The United States fared poorly, as usual: with a math score of 470, it performed well below the OECD average, and it is among the lowest-performing countries in the subject. Results in science declined from 2012, coming in at 496, slightly above the OECD average. In reading, it also performed slightly better than the OECD average (493) at 497.
The USA spends the most on education in the entire world and we’re below average in the world.
Every three years the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tests 15-year-olds around the world on their math, science and reading abilities.
Then, countries around the world celebrate, or panic.
For example, in 2000, the world learned Finland was a global education superpower (that was news to many in Finland too, according to some). Somehow the country managed to start kids in school at 7, have short school days, assign little homework, test kids infrequently, and still eke out amazing results.
Finland’s schools became a top tourist attraction, as educators around the globe flocked to understand their secret (basically, stringent selection of teachers, who are given autonomy to teach).
But what goes up sometimes comes down. In the OECD’s latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ranking (pdf), for 2015, Finland has fallen from its perch (though it remains a very high performer), and Singapore trounced the rest of the world on math, reading and science.
PISA 2015 includes data from 72 countries and economies, including all 35 OECD members and 37 other countries and economies. In some cases, regions stand in for countries: Taiwan’s results are based on testing in Taipei, in Argentina only the city of Buenos Aires participates, and in mainland China, four provinces—Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Guangdong (B-S-J-G) participate.
In addition, some countries paid to have subnational regions tested separately; the US, for instance, asked for rankings for Massachusetts and North Carolina. Approximately 540,000 students took the test, which aims to capture what students know toward the end of their formal schooling, and how well they can apply that knowledge more broadly.
Here’s a snapshot of the winners and losers. We present these with the obvious caveat that the sum of an education is not a score on a test; read here, for instance, about how teachers worldwide are focusing on other skills, like agency and empathy, to create a more rounded education.
Results
Singapore takes the top dog award. Over the past three years, it has gained in every single area. And its scores utterly smoke every one else’s:
Singapore OECD average Science 556 493 Math 564 490 Reading 535 493 In addition to Singapore, Canada, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, and Macao were the only places where at least four out of five 15-year-old students have mastered the OECD’s baseline level of proficiency in science, reading and mathematics.
SCIENCE
2006 score 2015 score Finland 556 Singapore 556 Hong Kong 538 Japan 538 Canada 534 Estonia 534 Taipei (Taiwan)* 532 Taipei 532 Estonia 531 Finland 531 Japan 529 Macao 529 New Zealand 528 Canada 528 Australia 525 Vietnam 525 Netherlands 523 Hong Kong 523 Korea 518 B-S-J-G (China)* 518 MATHEMATICS
2006 score 2015 score Taipei 564 Singapore 564 Finland 548 Hong Kong 548 Hong Kong 544 Macao 544 Korea 542 Taipei 542 Netherlands 532 Japan 532 Switzerland 531 B-S-J-G (China) 531 Canada 524 Korea 524 Macao 521 Switzerland 521 Japan 520 Estonia 520 New Zealand 516 Canada 516 READING
2006 score 2015 score Korea 535 Singapore 535 Finland 527 Hong Kong 527 Hong Kong 527 Canada 527 Canada 526 Finland 526 New Zealand 521 Ireland 521 Ireland 519 Estonia 519 Australia 517 Korea 517 Poland 516 Japan 516 Sweden 513 Norway 513 Netherlands 509 New Zealand 509 The United States fared poorly, as usual: with a math score of 470, it performed well below the OECD average, and it is among the lowest-performing countries in the subject. Results in science declined from 2012, coming in at 496, slightly above the OECD average. In reading, it also performed slightly better than the OECD average (493) at 497.