Performance of Canada's youth in mathematics, reading, science and problem solving

Canadian 15-year-old students are among the best in the world when it comes to mathematics, reading, science and problem solving, according to a major new international study that assesses the skill level of students nearing the end of their compulsory education.

Students from only two countries (Hong Kong–China and Finland) outperformed Canadian 15-year-olds in mathematics among 41 nations that participated in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) 2003 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Canadian youth also performed well in three other domains measured by PISA.

Only students in Finland performed significantly better than those in Canada in reading. And students in only Finland, Japan, Hong Kong–China and Korea performed significantly better in science and problem solving.

The study's goal was to identify whether students have the necessary skills and knowledge to participate fully in a knowledge-based economy and society. Factors such as advances in communication, information intensive service industries and the wide diffusion of information technologies have precipitated changes in skills required in the Information Age.

All provinces performed at or above the OECD average in mathematics overall. Furthermore students in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec performed as well in mathematics as those from the top performing countries. The study also found that students in nearly every province performed at or above the OECD average in reading, science and problem solving.

The study showed that while boys outperformed girls in mathematics, the magnitude of the difference in Canada was small.

In addition, family socio-economic status had an impact on mathematics performance. In every province, students with higher socio-economic status tended to have higher performance in mathematics.

And except for Ontario, there was no difference in mathematics performance between students in the English-language school system and those in the French.

Mathematics: Students in all provinces at or above OECD average

Provincially, students from Alberta performed above the Canadian average in overall mathematics while students in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia performed at the Canadian average.

Students in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan performed below the Canadian average. However, students in all provinces performed at or above the OECD average in mathematics.

PISA examined student performance in four sub-domains: space and shape; change and relationships; quantity; and uncertainty. Generally, only one or two countries had higher average scores than Canada.

However, in the sub-domain of space and shape, which relates most closely to geometry, students in eight nations outperformed those in Canada, suggesting that the relative weakness of Canadian students lies in this area.

Science, reading and problem solving: Students in all provinces did well

Students in all provinces did well in the three minor domains of reading, science and problem solving. Only those in Prince Edward Island performed below the OECD average in science.

In fact, students from Alberta performed equally well as those from the top performing countries in all three domains, and were above the Canadian average in all three.

Students in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan performed below the Canadian average in all three domains. Those in Newfoundland and Labrador performed below the Canadian average in problem solving.

Boys do better than girls in mathematics, but not reading

In Canada, as well as in a majority of nations, boys outperformed girls in mathematics, but the difference was relatively small. On the other hand, there was a relatively large difference favouring girls in reading in all Canadian provinces and the vast majority of countries.

There was no difference between girls and boys in mathematics in three provinces: Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan.

Boys also performed better than girls in science in Canada overall. However, among the provinces, the difference was significant in Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Ontario.

Performance varies across minority language school systems

There was no difference in mathematics performance between students in Canada's English-language and French-language school systems, except for Ontario.

In Ontario, the average performance of students in the French-language school system was below that of their peers in the English system in all four domains.

In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, students in French-language schools had a lower performance in reading, science and problem-solving. In Manitoba, the students in French-language schools had lower performance in reading and science.

In Quebec, however, there was no difference between the two systems in any of the domains.

Student's confidence in learning math is strongly related to achievement

Not everybody is comfortable learning mathematics. PISA collected information on a variety of dimensions of "student engagement" to explore the extent to which students believe they can succeed in mathematics and how they feel about learning it. Among others, this measure examined confidence in their abilities and their emotional feelings about mathematics.

The study found that a student's self-confidence and level of anxiety about mathematics were strongly associated with their performance. Those with high levels of confidence in their ability to learn mathematics performed much higher than those with low levels.

Furthermore, students with a high level of anxiety about math, such as feelings of helplessness or stress when dealing with math, performed much lower than students with less anxiety.

It is difficult to disentangle the associations observed between mathematics engagement and performance. For example, are high motivation and confidence and reduced anxiety the causes of strong performance or by-products of doing well in mathematics?

Nevertheless, these results suggest that high self-confidence in mathematics as well as low mathematics anxiety may be important outcomes on their own.

Socio-economic status: Parents and schools both factors

A student's family background, as well as the composition of their schools, was a factor in performance in mathematics.

Students from families with higher socio-economic status tended to perform better in math. However, the differences were less pronounced in Canada than in the OECD nations combined, suggesting that socio-economic status has a smaller impact in Canada.

Also, 15-year-olds who attended schools with students from higher socio-economic backgrounds performed better in mathematics regardless of the status of their family. This suggests they are not only affected by their parents' circumstances, but by those of their school peers.

Even so, if all students and schools had similar socio-economic status, there would still be differences in student performance.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 5060.

The report Measuring up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study: The Performance of Canada's Youth in Mathematics, Reading, Science and Problem Solving: 2003, First Findings for Canadian Aged 15, no. 2 (81-590-XIE2004001, free) is now available online. From the Our products and services page, under Browse our Internet publications, choose Free then Education. A printed version (81-590-XPE, $11) will soon be available.

The report is also available on the Programme for International Student Assessment (www.pisa.gc.ca) and the Council of Ministers of Education of Canada (www.cmec.ca) Web sites.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (1-800-307-3382; 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-9040; educationstats@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.