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Students score high in international tests
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Fifteen-year-old Canadians are among the best in the world in mathematics, reading, science and problem-solving, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment, a survey conducted every three years by the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Among the 41 countries that participated in the 2003 survey, Finland and Hong Kong (China) were the only countries to score better in mathematics than Canada. As well, only the students of Finland scored better than Canadian students in reading. Canadian students were outperformed by only four countries in science and problem-solving.
Students' self-confidence and anxiety levels regarding math are strongly associated with their performance in that discipline. Students who have great confidence regarding math tend to perform much better than less confident students.
Family
background can also be associated with a student's results in math.
Students whose parents possessed a university degree tended to perform
better than those whose parents had high school education or less.
As well, young people from families with higher socio-economic status
or who went to schools attended by students with higher socio-economic
status tended to obtain better results.
Unlike Canada's 15-year-olds, adults obtained poor results in reading, math and problem solving. According to the 2003 International Adult Literacy and Skills Survey, 48% of the Canadian adult population-12 million Canadians aged 16 and over-did not attain the Level 3 in reading comprehension, which is seen as the minimum competence level for responding to the continually growing demands of an information-based society. The proportion of adults with numeracy scores below Level 3 was even more pronounced.
The level of performance of Canadians aged 16 to 65 in literacy, numeracy and problem solving is directly linked to their higher success in the job market. In fact, the average rate of success for employed people is higher than the rate of success for people on welfare or who are unemployed.
