What the world can learn from the latest PISA test results
Reforming education is slow and hard, but eminently possible
FOOTBALL fans must wait four years between World Cups. Education nerds get their fill of global competition every three. The sixth Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a test of the science, maths and reading skills of 15-year-olds from across the world, was published by the OECD club of mainly rich countries on December 6th. Its results have telling lessons for policymakers worldwide.
Some 540,000 pupils in 72 countries or regions—each of whom had finished at least six years of school—sat similar tests last year. The OECD then crunched the results into a standardised scale (see chart 1). In the OECD the average result for each subject is about 490 points. Scoring 30 points above that is roughly akin to completing an extra year of schooling.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Must try harder”
From the December 10th 2016 edition
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