Question:
How does achievement of American students compare to students in other countries?

Response:

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments that measures 15-year-olds' performance in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy every 3 years. PISA was first implemented in 2000. PISA is sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of 30 member countries. In 2006, fifty-seven jurisdictions participated in PISA, including 30 OECD countries referred to throughout as jurisdictions and 27 non- OECD jurisdictions.

U.S. students scored lower in science literacy than their peers in 16 of the other 29 OECD jurisdictions and 6 of the 27 non-OECD jurisdictions. Twenty-two jurisdictions (5 OECD jurisdictions and 17 non-OECD jurisdictions) reported lower scores than the United States in science literacy.

U.S. students also had lower scores than the OECD average score for two of the three scientific literacy subscales (explaining phenomena scientifically (486 versus 500) and using scientific evidence (489 versus 499)). Twenty-five jurisdictions (19 OECD and 6 non-OECD jurisdictions) had a higher average score than the United States on the explaining phenomena scientifically subscale, and 20 jurisdictions (14 OECD and 6 non-OECD jurisdictions) had a higher averagescore than the United States on the using scientific evidence subscale. There was no measurable difference in the performance of U.S. students compared with the OECD average on the identifying scientific issues subscale (492 versus 499). However, 18 jurisdictions (13 OECD and 5 non-OECD jurisdictions) scored higher than the United States on the identifying scientific issues subscale.

In 2006, the average U.S. score in mathematics literacy was 474 on a scale from 0 to 1,000, lower than the OECD average score of 498 (tables 3 and C-7). Thirty-one jurisdictions (23 OECD jurisdictions and 8 non-OECD jurisdictions) had a higher average score than the United States in mathematics literacy in 2006. In contrast, 20 jurisdictions (4 OECD jurisdictions and 16 non-OECD jurisdictions) scored lower than the United States in mathematics literacy in 2006.

NOTE: PISA 2006 reading literacy results are not reported for the United States because of an error in printing the test booklets. In several areas of the reading literacy assessment, students were incorrectly instructed to refer to the passage on the "opposite page" when, in fact, the necessary passage appeared on the previous page. Because of the small number of items used in assessing reading literacy, it was not possible to recalibrate the score to exclude the affected items. Furthermore, as a result of the printing error, the mean performance in mathematics and science may be misestimated by approximately 1 score point. The impact is below one standard error.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2006) Highlights from PISA 2006: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Science and Mathematics Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2008-016).

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2008, Digest of Education Statistics 2007, Table 389. Average mathematics literacy, reading literacy, science literacy, and problem-solving scores of 15-year-olds, by sex and country: 2003
  
• 2008, Digest of Education Statistics 2007, Table 390. Mean scores and percentage distribution of 15-year-olds scoring at each mathematics literacy proficiency level, by country: 2003
  
• 2007, The Condition of Education 2007: International Comparisons of Mathematics Cognitive Domains of 4th- and 8th-Graders
  
• 2006, The Condition of Education 2006: International Comparisons of Mathematics Literacy
  
• 2006, The Condition of Education 2006: U.S. Student and Adult Performance on International Assessments of Education Achievement.
  
• 2005, The Condition of Education 2005: International Comparison of 4th- and 8th-Grade Performance in Science
  
• 2003, The Condition of Education 2003: International comparisons of reading literacy in grade 4
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2008, International Comparisons in Education
  
• 2006, Problem Solving in the PISA and TIMSS 2003 Assessments
  
• 2005, Characteristics of U.S. 15-Year-Old Low Achievers in an International Context: Findings From PISA 2000
  
• 2005, Program for International Student Assessment
  
• 2004, International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics Literacy and Problem Solving: PISA 2003 Results from the U.S. Perspective
  
• 2003, Comparative Indicators of Education in the United States and Other G-8 Countries: 2002
  
• 2003, International Comparisons in Fourth-Grade Reading Literacy: Findings from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) of 2001
  
• 2001, Highlights from the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
  
• 2001, Outcomes of Learning: Results from the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy.