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Table C.4.8.1
Estimated average scores and percentage distribution of 15-year-old students on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) science combined scale, by performance level, Canada, provinces, and participating countries, 2006

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Country and province1 estimated average scores 95% confidence interval Below Level 1 Level 1 Level 2
percentage 95% confidence interval percentage 95% confidence interval percentage 95% confidence interval
Finland 563 559 to 567 0.5 0.3 to 0.7 3.5 2.7 to 4.3 13.5 12.1 to 14.9
Alberta 550 543 to 558 0.8 0.0 to 1.6 5.3 3.9 to 6.7 17.2 14.7 to 19.7
Hong Kong - China 542 537 to 547 1.7 0.9 to 2.5 7.0 5.6 to 8.4 16.9 15.3 to 18.5
British Columbia 539 529 to 548 1.9 0.9 to 2.9 7.1 5.3 to 8.9 18.5 16.1 to 20.9
Ontario 537 529 to 545 1.8 0.8 to 2.8 7.6 5.6 to 9.6 18.4 15.9 to 20.9
Canada 534 530 to 538 2.2 1.6 to 2.8 7.8 6.8 to 8.8 19.0 17.8 to 20.2
Chinese Taipei 532 525 to 539 1.9 1.3 to 2.5 9.6 8.0 to 11.2 18.5 16.7 to 20.3
Estonia 531 526 to 536 0.9 0.5 to 1.3 6.6 5.4 to 7.8 20.9 19.1 to 22.7
Japan 531 525 to 538 3.1 2.3 to 3.9 8.8 7.4 to 10.2 18.4 16.8 to 20.0
Quebec 531 522 to 539 3.1 1.7 to 4.5 8.0 6.2 to 9.8 19.2 16.8 to 21.6
New Zealand 530 525 to 536 4.0 3.2 to 4.8 9.6 8.4 to 10.8 19.7 18.1 to 21.3
Australia 527 522 to 531 3.0 2.4 to 3.6 9.8 8.8 to 10.8 20.2 19.0 to 21.4
Newfoundland and Labrador 526 521 to 530 2.1 0.9 to 3.3 9.7 7.9 to 11.5 21.2 18.7 to 23.7
Netherlands 525 519 to 530 2.3 1.5 to 3.1 10.6 8.8 to 12.4 21.1 19.1 to 23.1
Manitoba 523 517 to 530 2.8 1.8 to 3.8 9.6 7.4 to 11.8 19.2 16.5 to 21.9
Korea 522 516 to 529 2.5 1.5 to 3.5 8.6 7.2 to 10.0 21.2 19.2 to 23.2
Liechtenstein 522 514 to 530 2.6 0.6 to 4.6 10.3 6.2 to 14.4 20.9 15.4 to 26.4
Nova Scotia 520 515 to 525 1.9 0.7 to 3.1 9.7 7.5 to 11.9 22.7 20.5 to 24.9
Slovenia 519 517 to 521 2.8 2.2 to 3.4 11.0 9.6 to 12.4 23.1 21.7 to 24.5
Saskatchewan 517 509 to 524 3.2 1.8 to 4.6 10.3 8.3 to 12.3 22.0 19.3 to 24.7
Germany 516 508 to 523 4.0 2.6 to 5.4 11.2 9.2 to 13.2 21.3 19.1 to 23.5
United Kingdom 515 510 to 519 4.8 3.8 to 5.8 11.8 10.6 to 13.0 21.8 20.4 to 23.2
Czech Republic 513 506 to 520 3.4 2.2 to 4.6 11.9 10.3 to 13.5 23.4 21.2 to 25.6
Switzerland 512 505 to 518 4.5 3.5 to 5.5 11.4 10.2 to 12.6 21.8 20.0 to 23.6
Austria 511 503 to 519 4.2 2.4 to 6.0 11.9 9.9 to 13.9 21.8 19.8 to 23.8
Macao-China 511 509 to 513 1.4 1.0 to 1.8 8.7 7.7 to 9.7 25.9 23.9 to 27.9
Belgium 510 505 to 515 4.8 3.4 to 6.2 12.1 10.9 to 13.3 20.8 19.0 to 22.6
Prince Edward Island 509 503 to 514 3.8 2.4 to 5.2 12.1 9.7 to 14.5 23.7 21.2 to 26.2
Ireland 508 502 to 515 3.5 2.5 to 4.5 11.8 10.2 to 13.4 24.0 22.2 to 25.8
New Brunswick 506 502 to 511 3.1 2.3 to 3.9 12.0 10.0 to 14.0 26.0 23.5 to 28.5
Hungary 504 499 to 509 2.7 2.1 to 3.3 12.2 10.4 to 14.0 26.0 23.6 to 28.4
Sweden 503 499 to 508 3.7 2.9 to 4.5 12.5 11.3 to 13.7 25.1 23.3 to 26.9
OECD average 500 499 to 501 5.2 5.0 to 5.4 14.0 13.8 to 14.2 24.0 23.6 to 24.4
Poland 498 493 to 502 3.2 2.4 to 4.0 13.7 12.5 to 14.9 27.4 25.4 to 29.4
Denmark 496 490 to 502 4.3 3.1 to 5.5 14.0 12.4 to 15.6 25.9 23.9 to 27.9
France 495 489 to 502 6.5 5.1 to 7.9 14.5 12.5 to 16.5 22.8 20.6 to 25.0
Croatia 493 488 to 498 2.9 2.1 to 3.7 13.9 12.5 to 15.3 29.2 27.4 to 31.0
Iceland 491 488 to 494 5.8 4.8 to 6.8 14.6 13.0 to 16.2 25.9 24.5 to 27.3
Latvia 490 484 to 495 3.5 2.5 to 4.5 13.7 11.7 to 15.7 29.0 26.6 to 31.4
United States 489 481 to 497 7.4 5.6 to 9.2 16.8 15.0 to 18.6 24.2 22.2 to 26.2
Lithuania 488 483 to 493 4.3 3.5 to 5.1 15.9 14.3 to 17.5 27.3 25.5 to 29.1
Slovak Republic 488 483 to 494 5.1 3.9 to 6.3 14.9 13.1 to 16.7 28.0 26.0 to 30.0
Spain 488 483 to 493 4.7 3.9 to 5.5 14.8 13.4 to 16.2 27.3 25.7 to 28.9
Norway 487 480 to 493 5.8 4.2 to 7.4 15.1 13.5 to 16.7 27.3 25.7 to 28.9
Luxembourg 486 484 to 488 6.4 5.6 to 7.2 15.6 14.4 to 16.8 25.3 24.1 to 26.5
Russian Federation 479 472 to 487 5.2 4.0 to 6.4 16.8 14.6 to 19.0 30.2 28.4 to 32.0
Italy 475 471 to 479 7.2 6.2 to 8.2 17.9 16.7 to 19.1 27.6 26.0 to 29.2
Portugal 474 468 to 480 5.7 4.1 to 7.3 18.6 16.6 to 20.6 28.8 27.0 to 30.6
Greece 473 467 to 480 7.1 5.3 to 8.9 16.8 15.0 to 18.6 28.9 26.7 to 31.1
Israel 454 447 to 461 14.8 12.4 to 17.2 21.1 19.1 to 23.1 24.1 22.1 to 26.1
Chile 438 430 to 447 12.9 10.7 to 15.1 26.5 23.6 to 29.4 30.0 27.8 to 32.2
Serbia 436 430 to 442 11.7 9.9 to 13.5 26.6 24.2 to 29.0 32.3 29.8 to 34.8
Bulgaria 434 422 to 446 18.2 14.9 to 21.5 24.3 21.8 to 26.8 25.2 22.8 to 27.6
Uruguay 428 423 to 434 16.6 14.2 to 19.0 25.3 23.1 to 27.5 29.9 26.8 to 33.0
Turkey 424 416 to 431 12.7 11.1 to 14.3 33.6 31.1 to 36.1 31.4 28.7 to 34.1
Jordan 422 416 to 428 16.0 14.2 to 17.8 28.1 26.3 to 29.9 30.8 29.2 to 32.4
Thailand 421 417 to 425 12.4 10.8 to 14.0 33.4 31.4 to 35.4 33.3 31.5 to 35.1
Romania 418 410 to 427 15.8 12.9 to 18.7 30.8 27.9 to 33.7 31.9 28.8 to 35.0
Montenegro 412 410 to 414 17.0 15.4 to 18.6 32.9 30.5 to 35.3 31.1 29.3 to 32.9
Mexico 410 404 to 415 18.0 15.6 to 20.4 32.7 30.9 to 34.5 30.8 28.8 to 32.8
Indonesia 393 382 to 405 20.1 16.8 to 23.4 41.3 37.0 to 45.6 27.7 25.0 to 30.4
Argentina 391 379 to 403 28.2 23.7 to 32.7 27.8 25.1 to 30.5 25.7 23.2 to 28.2
Brazil 390 385 to 396 27.7 25.7 to 29.7 33.2 31.4 to 35.0 23.9 22.1 to 25.7
Columbia 388 381 to 395 25.9 22.6 to 29.2 34.0 31.3 to 36.7 27.4 24.5 to 30.3
Tunisia 386 380 to 391 27.4 25.2 to 29.6 35.1 33.3 to 36.9 25.1 23.1 to 27.1
Azerbaijan 382 377 to 388 19.0 16.1 to 21.9 53.2 50.3 to 56.1 22.7 20.0 to 25.4
Qatar 349 348 to 351 47.3 46.1 to 48.5 31.7 30.5 to 32.9 13.9 12.9 to 14.9
Kyrgyzstan 322 316 to 328 57.9 54.8 to 61.0 28.2 25.8 to 30.6 10.2 8.6 to 11.8
1. Jurisdictions are ordered by estimated average scores.
Notes: The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reports on reading literacy, mathematical literacy and scientific literacy every three years and provides a more detailed look at each domain in the years when it is the major focus: reading achievement in 2000, mathematics achievement in 2003 and science achievement in 2006. Percentage distributions may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
The confidence interval represents the range within which the score for the population is likely to fall, with 95% probability. If two confidence intervals overlap, there is no statistically significant difference between the means.
Data source:
Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Statistics Canada and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. 2007. Measuring Up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study: The Performance of Canada's Youth in Science, Reading and Mathematics. 2006 First Results for Canadians Aged 15. Statistics Canada. Catalogue no. 81-590-XIE-3. Ottawa.
Table source:
Statistics Canada and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada. 2007. Education indicators in Canada: Report of the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program. Catalogue no. 81-582-XIE. Ottawa.
Updated December 16, 2008.