# Presentation: 393245

## International Outcomes of Learning in Mathematics and Problem Solving:  PISA 2003 Results from the U.S. Perspective

- Commissioner Robert LernerNational Center for Education StatisticsInstitute of Education SciencesU.S. Department of Education

- 1

## Presentation Outline

- Introduction to PISA
- U.S. performance in mathematics literacy
- U.S. performance in problem solving
- U.S. performance in reading literacy and science literacy
- Differences in performance by selected student characteristics

- 2

## PISA Cycle

- 3

## PISA Countries

**OECD **
**countries**
**2000 and 2003**
- Australia
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Italy
- Japan
- Republic of Korea

- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Netherlands*
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom*
- United States

**2003 Only**
- Slovak Republic
- Turkey

**     ****Non-OECD **
**    ****countries**
**     ****2000 and 2003**
-      Brazil*
-      Latvia
-      Liechtenstein
-      Russian Federation
**     ****2003 Only**
-      Hong Kong-China
-      Indonesia
-      Macao-China
-      Serbia &
-      Montenegro
-      Thailand
-      Tunisia
-      Uruguay

**OECD countries (cont).**

- 4

## How PISA Was Conducted

- Nationally representative samples of 15-year-olds in all countries
- 2-hour paper-and-pencil assessment
- In the United States, 262 schools and 5,456 students participated in spring and fall 2003

- 5

## Performance of 15-Year-Old Students on the Combined Mathematics Literacy Scale, Relative to the U.S.:  2003

**U.S. average score:  483**
** ****OECD average score:  500**

**Performance better than **
**United States**
- Finland
- Korea
- Netherlands
- Japan
- Canada
- Belgium
- Switzerland
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Czech Republic
- Iceland
- Denmark
- France
- Sweden
- Austria
- Germany
- Ireland

**Performance not measurably different from United States**
- Poland
- Hungary
- Spain
***Non-OECD***
- Latvia

**Performance worse than **
**United States**
- Portugal
- Italy
- Greece
- Turkey
- Mexico
***Non-OECD***
- Russian Federation
- Serbia & Montenegro
- Uruguay
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Tunisia

**Performance better (continued)**
- OECD Average Slovak Republic
- Norway
- Luxembourg
***Non-OECD***
- Hong-Kong China
- Liechtenstein
- Macao-China

- 6

## Performance of 15-Year-Old Students on the Mathematics Literacy Subscales in the United States and for the OECD Average:  2003  

- Average
- Score

- 600

- 550

- 500

- 450

- 400

- 350

- 300

- Space
- and Shape

- Change
- and
- Rel.

- Subscale

- Quantity

- Uncertainty

- 472*

- 496

- 486*

- 499

- 476*

- 500

- 491*

- 502

- United States

- OECD average

- 0

- 7

- *Average is significantly different from OECD average.

## Percentage Distribution of Mathematics Literacy among 15-Year-Old Students in the United States and for the OECD Average, by Level:  2003

- Percent

- Level 6
- Level 5
- Level 4
- Level 3
- Level 2
- Level 1
- Below
- Level 1

- 60

- 40

- 20

- 0

- 80

- 100

- 30

- 10

- 90

- 70

- 50

- United States

- OECD

- 2

- 8

- 17

- 24

- 10

- 4

- 11

- 19

- 24

- 8

- 24

- 16

- 21

- 13

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## Percentage Distribution of Mathematics Literacy among 15-Year-Old Students in the United States and for the OECD Average, by Level:  2003

- Percent

- Level 6
- Level 5
- Level 4

- 60

- 40

- 20

- 0

- 80

- 100

- 30

- 10

- 90

- 70

- 50

- United States

- OECD

- 2

- 8

- 17

- 4

- 11

- 19

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## Percentage Distribution of Mathematics Literacy among 15-Year-Old Students in the United States and for the OECD Average, By Level:  2003

- Percent

- Level 2
- Level 1
- Below
- Level 1

- 60

- 40

- 20

- 0

- 80

- 100

- 30

- 10

- 90

- 70

- 50

- United States

- OECD

- 10

- 24

- 8

- 24

- 16

- 21

- 13

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## Performance of 15-Year-Old Students in Problem Solving, Relative to the U.S.:  2003

**U.S. average score:  477**
** ****OECD average score:  500**

**Performance better than **
**United States**
- Korea
- Finland
- Japan
- New Zealand
- Australia
- Canada
- Belgium
- Switzerland
- Netherlands
- France
- Denmark
- Czech Republic
- Germany
- Sweden
- Austria
- Iceland
- Hungary
- OECD Average
- Ireland

**Performance not measurably different from United States**
- Spain
- Portugal
- Italy
***Non-OECD***
- Latvia
- Russian Federation

**Performance worse than **
**United States**
- Greece
- Turkey
- Mexico
***Non-OECD***
- Thailand
- Serbia & Montenegro
- Uruguay
- Indonesia
- Tunisia

**Performance better (continued)**
- Luxembourg
- Slovak Republic
- Norway
- Poland
***Non-OECD***
- Hong-Kong China
- Macao-China
- Liechtenstein

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## Percentage Distribution of Problem Solving among 15-Year-Old Students in the United States and for the OECD Average, by Level:  2003

- Percent

- Level 3
- Level 2
- Level 1
- Below
- Level 1

- 60

- 40

- 20

- 0

- 80

- 100

- 30

- 10

- 90

- 70

- 50

- United States

- OECD

- 12

- 30

- 34

- 24

- 18

- 34

- 30

- 17

- 12

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## Percentage Distribution of Problem Solving Among 15-Year-Old Students in the United States and for the OECD Average, by Level:  2003

- Percent

- Level 3
- Level 2

- 60

- 40

- 20

- 0

- 80

- 100

- 30

- 10

- 90

- 70

- 50

- United States

- OECD

- 30

- 34

- 24

- 18

- 34

- 30

- 17

- 12

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## Percentage Distribution of Problem Solving Among 15-Year-Old Students in the United States and for the OECD Average, by Level:  2003

- Percent

- Level 1
- Below
- Level 1

- 60

- 40

- 20

- 0

- 80

- 100

- 30

- 10

- 90

- 70

- 50

- United States

- OECD

- 30

- 34

- 24

- 34

- 30

- 17

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**Notes:**
Here again, at level 1 and below level 1 the United States has larger percentages of students than OECD countries, taken as a group.

## Performance of 15-Year-Old Students in Reading Literacy and Science Literacy in the United States and for the OECD Average:  2000 and 2003

- *Average is significantly different from OECD average.

- Average
- Score

- 550

- 500

- 450

- 400

- 0

- 600

- 550

- United States

- OECD average

- Reading Literacy

- Science Literacy

- 500

- 491*

- 495

- 494

- 500

- 15

- 600

- 500

- 504

- 495

- 494

- 400

- 450

- 0

- 2000

- 2003

- 500

- 500

- 491*

- 2003

- 2000

- 499

- Average
- Score

## Performance of 15-Year-Old Students in Mathematics Literacy and Problem Solving, by Sex:  2003

- Males outperformed females in mathematics literacy in the United States, and in two-thirds of other participating countries (20 of the other 28 OECD countries).
- On average across the OECD countries, males outperformed females on each of the four mathematics literacy subscales.  In the United States, differences were seen in the space and shape subscale.
- In most of the PISA 2003 countries (32 out of 39 countries), including the United States, there were no measurable differences in problem-solving scores by sex.

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## Relationship Between International Socioeconomic Index (ISEI) and Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Mathematics Literacy:  2003

- U.S. average ISEI index score of 55 was higher than all countries except Norway and Iceland (no measurable differences with these countries).
- Relationship of ISEI and mathematics literacy achievement (measured by change in score with change in ISEI index) was stronger in 5 countries and weaker in 11 countries than in the United States.  No measurable differences were found between U.S. and the other 22 countries.

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## Performance of U.S.15-Year-Old Students in Mathematics Literacy, by Race/Ethnicity:  2003

- *Average is significantly different from OECD average.

- Average
- Score

- 600

- 550

- 500

- 450

- 400

- 350

- 300

- Race/Ethnicity

- White

- Asian

- More
- than
- one race

- Hispanic

- Black

- 512*

- 506

- 502

- 443*

- 417*

- 0

- OECD average

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## Performance of U.S.15-Year-Old Students in Problem Solving, by Race/Ethnicity:  2003

- *Average is significantly different from OECD average.

- OECD average

- Average
- Score

- 600

- 550

- 500

- 450

- 400

- 350

- 300

- Race/Ethnicity

- White

- Asian

- More
- than
- one race

- Hispanic

- Black

- 506*

- 505

- 498

- 436*

- 413*

- 0

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## For More Information

- Visit http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa or http://www.pisa.oecd.org
- Questions:  Contact Mike Bowler, Institute of Education Sciences, 202-219-1662 or mike.bowler@ed.gov
- PISA content:  Contact Mariann Lemke, National Center for Education Statistics, 202-502-7314 or mariann.lemke@ed.gov
- Email pisa@ed.gov

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