Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Spotlight: 15-year-old students

Third in world in math

CANADIAN 15-year-old students scored third out of 41 nations on an international test of skills in mathematics, according to a new international study that assesses the skill level of students nearing the end of their compulsory education.

Students from only Hong Kong-China and Finland outperformed Canadian students in mathematics among the nations that participated in the 2003 Program for International Student Assessment.

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

In addition, Canada is one of a handful of nations that raised its math scores from the first test, held in 2000. While Canada slipped slightly in science skills, it held its second-place spot in reading.

Two-hour test

The program surveyed almost 250,000 students in 41 nations. Each wrote a two-hour test that was part multiple-choice and part creative answers. In Canada, more than 28,000 15-year-olds from more than 1,000 schools participated.

The goal was to identify whether students have the necessary skills and knowledge to participate fully in the Information Age.

Among the provinces, Alberta students scored highest in mathematics, reading, science and problem-solving. Students in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and British Columbia performed at the Canadian average.

Students in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Quebec performed below the national average. However, students in all provinces performed at or above the international average in mathematics.

Ranked on their own against other nations, Alberta students came second only to Hong Kong in math, and to Finland in reading.

Boys do better in math

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.

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. There, 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.

Not everybody is comfortable learning mathematics. But the study found that Canadian students on the whole experience less anxiety about math than their peers in other countries. Canadian girls consistently described themselves as more anxious about math than boys.

You can read the report “Measuring up: Canadian results of the OECD PISA Study: The performance of Canada’s youth in mathematics, reading, science and problem solving” free on our website.

For more information, contact Client Services (1-800-307-3382), Centre for Education Statistics.

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© 2004, Statistics Canada.