HIGHLIGHTSHighlights From the 2000 Program forInternationalStudentAssessment

The Program for International StudentAssessment (PISA) is a new system ofinternational assessments that focuson 15-year-olds’ capabilities in readingliteracy, mathematics literacy, andscience literacy. PISA also measuresgeneral or cross-curricular competenciessuch as learning strategies.

PISA will be implemented ona 3-year cycle that began in 2000.Each PISA assessment cycle focuseson one particular subject, althoughall three are assessed in each cycle.In this first cycle, PISA 2000,reading literacy is the majorfocus, occupying roughlytwo-thirds of assessment time.In 2003, PISA will focus onmathematics literacy, and in 2006,on science literacy (figure 1).

National Center for Education Statistics

Office of Educational Research and ImprovementU.S. Department of Education

NCES 2002–116

(PISA)

Office of Educational Research and Improvement

U.S. Department of Education

NCES 2002–115

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

Statistical Analysis Report

December 2001Outcomes of LearningResults From the 2000 Program for International

Student Assessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading,

Mathematics, and Science Literacy

PISA will report on performancein reading literacy, mathematicsliteracy, and science literacy every3 years, and provide a moredetailed look at each domain inthe years when it is the majorfocus. For instance, averagescores for specific readingprocesses, such as retrieving infor-mation, interpreting texts, andreflecting on texts, as well as acombined reading literacy averagescore are available for PISA 2000.Only single measures of mathe-matics and science literacy areavailable in PISA 2000, withmore specific information to beprovided for these domains insubsequent cycles. These cycleswill allow countries to comparechanges in trends for each of thethree content areas over time.Future cycles will also includefurther development of the assess-ment of cross-curricular compe-tencies, such as problem solvingin 2003 and use of informationand communications technologyin 2006.

PISA is sponsored by theOrganization for EconomicCooperation and Development(OECD), an intergovernmentalorganization of 30 industrializednations. In 2000, 32 countries

participated in PISA, includ-ing 28 OECD countries and

4 non-OECD countries (figure 2).

PISA’s purpose is to represent the overall yield of learningfor 15-year-olds. PISA assumes that by the age of 15, youngpeople have had a series of learning experiences, both inand out of school, that allow them to perform at particularlevels in reading, mathematics, and science literacy. Other

national and international studies have a strong link tocurriculum frameworks and seek to measure students’ mastery

of specific knowledge, skills, and concepts. PISA is designedto measure “literacy” more broadly. The unique contribution of

PISA lies in its focus on assessing students’ knowledge and skills inreading, mathematics, and science in the context of everyday situations.

2

2000(2009…)

2003(2012…)

2006(2015…)

Science

MATHEMATICS

Reading

REA

DIN

GM

ath

emat

ics

Scie

nce

MathematicsReading

SCIENCE

NOTE: The subject in all capital letters in each assessment cycle is the major domainfor that cycle.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.Outcomes of Learning: Results From the 2000 Program for International StudentAssessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy, NCES2002–115. Figure 1. Washington, DC: 2001.

Figure 1.—

Program for InternationalStudent Assessment(PISA) assessment cycle

As 15-year-olds begin to make the transition to adult life, they notonly need to know how to read, or understand particular mathematicalformulas or scientific concepts, but they also need to be able to applyknowledge and skills in all of the different situations they will encounterin their lives. By focusing on the age of 15, PISA allows countries tocompare outcomes of learning that reflect both societal and educationalsystem influences, and students’ preparedness for adult life as they nearthe end of compulsory schooling.

The United States has been actively involved in the development ofPISA since its inception, believing that PISA’s differences from otherstudies allow it to complement the picture of U.S. performanceobtained from other studies and provide a new perspective on U.S.

education in an international context.

This brochure presents highlights ofthe U.S. results from PISA 2000 thatare based on data from the reportOutcomes of Learning: Results Fromthe 2000 Program for InternationalStudent Assessment of 15-Year-Oldsin Reading, Mathematics, and ScienceLiteracy (U.S. Department of Education2001).

Reading Literacy

PISA measures how well 15-year-olds areable to apply different reading processesto a wide range of reading materials,such as the kinds of forms they receivefrom their governments, the kinds ofarticles they read in their local newspa-pers, the kinds of manuals they readfor work or school, or the kindsof books or magazines they read forentertainment.

PISA scores are reported on a scale of0 to 1,000, with a mean of 500 and astandard deviation of 100. Most scoresfall between 200 and 800. The threespecific reading processes on which PISA2000 reports are:

• Retrieving information— the ability to locate one or more pieces of information in a text.

3

NOTE: Although the Netherlands participated in the Program forInternational Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000, technical problemswith its sample prevent its results from being discussed here. Forinformation on the results for the Netherlands, see Knowledgeand Skills for Life—First Results from the OECD Programmefor International Student Assessment.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center forEducation Statistics. Outcomes of Learning: Results From the 2000Program for International Student Assessment of 15-Year-Oldsin Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy, NCES 2002–115.Figure 2. Washington, DC: 2001.

OECD countries

Non-OECD countries

BrazilLatvia

LiechtensteinRussian Federation

AustraliaAustriaBelgiumCanadaCzech RepublicDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIcelandIrelandItaly

JapanKorea, Republic ofLuxembourgMexicoNetherlandsNew ZealandNorwayPolandPortugalSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUnited KingdomUnited States

Figure 2.—

Participating countriesin the Program forInternational StudentAssessment (PISA) 2000

• Interpreting texts — the ability to construct meaningand draw inferences from one or more parts of a text.

• Reflecting on texts — the ability to relate a textto one’s own experience, knowledge, and ideas.

Average subscale scores are reported for each of these three reading processes. Together, these three subscale scores make up the combined reading literacy score.

National Averages

• On the combined reading literacy scale for PISA 2000,U.S. 15-year-olds perform about as well on averageas 15-year-olds in most of the 27 participating OECDcountries. Students in Canada, Finland, and NewZealand outperform U.S. students. U.S. students per-form at the same level as students in 19 other partici-pating OECD countries and Liechtenstein. U.S. studentsperform better on average than students from theOECD nations of Greece, Luxembourg, Mexico,and Portugal (figure 3).

• For each of the three specific reading process subscales,retrieving information, interpreting texts, and reflectingon texts, U.S. scores are not different from the OECDaverages. Canada and Finland outscore the UnitedStates on each of the three reading process subscales,and the United States outscores at least seven othernations on each measure.

• There are clear consistencies across the three readingprocess subscales of retrieving information, interpretingtexts, and reflecting on texts, which carry throughto the combined reading literacy score.

• Fifteen countries, or about half of the countriesparticipating in PISA 2000, show less variation instudent performance than the United States. Theremaining countries show similar variation in studentperformance to the United States, and U.S. variationis similar to the OECD average.

• The top 10 percent of OECD students score 623 orhigher on the combined reading literacy scale. In theUnited States, 13 percent of students achieve this scoreor better, a percentage not different from the OECD top10 percent benchmark. Three countries (Canada, Finland, andNew Zealand) have a higher percentage of students score inthe top 10 percent, while 14 countries have a lower percentage.

4

READING SUBSCALES

Non-OECD countriesLiechtenstein 483Russian Federation 462Latvia 458Brazil 396

Combined reading literacy score

Country AverageFinland 546Canada 534New Zealand 529Australia 528Ireland 527Korea, Republic of 525United Kingdom 523Japan 522Sweden 516Austria 507Belgium 507Iceland 507Norway 505France 505United States 504Denmark 497Switzerland 494Spain 493Czech Republic 492Italy 487Germany 484Hungary 480Poland 479Greece 474Portugal 470Luxembourg 441Mexico 422

OECD average 500

5

NOTE: Although the Netherlands participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000, technical problems with its sampleprevent its results from being discussed here. For information on the results for the Netherlands, see Knowledge and Skills for Life—First Results fromthe OECD Programme for International Student Assessment. The OECD average is the average of the national averages of 27 OECD countries.Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD countries are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries and notincluded in the OECD average.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Outcomes of Learning: Results From the 2000 Program forInternational Student Assessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy, NCES 2002–115. Figure 3. Washington, DC: 2001.

Figure 3.—

Combined reading literacy average scores and average subscale scores of 15-year-olds, by country: 2000

Average is significantly higher than the U.S. averageAverage is not significantly different from the U.S. averageAverage is significantly lower than the U.S. average

READING SUBSCALES

Non-OECD countriesLiechtenstein 468Latvia 458Russian Federation 455Brazil 417

Non-OECD countriesLiechtenstein 484Russian Federation 468Latvia 459Brazil 400

Non-OECD countriesLiechtenstein 492Latvia 451Russian Federation 451Brazil 365

Reflecting on texts

Country AverageCanada 542United Kingdom 539Ireland 533Finland 533Japan 530New Zealand 529Australia 526Korea, Republic of 526Austria 512Sweden 510United States 507Norway 506Spain 506Iceland 501Denmark 500Belgium 497France 496Greece 495Switzerland 488Czech Republic 485Italy 483Hungary 481Portugal 480Germany 478Poland 477Mexico 446Luxembourg 442

OECD average 502

Interpreting texts

Country AverageFinland 555Canada 532Australia 527Ireland 526New Zealand 526Korea, Republic of 525Sweden 522Japan 518Iceland 514United Kingdom 514Belgium 512Austria 508France 506Norway 505United States 505Czech Republic 500Switzerland 496Denmark 494Spain 491Italy 489Germany 488Poland 482Hungary 480Greece 475Portugal 473Luxembourg 446Mexico 419

OECD average 501

Retrieving information

Country AverageFinland 556Australia 536New Zealand 535Canada 530Korea, Republic of 530Japan 526Ireland 524United Kingdom 523Sweden 516France 515Belgium 515Norway 505Austria 502Iceland 500United States 499Switzerland 498Denmark 498Italy 488Spain 483Germany 483Czech Republic 481Hungary 478Poland 475Portugal 455Greece 450Luxembourg 433Mexico 402

OECD average 498

Reading Literacy Levels

PISA uses five levels to describe student performance in readingliteracy. In order to reach a particular level, a student must

be able to answer correctly a majority of items at thatlevel. The percentage of 15-year-olds at each level of read-ing literacy for participating countries is shown in figure 4.

• Percentages of U.S. students across the literacy levelsare similar to the OECD average percentages, except at

level 5. In the United States, 12 percent of 15-year-oldsread at level 5, the highest proficiency level, a percentage

higher than the OECD average. Level 1 encompasses 12 per-cent of students, and 6 percent of U.S. 15-year-olds are below

level 1.

• Percentages of U.S. 15-year-olds across the levels for the threereading process subscales are consistent with the percentages forthe combined reading literacy scale. That is, about 12 percent ofU.S. 15-year-olds are at level 5 for retrieving information, interpret-ing texts, reflecting on texts, and for the combined reading literacyscale; about 21 percent are at level 4 for these three subscales andthe combined reading literacy scale, and so on.

• Looking at the cumulative percentages of students from level tolevel on the combined reading literacy scale, about one-third ofU.S. students perform at the two highest levels, level 4 and level 5.About 60 percent of students in the United States perform at level3 or above, and over 80 percent at level 2 or above.

6

7

New ZealandFinland

AustraliaCanada

United KingdomIreland

United StatesBelgiumNorwaySweden

JapanSwitzerland

IcelandAustria

GermanyFrance

DenmarkCzech Republic

PolandKorea, Republic of

ItalyHungary

GreeceSpain

PortugalLuxembourg

Mexico

0 20 40 60 80 100

Below level 1 Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5

Percent

Country

Non-OECD countries

LiechtensteinLatvia

Russian FederationBrazil

OECD average

NOTE: The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) uses five levels of performance to describe student performance.In order to reach a particular level, a student must be able to correctly answer a majority of items at that level. Students were classifiedinto reading levels according to their scores. Although the Netherlands participated in PISA in 2000, technical problems with itssample prevent its results from being discussed here. For information on the results for the Netherlands, see Knowledge and Skillsfor Life—First Results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment. The OECD average is the average ofthe national averages of 27 OECD countries. Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD countries aredisplayed separately from those of the OECD countries and not included in the OECD average.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Outcomes of Learning: Results From the 2000Program for International Student Assessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy, NCES 2002–115.Figure 8. Washington, DC: 2001.

Figure 4.—

Percentage distribution of 15-year-olds by combinedreading literacy scores, by level and by country: 2000

Mathematics

and Science Literacy

PISA’s mathematics and science literacy assessments focus on 15-year-olds’ abilities to apply mathematical and scientific principlesand thinking in a wide variety of situations. Figure 5 displaysnational averages in mathematics and science literacy.

• In both mathematics and science literacy, the U.S. average doesnot differ from the OECD average. Eight countries outperformthe United States in mathematics literacy, and seven have higher

average scores for science literacy. The United States has higheraverage scores than seven countries for mathematics literacy

and seven for science literacy.

• The top 10 percent of students in OECD countriesscore 625 or higher in mathematics literacy. In theUnited States, 9 percent of students achieve this score orbetter, a percentage not different from the OECD top10 percent benchmark. In eight countries, a greater pro-

portion of students score in the top 10 percent, while sixcountries have a smaller proportion.

• For science literacy, the top 10 percent of all students score 627or higher. In the United States, 10 percent of students achieve thisscore or better. Four countries have a higher percentage of studentsscore in the top 10 percent, while seven countries have a lowerpercentage.

8

NOTE: Although the Netherlands participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)in 2000, technical problems with its sample prevent its results from being discussed here. For information onthe results for the Netherlands, see Knowledge and Skills for Life—First Results from the OECD Programmefor International Student Assessment. The OECD average is the average of the national averages of 27 OECDcountries. Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECD countries are displayedseparately from those of the OECD countries and not included in the OECD average.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Outcomes of Learning:Results From the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics,and Science Literacy, NCES 2002–115. Figure 10. Washington, DC: 2001.

9

Figure 5.—

Mathematics and science literacy average scores of 15-year-olds, by country: 2000

Average is significantly higher than the U.S. average

Average is not significantly different from the U.S. average

Average is significantly lower than the U.S. average

Non-OECD countriesLiechtenstein 476Russian Federation 460Latvia 460Brazil 375

Non-OECD countriesLiechtenstein 514Russian Federation 478Latvia 463Brazil 334

Science literacy

Country AverageKorea, Republic of 552Japan 550Finland 538United Kingdom 532Canada 529New Zealand 528Australia 528Austria 519Ireland 513Sweden 512Czech Republic 511France 500Norway 500United States 499Hungary 496Iceland 496Belgium 496Switzerland 496Spain 491Germany 487Poland 483Denmark 481Italy 478Greece 461Portugal 459Luxembourg 443Mexico 422

OECD average 500

Mathematics literacy

Country AverageJapan 557Korea, Republic of 547New Zealand 537Finland 536Australia 533Canada 533Switzerland 529United Kingdom 529Belgium 520France 517Austria 515Denmark 514Iceland 514Sweden 510Ireland 503Norway 499Czech Republic 498United States 493Germany 490Hungary 488Spain 476Poland 470Italy 457Portugal 454Greece 447Luxembourg 446Mexico 387

OECD average 500

Demographic Profiles

of Reading, Mathematics,

and Science Literacy

In the United States and many other countries, policymakers arenot only interested in overall achievement but also in achievement by specific population groups.

• On the combined reading literacy scale, female 15-year-oldsoutperform male 15-year-olds in every country. On the PISA 2000mathematics literacy assessment, performance of males and femalesin the United States is similar, as it is in 16 other countries; 14 coun-tries show higher performance for males than females for mathemat-ics literacy. For most countries (26 out of 31 countries), includingthe United States, males and females perform similarly on the scienceliteracy assessment (figure 6).

• In the United States, parents’ education is strongly linked todifferences in student performance in reading, mathematics, andscience literacy.

• In the United States, the relationship of socioeconomic status toliteracy levels is about the same for each subject. Increases in socio-economic status are associated with increases in scores for readingliteracy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. Most participatingcountries do not differ significantly from the United States in termsof the strength of the relationship between socioeconomic statusand literacy in any subject.

• In the United States, parents’ national origin is linked to performance inreading literacy and mathematics literacy only for those students withtwo foreign-born parents compared with students with two native-born parents. There is no difference in science literacy achievementbetween students with native- and foreign-born parents.

• In the United States, 89 percent of students report that they speakthe language of the assessment (English) at home most of the time.In the United States and most other countries, the reading literacyachievement of students who speak the test language at home ishigher than that of students not speaking this language at home.The United States and most other countries also show advantagesfor test-language speakers in mathematics and science literacy.

• The pattern of between-group differences for racial and ethnic groupsin the United States is identical across the three literacy areas. In read-ing, mathematics, and science, the average literacy scores for Whitesand other1 students are higher than for Hispanic and Black students.

10

1 The other group comprises students identifying themselves as American Indian/AlaskaNative, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or multiracial.

AustraliaAustria

BelgiumCanada

Czech RepublicDenmark

FinlandFrance

GermanyGreece

HungaryIcelandIreland

ItalyJapan

Korea, Republic ofLuxembourg

MexicoNew Zealand

NorwayPoland

PortugalSpain

SwedenSwitzerland

United KingdomUnited States

Males FemalesMales Females Males Females

Average score difference is statistically significantAverage score difference is not statistically significant

Mathematics literacy

Combined reading literacy

Science literacy

60 40 20 0 20 40 60 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 60 40 20 0 20 40 60

Average score difference

Average score difference

Average score difference

Country

Non-OECD countries

BrazilLatvia

LiechtensteinRussian Federation

OECD average

NOTE: Each bar above represents the average score difference between males and females on combined reading, mathematics, orscience literacy. Some of these differences are statistically significant and indicated by darker bars. For instance, the United States has a29 point score difference favoring females in combined reading literacy, which is statistically significant. The score differences betweenU.S. males and females in mathematics and science literacy are 7 points and 5 points, respectively, but neither is a statistically significantdifference. Average score difference is calculated by subtracting scores of males from scores of females. Detail may not sum to totalsdue to rounding. Although the Netherlands participated in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2000, technicalproblems with its sample prevent its results from being discussed here. For information on the results for the Netherlands, seeKnowledge and Skills for Life—First Results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment. The OECD averageis the average of the national averages of 27 OECD countries. Because PISA is principally an OECD study, the results for non-OECDcountries are displayed separately from those of the OECD countries and not included in the OECD average.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Outcomes of Learning: Results From the 2000Program for International Student Assessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy, NCES 2002–115.Figure 15. Washington, DC: 2001.

11

Figure 6.—

Differences in average scores in reading, mathematics, and science literacy of 15-year-olds by gender, by country: 2000

A First Step in

Cross-Curricular Competencies

One of PISA’s main objectives is to measure student performance ongeneral or nonacademic learning outcomes in addition to outcomes forreading, mathematics, and science literacy. As a first step toward themeasurement of cross-curricular competencies, in PISA 2000, studentquestionnaire items sought information in two major areas, studentattitudes toward reading and learning strategies.

• Thirty percent of U.S. 15-year-olds agree or strongly agree thatreading is a favorite hobby, a lower percentage than the OECDaverage. Percentages range from 62 percent of students agreeingthat reading is a favorite hobby in Mexico to 24 percent in Norway.

• In every country, females agree more frequently than males thatreading is a favorite hobby. Thirty-seven percent of females inthe United States agree that reading is a favorite hobby, comparedto 22 percent of males.

• About half of U.S. 15-year-olds report trying to memorize as much aspossible often or always when studying. The U.S. percentage in thiscase is higher than the OECD average, suggesting that a greaterproportion of U.S. students often use memorization as a learningstrategy than the average proportion of OECD country students.

• The percentages of students who respond that they often or alwaystry to relate new material to things they have already learnedrange from 15 percent in Italy to 90 percent in Hungary. Fifty-ninepercent of U.S. students report using this strategy frequently,a higher percentage than the OECD average.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics.Outcomes of Learning: Results From the 2000 Program for International StudentAssessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy, NCES2002–115, by M. Lemke, C. Calsyn, L. Lippman, L. Jocelyn, D. Kastberg, Y. Liu,S. Roey, T. Williams, T. Kruger, and G. Bairu. Washington, DC: 2001.

To obtain a single free copy of the complete report from which this brochure wasdeveloped, call the toll-free ED Pubs number (1–877–433–7827).

For more information on PISA, visit our Web Site (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa),contact the PISA customer service number (202–502–7421), or send e-mail (pisa@ed.gov).

PISA 2000This publication is available for downloading on our Web Site (http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa).