Trends in Student Performance: International Trends in Average Scores

• Mathematics Literacy
• Science Literacy
• Reading Literacy

Mathematics Literacy

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Table T2. Average scores and changes in average scores of 15-year-old students on PISA mathematics literacy scale, by education system: 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2012
Education system	Average score												Change in average score
	2003			2006			2009			2012			2012-2003					2012-2006					2012-2009
	Score	s.e.		Score	s.e.		Score	s.e.		Score	s.e.		Score			s.e.		Score			s.e.		Score			s.e.
OECD trend score1	500	0.6		498	0.5		499	0.6		496	0.5		-3	*		0.9		-1			0.9		-3	*		0.9
Shanghai-China	—	†		—	†		600	2.8		613	3.3		—			†		—			†		13	*		4.9
Singapore	—	†		—	†		562	1.4		573	1.3		—			†		—			†		11	*		3.0
Hong Kong-China	550	4.5		547	2.7		555	2.7		561	3.2		11			5.9		14	*		4.7		7			4.8
Chinese Taipei	—	†		549	4.1		543	3.4		560	3.3		—			†		10			5.7		17	*		5.3
Korea, Republic of	542	3.2		547	3.8		546	4.0		554	4.6		12			5.9		6			6.3		8			6.5
Macao-China	527	2.9		525	1.3		525	0.9		538	1.0		11	*		3.6		13	*		2.6		13	*		2.7
Japan	534	4.0		523	3.3		529	3.3		536	3.6		2			5.7		13	*		5.3		7			5.4
Liechtenstein	536	4.1		525	4.2		536	4.1		535	4.0		-1			6.0		10			6.1		-1			6.1
Switzerland	527	3.4		530	3.2		534	3.3		531	3.0		4			4.9		1			4.9		-3			5.0
Netherlands	538	3.1		531	2.6		526	4.7		523	3.5		-15	*		5.1		-8			4.8		-3			6.3
Estonia	—	†		515	2.7		512	2.6		521	2.0		—			†		6			4.0		8	*		4.0
Finland	544	1.9		548	2.3		541	2.2		519	1.9		-26	*		3.3		-30	*		3.7		-22	*		3.7
Canada	532	1.8		527	2.0		527	1.6		518	1.8		-14	*		3.2		-9	*		3.4		-9	*		3.4
Poland	490	2.5		495	2.4		495	2.8		518	3.6		27	*		4.8		22	*		4.8		23	*		5.1
Belgium	529	2.3		520	3.0		515	2.3		515	2.1		-15	*		3.7		-6			4.2		-1			3.9
Germany	503	3.3		504	3.9		513	2.9		514	2.9		11	*		4.8		10			5.3		1			4.7
Vietnam	—	†		—	†		—	†		511	4.8		—			†		—			†		—			†
Austria	506	3.3		505	3.7		496	2.7		506	2.7		#			†		#			†		10	*		4.4
Australia	524	2.1		520	2.2		514	2.5		504	1.6		-20	*		3.3		-16	*		3.5		-10	*		3.8
Ireland	503	2.4		501	2.8		487	2.5		501	2.2		-1			3.8		#			†		14	*		4.1
Slovenia	—	†		504	1.0		501	1.2		501	1.2		—			†		-3			2.6		#			†
Denmark	514	2.7		513	2.6		503	2.6		500	2.3		-14	*		4.1		-13	*		4.1		-3			4.2
New Zealand	523	2.3		522	2.4		519	2.3		500	2.2		-24	*		3.7		-22	*		3.9		-20	*		3.9
Czech Republic	516	3.5		510	3.6		493	2.8		499	2.9		-17	*		4.9		-11	*		5.0		6			4.6
France	511	2.5		496	3.2		497	3.1		495	2.5		-16	*		4.0		-1			4.5		-2			4.6
United Kingdom2	—	†		495	2.1		492	2.4		494	3.3		—			†		-2			4.4		2			4.7
Iceland	515	1.4		506	1.8		507	1.4		493	1.7		-22	*		2.9		-13	*		3.2		-14	*		3.2
Latvia	483	3.7		486	3.0		482	3.1		491	2.8		7			5.0		4			4.6		9			4.7
Luxembourg	493	1.0		490	1.1		489	1.2		490	1.1		-3			2.4		#			†		1			2.8
Norway	495	2.4		490	2.6		498	2.4		489	2.7		-6			4.1		#			†		-9	*		4.3
Portugal	466	3.4		466	3.1		487	2.9		487	3.8		21	*		5.5		21	*		5.3		#			†
Italy	466	3.1		462	2.3		483	1.9		485	2.0		20	*		4.2		24	*		3.7		2			3.6
Spain	485	2.4		480	2.3		483	2.1		484	1.9		-1			3.6		4			3.7		1			3.6
Russian Federation	468	4.2		476	3.9		468	3.3		482	3.0		14	*		5.5		6			5.3		14	*		5.0
Slovak Republic	498	3.3		492	2.8		497	3.1		482	3.4		-17	*		5.2		-10	*		4.9		-15	*		5.1
United States	483	2.9		474	4.0		487	3.6		481	3.6		-2			5.0		7			5.8		-6			5.6
Lithuania	—	†		486	2.9		477	2.6		479	2.6		—			†		-8			4.5		2			4.4
Sweden	509	2.6		502	2.4		494	2.9		478	2.3		-31	*		3.9		-24	*		3.9		-16	*		4.3
Hungary	490	2.8		491	2.9		490	3.5		477	3.2		-13	*		4.7		-14	*		4.8		-13	*		5.2
Croatia	—	†		467	2.4		460	3.1		471	3.5		—			†		4			4.7		11	*		5.2
Israel	—	†		442	4.3		447	3.3		466	4.7		—			†		25	*		6.7		20	*		6.2
Greece	445	3.9		459	3.0		466	3.9		453	2.5		8			5.0		-6			4.4		-13	*		5.2
Serbia, Republic of3	—	†		435	3.5		442	2.9		449	3.4		—			†		13	*		5.3		6			5.0
Turkey	423	6.7		424	4.9		445	4.4		448	4.8		25	*		8.5		24	*		7.2		3			7.0
Romania	—	†		415	4.2		427	3.4		445	3.8		—			†		30	*		6.0		17	*		5.6
Cyprus	—	†		—	†		—	†		440	1.1		—			†		—			†		—			†
Bulgaria	—	†		413	6.1		428	5.9		439	4.0		—			†		25	*		7.6		11			7.5
United Arab Emirates	—	†		—	†		—	†		434	2.4		—			†		—			†		—			†
Kazakhstan	—	†		—	†		405	3.0		432	3.0		—			†		—			†		27	*		4.9
Thailand	417	3.0		417	2.3		419	3.2		427	3.4		10	*		5.0		10	*		4.7		8			5.3
Chile	—	†		411	4.6		421	3.1		423	3.1		—			†		11			5.9		2			4.9
Malaysia4	—	†		—	†		404	2.7		421	3.2		—			†		—			†		16	*		4.8
Mexico	385	3.6		406	2.9		419	1.8		413	1.4		28	*		4.3		8	*		3.8		-5			3.2
Montenegro, Republic of3	—	†		399	1.4		403	2.0		410	1.1		—			†		10	*		2.7		7	*		3.2
Uruguay	422	3.3		427	2.6		427	2.6		409	2.8		-13	*		4.7		-18	*		4.3		-17	*		4.4
Costa Rica4	—	†		—	†		409	3.0		407	3.0		—			†		—			†		-2			4.8
Albania	—	†		—	†		377	4.0		394	2.0		—			†		—			†		17	*		5.0
Brazil	356	4.8		370	2.9		386	2.4		391	2.1		35	*		5.6		22	*		4.1		6			3.9
Argentina	—	†		381	6.2		388	4.1		388	3.5		—			†		7			7.5		#			†
Tunisia	359	2.5		365	4.0		371	3.0		388	3.9		29	*		5.0		22	*		5.9		16	*		5.4
Jordan	—	†		384	3.3		387	3.7		386	3.1		—			†		2			5.0		-1			5.4
Colombia	—	†		370	3.8		381	3.2		376	2.9		—			†		7			5.2		-4			4.9
Qatar	—	†		318	1.0		368	0.7		376	0.8		—			†		58	*		2.4		8	*		2.5
Indonesia	360	3.9		391	5.6		371	3.7		375	4.0		15	*		5.9		-16	*		7.2		4			5.9
Peru	—	†		—	†		365	4.0		368	3.7		—			†		—			†		3			5.9
Change in average score is greater than the U.S. change in average score.
Change in average score is lower than the U.S. change in average score.
— Not available. † Not applicable. # Rounds to zero. * p<.05. Change in average score is significant at a05 level of statistical significance. 1The OECD trend scores are based on the averages of the 29 OECD countries with comparable data for 2003 and 2012 and with each country weighted equally. The five current OECD members not included in the OECD averages used to report on trends in mathematics literacy include Chile, Estonia, Israel, and Slovenia, which did not participate in 2003; and the United Kingdom, which did not meet PISA response-rate standards for the 2003 assessment. The OECD excluded the data for Austria from the trend analysis in its report (OECD, PISA 2009 Results: Learning Trends - Changes in Student Performance Since 2000 (Volume V), available at http://www.pisa.oecd.org) because of a concern over a data collection issue in 2009; however, after consultation with Austrian officials, NCES kept the Austrian data in the U.S. trend reporting. 2Because of low response rates, 2003 data for the United Kingdom are not presented. 3The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united country under the PISA 2003 assessment. 4For Costa Rica and Malaysia the change between PISA 2009 and PISA 2012 represents change between 2010 and 2012 because these education systems implemented the PISA 2009 assessment in 2010 as part of PISA 2009. NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2012 average score. The PISA mathematics framework was revised in 2003. Because of changes in the framework, it is not possible to compare mathematics learning outcomes from PISA 2000 with those from PISA 2003, 2006, 2009, and 2012. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. All average scores reported as higher or lower than the comparison year are different at the .05 significance level of statistical significance. Standard error is noted by s.e. Italics indicate non-OECD countries and education systems. SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2003, 2006, 2009, 2012.