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Science Literacy: Percentiles


High and Low Performers

High and Low Performers

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Figure S1a. Average scores and 10th and 90th percentile scores of 15-year-old students on the PISA science literacy scale, by education system: 2015

data in this figure can be found in the table above

* p<.05. Score gap is significantly different from the U.S. 90th to 10th percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance.
NOTE: This table shows the threshold (or cut) scores for the following: (a) 10th percentile- the bottom 10 percent of students; (b) 90th percentile- the top 10 percent of students. The score gap for each education system is the difference between its 90th and 10th percentile scores. The percentile ranges are specific to each education system's distribution of scores, enabling users to compare scores across education systems. Education systems are ordered by score gap from smallest to largest. The OECD average is the average of the national averages of the OECD member countries, with each country weighted equally. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. Italics indicate non-OECD countries and education systems. B-S-J-G (China) refers to the four PISA participating China provinces: Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong. Results for Massachusetts and North Carolina are for public school students only. Although Argentina, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan participated in PISA 2015, technical problems with their samples prevent results from being discussed in this report. This figure corresponds to figure 1 in Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science, Mathematics, and Reading Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2017-048).
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2015.

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Table S1b. Average scores and 10th and 90th percentile scores of 15-year-old students on the PISA science literacy scale and percentile score gaps, by education system: 2015
  Percentile
  10th   Average   90th   90th to 10th
Education system Score s.e.   Score s.e.   Score s.e.   Score gap s.e.
OECD average 368 0.6   493 0.4   615 0.5   247   0.8
Tunisia 306 2.6   386 2.1   472 3.8   166 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.6
Algeria 291 3.3   376 2.6   465 4.5   174 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.6
Indonesia 319 3.2   403 2.6   493 3.9   175 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.0
Costa Rica 332 2.3   420 2.1   514 3.3   182 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.0
Mexico 325 2.5   416 2.1   510 3.1   185 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.0
Dominican Republic 244 2.7   332 2.6   429 4.9   185 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.6
Kosovo 289 2.2   378 1.7   474 3.7   185 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.3
Vietnam 428 4.1   525 3.9   624 6.6   196 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 7.8
Peru 301 2.6   397 2.4   500 3.9   198 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.7
Albania 328 3.2   427 3.3   530 5.0   202 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.9
Thailand 324 2.9   421 2.8   528 4.9   203 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.7
Romania 334 3.8   435 3.2   539 5.1   205 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 6.3
Turkey 325 3.5   425 3.9   532 6.1   207 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 7.0
Colombia 315 3.1   416 2.4   524 3.4   208 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.6
Hong Kong (China) 413 4.5   523 2.5   622 2.7   209 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.3
Macau (China) 420 2.3   529 1.1   630 2.0   210 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 3.1
Latvia 382 3.0   490 1.6   596 2.2   214 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 3.7
Russian Federation 379 3.8   487 2.9   595 3.5   215 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.1
Jordan 299 3.8   409 2.7   517 3.4   217 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.0
Macedonia, Republic of 277 3.0   384 1.2   496 2.7   219 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.0
Montenegro, Republic of 304 2.1   411 1.0   526 2.9   221 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 3.6
Buenos Aires (Argentina) 364 7.7   475 6.3   586 7.9   222 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 11.0
Moldova, Republic of 318 3.0   428 2.0   541 3.1   223 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.3
Chile 336 2.7   447 2.4   560 3.3   225 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.3
Uruguay 326 2.6   435 2.2   552 3.6   226 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.4
Ireland 387 3.9   503 2.4   618 2.5   231 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.7
Spain 374 3.5   493 2.1   605 2.4   231 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.2
Brazil 291 2.1   401 2.3   522 4.1   231 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.6
Estonia 416 3.3   534 2.1   648 2.9   233 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.4
Croatia 360 3.3   475 2.5   593 3.3   233 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.6
Georgia 297 3.7   411 2.4   531 3.9   233 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.3
Denmark 383 3.6   502 2.4   617 3.2   234 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.8
Lebanon 276 3.9   386 3.4   511 4.9   235 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 6.3
Poland 384 3.4   501 2.5   619 3.5   235 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.9
Iceland 354 3.1   473 1.7   593 3.3   238 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.5
Lithuania 357 3.8   475 2.7   597 3.7   240 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.3
Italy 359 3.8   481 2.5   599 2.8   240 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.7
Canada 404 2.9   528 2.1   644 2.6   240 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 3.9
Portugal 379 3.2   501 2.4   620 3.1   241 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 4.5
Greece 333 5.6   455 3.9   575 4.1   241   7.0
Cyprus 314 2.4   433 1.4   557 2.8   243 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 3.7
Japan 412 4.4   538 3.0   655 4.0   243   6.0
Trinidad and Tobago 306 3.5   425 1.4   551 3.3   244   4.8
Korea, Republic of 388 4.5   516 3.1   636 3.7   248   5.8
Finland 402 4.2   531 2.4   651 2.7   250   4.9
Slovenia 386 2.6   513 1.3   636 3.0   250   4.0
Czech Republic 367 3.7   493 2.3   618 3.1   251   4.9
Norway 370 3.3   498 2.3   622 3.3   251   4.7
Hungary 347 4.1   477 2.4   601 3.5   254   5.3
Austria 365 3.4   495 2.4   621 3.0   256   4.6
United States 368 3.9   496 3.2   626 3.9   258   5.5
Qatar 295 1.8   418 1.0   554 1.9   259   2.6
Slovak Republic 329 4.6   461 2.6   588 3.2   259   5.6
United Arab Emirates 312 2.8   437 2.4   571 3.2   259   4.2
Switzerland 373 4.1   506 2.9   632 2.9   259   5.0
Chinese Taipei 395 4.6   532 2.7   655 4.2   260   6.2
Germany 376 4.3   509 2.7   636 2.9   260   5.2
United Kingdom 377 3.2   509 2.6   638 3.2   261   4.5
Luxembourg 351 2.6   483 1.1   615 2.3   264   3.5
Belgium 364 3.8   502 2.3   629 2.1   265   4.4
Bulgaria 313 4.8   446 4.4   578 5.2   266   7.0
Netherlands 372 4.3   509 2.3   638 2.9   266   5.2
Australia 372 2.5   510 1.5   639 2.2   267   3.3
France 355 3.7   495 2.1   623 2.8   268   4.6
Sweden 357 4.6   493 3.6   625 4.0   269   6.1
B-S-J-G (China) 377 6.0   518 4.6   649 5.6   271   8.2
Singapore 412 2.8   556 1.2   683 2.2   271 Average score is higher than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance. 3.6
New Zealand 374 3.8   513 2.4   647 3.5   273 Average score is higher than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.2
Israel 327 4.6   467 3.4   606 3.7   279 Average score is higher than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.9
Malta 310 4.3   465 1.6   618 3.4   308 Average score is higher than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance. 5.5
                         
U.S. states and territories                        
Puerto Rico 295 7.3   403 6.1   521 9.4   226 Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. 11.9
North Carolina 377 6.1   502 4.9   629 5.7   252   8.4
Massachusetts 397 8.8   529 6.6   650 7.7   253   11.7
Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance.
Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance. Score gap is smaller than the U.S. percentile score gap at the .05 level of statistical significance.
NOTE: This table shows the threshold (or cut) scores for the following: (a) 10th percentile- the bottom 10 percent of students; (b) 90th percentile- the top 10 percent of students. The score gap for each education system is the difference between its 90th and 10th percentile scores. The percentile ranges are specific to each education system's distribution of scores, enabling users to compare scores across education systems. Education systems are ordered by score gap from smallest to largest. The OECD average is the average of the national averages of the OECD member countries, with each country weighted equally. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. Italics indicate non-OECD countries and education systems. B-S-J-G (China) refers to the four PISA participating China provinces: Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong. Results for Massachusetts and North Carolina are for public school students only. Although Argentina, Malaysia, and Kazakhstan participated in PISA 2015, technical problems with their samples prevent results from being discussed in this report.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 2015.

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