Singapore up, Finland down

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.

Right-Mind