Trends in Student Performance: International Trends in Average Scores

• Mathematics Literacy
• Science Literacy
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Science Literacy

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Table T3. Average scores and changes in average scores of 15-year-old students on PISA science literacy scale, by education system: 2006, 2009, and 2012
Education system	Average score									Change in average score
	2006			2009			2012			2012-2006					2012-2009
	Score	s.e.		Score	s.e.		Score	s.e.		Score			s.e.		Score			s.e.
OECD trend score1	498	0.5		501	0.5		501	0.5		3	*		0.9		#			†
Shanghai-China	—	†		575	2.3		580	3.0		—			†		6			4.3
Hong Kong-China	542	2.5		549	2.8		555	2.6		13	*		5.0		6			4.3
Singapore	—	†		542	1.4		551	1.5		—			†		10	*		2.9
Japan	531	3.4		539	3.4		547	3.6		15	*		6.1		7			5.4
Finland	563	2.0		554	2.3		545	2.2		-18	*		4.6		-9	*		3.8
Estonia	531	2.5		528	2.7		541	1.9		10	*		4.7		14	*		3.9
Korea, Republic of	522	3.4		538	3.4		538	3.7		16	*		6.1		#			†
Vietnam	—	†		—	†		528	4.3		—			†		—			†
Poland	498	2.3		508	2.4		526	3.1		28	*		5.3		18	*		4.4
Canada	534	2.0		529	1.6		525	1.9		-9	*		4.5		-3			3.2
Liechtenstein	522	4.1		520	3.4		525	3.5		3			6.5		5			5.3
Germany	516	3.8		520	2.8		524	3.0		8			6.0		4			4.5
Chinese Taipei	532	3.6		520	2.6		523	2.3		-9			5.5		3			4.0
Netherlands	525	2.7		522	5.4		522	3.5		-3			5.7		#			†
Ireland	508	3.2		508	3.3		522	2.5		14	*		5.3		14	*		4.5
Australia	527	2.3		527	2.5		521	1.8		-5			4.5		-6			3.7
Macao-China	511	1.1		511	1.0		521	0.8		10	*		3.8		10	*		2.4
New Zealand	530	2.7		532	2.6		516	2.1		-15	*		4.9		-16	*		3.9
Switzerland	512	3.2		517	2.8		515	2.7		4			5.4		-1			4.4
Slovenia	519	1.1		512	1.1		514	1.3		-5			3.9		2			2.6
United Kingdom	515	2.3		514	2.5		514	3.4		-1			5.4		#			†
Czech Republic	513	3.5		500	3.0		508	3.0		-5			5.8		8			4.7
Austria	511	3.9		494	3.2		506	2.7		-5			5.9		11	*		4.7
Belgium	510	2.5		507	2.5		505	2.2		-5			4.8		-2			3.9
Latvia	490	3.0		494	3.1		502	2.8		13	*		5.4		8			4.6
France	495	3.4		498	3.6		499	2.6		4			5.5		1			4.9
Denmark	496	3.1		499	2.5		498	2.7		3			5.4		-1			4.2
United States	489	4.2		502	3.6		497	3.8		9			6.7		-5			5.6
Spain	488	2.6		488	2.1		496	1.8		8			4.7		8	*		3.4
Lithuania	488	2.8		491	2.9		496	2.6		8			5.1		4			4.4
Norway	487	3.1		500	2.6		495	3.1		8			5.6		-5			4.5
Hungary	504	2.7		503	3.1		494	2.9		-10			5.3		-8			4.8
Italy	475	2.0		489	1.8		494	1.9		18	*		4.5		5			3.3
Croatia	493	2.4		486	2.8		491	3.1		-2			5.3		5			4.7
Luxembourg	486	1.1		484	1.2		491	1.3		5			3.9		7	*		2.7
Portugal	474	3.0		493	2.9		489	3.7		15	*		6.0		-4			5.1
Russian Federation	479	3.7		478	3.3		486	2.9		7			5.8		8			4.8
Sweden	503	2.4		495	2.7		485	3.0		-19	*		5.2		-10	*		4.5
Iceland	491	1.6		496	1.4		478	2.1		-13	*		4.4		-17	*		3.2
Slovak Republic	488	2.6		490	3.0		471	3.6		-17	*		5.7		-19	*		5.1
Israel	454	3.7		455	3.1		470	5.0		16	*		7.1		15	*		6.2
Greece	473	3.2		470	4.0		467	3.1		-7			5.7		-3			5.5
Turkey	424	3.8		454	3.6		463	3.9		40	*		6.5		10			5.7
United Arab Emirates	—	†		—	†		448	2.8		—			†		—			†
Bulgaria	434	6.1		439	5.9		446	4.8		12			8.5		7			7.8
Chile	438	4.3		447	2.9		445	2.9		7			6.3		-3			4.6
Serbia, Republic of2	436	3.0		443	2.4		445	3.4		9			5.8		2			4.6
Thailand	421	2.1		425	3.0		444	2.9		23	*		5.1		19	*		4.6
Romania	418	4.2		428	3.4		439	3.3		20	*		6.4		11	*		5.1
Cyprus	—	†		—	†		438	1.2		—			†		—			†
Costa Rica3	—	†		430	2.8		429	2.9		—			†		-1			4.5
Kazakhstan	—	†		400	3.1		425	3.0		—			†		24	*		4.8
Malaysia3	—	†		422	2.7		420	3.0		—			†		-3			4.5
Uruguay	428	2.7		427	2.6		416	2.8		-12	*		5.2		-11	*		4.3
Mexico	410	2.7		416	1.8		415	1.3		5			4.6		-1			3.0
Montenegro, Republic of2	412	1.1		401	2.0		410	1.1		-2			3.8		9	*		3.0
Jordan	422	2.8		415	3.5		409	3.1		-13	*		5.5		-6			5.1
Argentina	391	6.1		401	4.6		406	3.9		14			8.0		5			6.3
Brazil	390	2.8		405	2.4		405	2.1		14	*		5.0		-1			3.8
Colombia	388	3.4		402	3.6		399	3.1		11			5.7		-3			5.2
Tunisia	386	3.0		401	2.7		398	3.5		13	*		5.7		-3			4.8
Albania	—	†		391	3.9		397	2.4		—			†		7			5.1
Qatar	349	0.9		379	0.9		384	0.7		34	*		3.7		4			2.3
Indonesia	393	5.7		383	3.8		382	3.8		-12			7.7		-1			5.7
Peru	—	†		369	3.5		373	3.6		—			†		4			5.4
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 34 OECD countries with each country weighted equally. 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. 2The Republics of Montenegro and Serbia were a united country under the PISA 2003 assessment. 3For 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 science framework was revised in 2006. Because of changes in the framework, it is not possible to compare science learning outcomes from PISA 2000 and 2003 with those from PISA 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), 2006, 2009, 2012.