA in 2000; administered PISA in 2001.

⁶The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united jurisdiction for the PISA 2003 assessment.

NOTE: The OECD average is the average of the national averages of the OECD member countries. Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD jurisdictions are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries and are not included in the OECD average. Jurisdictions are ordered alphabetically. Reading literacy scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between the United States and one jurisdiction may be significant while a large difference between the United States and another jurisdiction may not be significant. Standard error is noted by s.e.

SOURCE: Data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2000, 2003, and 2006. Provasnik, S., Gonzales, P., and Miller, D. (2009). U.S. Performance Across International Assessments of Student Achievement: Special Supplement to The Condition of Education 2009 (NCES 2009-083), table A-2. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.