The OECD Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments that measures 15-year-olds’ capabilities in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy every 3 years.

2007 - The 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) - More than 400 000 students from 57 countries making up close to 90% of the world economy took part in PISA 2006. The focus was on science but the assessment also included reading and mathematics and collected data on student, family and institutional factors that could help to explain differences in performance, OECD.

• April 2007 - OECD’s PISA survey shows some countries making significant gains in learning outcomes - OECD’s latest PISA survey of the knowledge and skills of 15-year-olds shows that some countries have seen significant improvements in student performance since 2000. Korea further increased its strong reading performance between 2000 and 2006 by 31 score points, the equivalent of almost a school year, mainly by raising the proportion of top-performers. Poland increased its reading performance by 29 score points over the same period. Mexico and Greece saw significant improvements in mathematics performance between 2003 and 2006. However, across the OECD area as a whole learning outcomes have generally remained flat, while expenditure on education in OECD countries rose by an average of 39% between 1995 and 2004.

Figure 2.11a
Percentage of students at each proficiency level on the science scale

Countries are ranked in descending order of percentage of 15-year-olds at Levels 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6.
Source: OECD PISA database 2006, Table 2.1a.