PISA scores from 2012 are now available. The OECD’s PISA 2012 tested more than 510,000 students in 65 countries and economies on math, reading and science. Asian countries outperformed the rest of the world in the latest PISA survey, which evaluates the knowledge and skills of the world’s 15-year-olds. They scored the equivalent of nearly three years of schooling above students in most OECD countries.
PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (NCES).
Three states in the United States – MA, CT, and FL participated for the first time as international benchmarking systems and received separate scores from the rest of the U.S.
U.S. Rankings
In Mathematics
According to a summary released by the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. percentage of top performing 15-year olds in mathematics was lower than 27 education systems, higher than 22 education systems, and not measurably different from 13 education systems. The percentage of top performers in mathematics in the United States overall (9 percent) was higher than the state of Florida (6 percent), but lower than Massachusetts (19 percent) and Connecticut (16 percent).
In Science Literacy
In science literacy, the U.S. percentage was lower than 17 education systems, higher than 27 education systems, and not measurably different from 15 education systems. The percentage of top performers in science in the United States overall (7 percent) was lower than the states of Massachusetts (14 percent) and Connecticut (13 percent), but not measurably different from Florida (5 percent) (figure S1a, table S1b).
The U.S. average score in science literacy was lower than 22 education systems, higher than 29 education systems, and not measurably different than 13 education systems. The U.S. average was lower than the states of Massachusetts (527) and Connecticut (521), but not measurably different than Florida (485) (table S2).
In Reading Proficiency.
In reading proficiency, 8 percent of U.S. 15-year-old students scored at proficiency level 5 or above compared with 25 percent in Shanghai-China and 21 percent in Singapore. The U.S. score was not measurably different from the OECD average of 8 percent.
The U.S. percentage was lower than 14 education systems, higher than 33 education systems, and not measurably different than 12 education systems. The percentage of top performers in reading in the United States overall (8 percent) was higher than the state of Florida (6 percent), but lower than Massachusetts (16 percent) and Connecticut (15 percent) (figure R1a, table R1b).
PISA Lessons
PISA lessons include that Brazil, Germany, Mexico, and Poland showed notable progress.
The main findings from PISA 2012, country-related content and video streams available here: http://www.oecd.org/pisa
- “With high levels of youth unemployment, rising inequality and a pressing need to boost growth in many countries, it’s more urgent than ever that young people learn the skills they need to succeed,” says OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría in this PISA video: http://youtu.be/6yhiGj-252k
- Explore the performance of individual countries and the imact of factors like gender and social background with this data visualisation tool.
- Germany’s education reforms based on insights from PISA have paid off: “PISA: The consequences for Germany”
- “Asia’s students storm PISA 2012”, OECD Insights blog
Reported Lessons from PISA 2012 Results
One lesson is that students in the highest performing countries attribute success to hard work rather than inherited intelligence, which suggests that values instilled through education and social context can make a difference.
Another interesting feature is that “high performers embrace diversity among students with differentiated instructional practices”, as Andreas Schleicher, who ran the study, points out.
This reflects the importance PISA places on understanding how education can best help students overcome social disadvantage.
An Incomplete Picture
Martin Carnoy and Richard Rothstein argue, as would classic objective statisticians, that making judgments about the adequacy of education policies based only on the “statistically significant differences in national average scores, on only one test, at only one point in time, without regard to social class context or curricular or population sampling methodologies, is the worst possible choice.”
In less formal ways than in Carnoy and Rothstein’s critique, it’s useful to consider that comparing average PISA scores is like comparing one photo of one family member with another photo of another family member living in a different country. Each photo leaves out more about each family member’s life than it includes.
References
Carnoy, M. & Rothstein, R. (2013). Executive Summary, What do international tests really show about U.S. student performance? Washington, DC: Economic Policy Institute. (Captured 12-03-2013, 4:05PM at http://www.epi.org/publication/us-student-performance-testing/.)
PISA Lessons, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (Captured 12-03-13 9:25 AM, http://www.oecd.org/education/focus-pisa-asia-2013.htm)
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). (Captured 12-03-2013, 7:20AM, at http://www.oecd.org/)
Strauss, V. Key PISA test results for U.S. students. Washington Post, December 3, 2013, 5:15 AM. (Captured 12-03-13, 7:00AM http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/03/key-pisa-test-results-for-u-s-students/ )
PISA 2012, U.S. National Center for Education Statistics. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/).
Related Reading
Adams, R. East Asian countries top global league tables for educational performance: China’s Shanghai region easily beats rest of world in maths, reading and science, according to OECD education rankings. The Guardian, December 3, 2013 05.03 AM EST. (Captured 12-03-2013, 4:55PM at http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/03/east-asian-top-oecd-education-rankings.)
Canada’s students slipping in math and science, OECD finds: Canadian scores above average, but well behind front-running students in Shanghai, China, CBC News, Canada, December 3, 2013, 5:12PM. (Captured 12-03-13, 8:31AM, at http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canada-s-students-slipping-in-math-and-science-oecd-finds-1.2448748.)
Chalabi, M. The Pisa methodology: do its education claims stack up? The Guardian, Reality Check, December 3, 2013, 5:00AM. (Captured 12-03-2013, 8:15AM at http://www.theguardian.com/news/2013/dec/03/pisa-methodology-education-oecd-student-performance.)
Education at a Glance 2013: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/eag-2013-en (Captured 12-03-13 11:45 AM at http//www.oecd.org/edu/eag2013%20(eng)–FINAL%2020%20June%202013.pdf.)
Pisa: Michael Gove says Wales is going backwards, BBC News Wales, December 3, 2013, (Captured 12-03-13, 12:29, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-25203444.)
PISA report finds Australian teenagers education worse than 10 years ago, news.com.au December 4, 2013, 12AM. (Captured 12-03-13 11:56 AM at http://www.news.com.au/national/pisa-report-finds-australian-teenagers-education-worse-than-10-years-ago/story-fncynjr2-1226774541525.)
Stanners, P. PISA results show dropping maths abilities, The Copenhagen Post, National, December 3, 2013 14:26. (Captured 12-03-2013 12:15PM at http://cphpost.dk/news/pisa-results-show-dropping-maths-abilities.7980.html.)
Tovey, J. & Patty, A. OECD report finds Australian students falling behind, Sydney Morning Herald, National, December 4, 2013. (Captured 12-03-13 11:57 AM at http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/oecd-report-finds-australian-students-falling-behind-20131203-2you0.html.)