Program for International Student Assessment (PISA): 2015 Results - Trends in Student Performance: International Trends in Average Scores

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Trends in Student Performance: International Trends in Average Scores

Science Literacy Reading literacy Mathematics literacy

Science Literacy

Table T2. Average scores and changes in average scores of 15-year-old students on the PISA science literacy scale, by education system: 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2015
Education system	Average score								Change in average score
	2006		2009		2012		2015		2015-2006				2015-2009				2015-2012
	Score	*s.e.*	Score	*s.e.*	Score	*s.e.*	Score	*s.e.*	Score			*s.e.*	Score			*s.e.*	Score			*s.e.*
Singapore	—	†	542	1.4	551	1.5	556	1.2	—			†	14	*	●	4.9	4			4.4
Japan	531	3.4	539	3.4	547	3.6	538	3.0	7			6.3	-1			6.4	-8			6.1
Estonia	531	2.5	528	2.7	541	1.9	534	2.1	3			5.6	6			5.6	-7			4.9
Chinese Taipei	532	3.6	520	2.6	523	2.3	532	2.7	#			†	12	*	●	5.9	9			5.3
Finland	563	2.0	554	2.3	545	2.2	531	2.4	-33	*	●	5.5	-23	*	●	5.6	-15	*		5.1
Macau (China)	511	1.1	511	1.0	521	0.8	529	1.1	18	*		4.7	17	*	●	4.7	8			4.2
Canada	534	2.0	529	1.6	525	1.9	528	2.1	-7			5.3	-1			5.2	2			4.8
Vietnam	—	†	—	†	528	4.3	525	3.9	—			†	—			†	-4			7.0
Hong Kong (China)	542	2.5	549	2.8	555	2.6	523	2.5	-19	*	●	5.7	-26	*	●	5.9	-32	*	●	5.4
B-S-J-G (China)	—	†	—	†	—	†	518	4.6	—			†	—			†	—			†
Korea, Republic of	522	3.4	538	3.4	538	3.7	516	3.1	-6			6.4	-22	*		6.5	-22	*	●	6.2
New Zealand	530	2.7	532	2.6	516	2.1	513	2.4	-17	*	●	5.7	-19	*		5.7	-2			5.1
Slovenia	519	1.1	512	1.1	514	1.3	513	1.3	-6			4.8	1			4.8	-1			4.3
Australia	527	2.3	527	2.5	521	1.8	510	1.5	-17	*	●	5.2	-17	*		5.4	-12	*		4.6
United Kingdom	515	2.3	514	2.5	514	3.4	509	2.6	-6			5.6	-4			5.8	-5			5.8
Germany	516	3.8	520	2.8	524	3.0	509	2.7	-7			6.5	-11			5.9	-15	*		5.6
Netherlands	525	2.7	522	5.4	522	3.5	509	2.3	-16	*	●	5.7	-14			7.4	-13	*		5.7
Switzerland	512	3.2	517	2.8	515	2.7	506	2.9	-6			6.2	-11			6.1	-10			5.6
Ireland	508	3.2	508	3.3	522	2.5	503	2.4	-6			6.0	-5			6.1	-19	*	●	5.2
Belgium	510	2.5	507	2.5	505	2.2	502	2.3	-8			5.6	-5			5.6	-3			5.0
Denmark	496	3.1	499	2.5	498	2.7	502	2.4	6			5.9	3			5.7	3			5.3
Poland	498	2.3	508	2.4	526	3.1	501	2.5	4			5.6	-7			5.7	-24	*	●	5.6
Portugal	474	3.0	493	2.9	489	3.7	501	2.4	27	*	●	5.9	8			5.9	12	*		5.9
Norway	487	3.1	500	2.6	495	3.1	498	2.3	12	*		5.9	-1			5.7	4			5.5
United States	489	*4.2*	502	*3.6*	497	*3.8*	496	*3.2*	7			*6.9*	-6			*6.6*	-1			*6.3*
Austria	511	3.9	—	†	506	2.7	495	2.4	-16	*	●	6.4	—			†	-11	*		5.4
France	495	3.4	498	3.6	499	2.6	495	2.1	#			†	-3			6.1	-4			5.1
Sweden	503	2.4	495	2.7	485	3.0	493	3.6	-10			6.2	-2			6.4	9			6.1
Czech Republic	513	3.5	500	3.0	508	3.0	493	2.3	-20	*	●	6.1	-8			5.9	-15	*		5.4
Spain	488	2.6	488	2.1	496	1.8	493	2.1	4			5.6	5			5.4	-4			4.8
Latvia	490	3.0	494	3.1	502	2.8	490	1.6	1			5.6	-4			5.7	-12	*		5.0
Russian Federation	479	3.7	478	3.3	486	2.9	487	2.9	7			6.5	8			6.3	#			†
Luxembourg	486	1.1	484	1.2	491	1.3	483	1.1	-4			4.7	-1			4.8	-8	*		4.3
Italy	475	2.0	489	1.8	494	1.9	481	2.5	5			5.5	-8			5.5	-13	*		5.0
Hungary	504	2.7	503	3.1	494	2.9	477	2.4	-27	*	●	5.8	-26	*	●	6.0	-18	*	●	5.5
Lithuania	488	2.8	491	2.9	496	2.6	475	2.7	-13	*	●	5.9	-16	*	●	6.0	-20	*	●	5.4
Croatia	493	2.4	486	2.8	491	3.1	475	2.5	-18	*	●	5.7	-11			5.9	-16	*		5.6
Buenos Aires (Argentina)	—	†	—	†	425	8.6	475	6.3	—			†	—			†	51	*	●	11.3
Iceland	491	1.6	496	1.4	478	2.1	473	1.7	-18	*	●	5.1	-22	*	●	5.0	-5			4.8
Israel	454	3.7	455	3.1	470	5.0	467	3.4	13			6.8	12			6.5	-4			7.2
Malta	—	†	461	1.7	—	†	465	1.6	—			†	3			5.1	—			†
Slovak Republic	488	2.6	490	3.0	471	3.6	461	2.6	-28	*	●	5.8	-29	*	●	6.0	-10			5.9
Greece	473	3.2	470	4.0	467	3.1	455	3.9	-19	*	●	6.8	-15	*		7.2	-12			6.4
Chile	438	4.3	447	2.9	445	2.9	447	2.4	9			6.7	-1			5.9	2			5.4
Bulgaria	434	6.1	439	5.9	446	4.8	446	4.4	12			8.7	6			8.6	-1			7.6
United Arab Emirates	—	†	—	†	448	2.8	437	2.4	—			†	—			†	-12	*		5.4
Uruguay	428	2.7	427	2.6	416	2.8	435	2.2	7			5.7	8			5.6	20	*	●	5.3
Romania	418	4.2	428	3.4	439	3.3	435	3.2	16	*		6.9	7			6.5	-4			6.0
Cyprus	—	†	—	†	438	1.2	433	1.4	—			†	—			†	-5			4.3
Moldova, Republic of	—	†	413	3.0	—	†	428	2.0	—			†	15	*	●	5.8	—			†
Albania	—	†	391	3.9	397	2.4	427	3.3	—			†	37	*	●	6.8	30	*	●	5.7
Turkey	424	3.8	454	3.6	463	3.9	425	3.9	2			7.1	-28	*	●	7.0	-38	*	●	6.8
Trinidad and Tobago	—	†	410	1.2	—	†	425	1.4	—			†	14	*	●	4.9	—			†
Thailand	421	2.1	425	3.0	444	2.9	421	2.8	#			†	-4			6.1	-23	*	●	5.7
Costa Rica¹	—	†	430	2.8	429	2.9	420	2.1	—			†	-11			5.7	-10			5.3
Qatar	349	0.9	379	0.9	384	0.7	418	1.0	68	*	●	4.7	38	*	●	4.7	34	*	●	4.1
Colombia	388	3.4	402	3.6	399	3.1	416	2.4	28	*	●	6.1	14	*	●	6.2	17	*	●	5.5
Mexico	410	2.7	416	1.8	415	1.3	416	2.1	6			5.7	#			†	1			4.7
Montenegro, Republic of	412	1.1	401	2.0	410	1.1	411	1.0	#			†	10	*		5.0	1			4.2
Georgia	—	†	373	2.9	—	†	411	2.4	—			†	38	*	●	5.9	—			†
Jordan	422	2.8	415	3.5	409	3.1	409	2.7	-13	*	●	5.9	-7			6.3	-1			5.7
Indonesia	393	5.7	383	3.8	382	3.8	403	2.6	10			7.7	21	*	●	6.4	21	*	●	6.0
Brazil	390	2.8	405	2.4	402	2.1	401	2.3	10			5.8	-5			5.6	-1			5.0
Peru	—	†	369	3.5	373	3.6	397	2.4	—			†	27	*	●	6.2	24	*	●	5.8
Lebanon	—	†	—	†	—	†	386	3.4	—			†	—			†	—			†
Tunisia	386	3.0	401	2.7	398	3.5	386	2.1	—			5.8	-14	*		5.6	-12	*		5.6
Macedonia, Republic of	—	†	—	†	—	†	384	1.2	—			†	—			†	—			†
Kosovo	—	†	—	†	—	†	378	1.7	—			†	—			†	—			†
Algeria	—	†	—	†	—	†	376	2.6	—			†	—			†	—			†
Dominican Republic	—	†	—	†	—	†	332	2.6	—			†	—			†	—			†

U.S. states and territories
Massachusetts	—	†	—	†	527	6.1	529	6.6	—			†	—			†	2			9.8

● Change in average score is significantly different than the change in the U.S. average score at the .05 level of significance.
— Not available.
† Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
* p<.05. Change in average score is significant at the .05 level of statistical significance.
¹ For Costa Rica, the change between PISA 2009 and PISA 2012 represents change between 2010 and 2012 because it implemented the PISA 2009 assessment one year later, in 2010.
NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2015 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, 2012, and 2015. Scores are reported on a scale from 0 to 1,000. Standard error is noted by s.e. 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. 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), 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2015.