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PROGRAMME FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENT ASSESSMENT 2000 - SCOTLAND ANALYSIS
SECTION 2 - VARIATION IN TEST SCORES
Performance in Reading Literacy
1. Fifteen year olds in Scotland ranked sixth overall in a ranking of reading literacy test scores of OECD countries, behind Finland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. The level of variation among Scottish students was close to the OECD average, but much lower than in countries such as Belgium and Germany. Variation was lowest in Korea. Females in Scotland substantially outscored males. The same was true in all countries participating in the study, with the smallest difference in Korea, and the highest in Latvia.
Table 1. Variation in performance on the PISA reading literacy scale, by country
| Mean | Standard deviation | Percentiles |
5th | 10th | 25th | 75th | 90th | 95th |
Mean score | S.E. | S.D. | Score | Score | Score | Score | Score | Score |
OECD countries |
Australia | 528 | (3.5) | 102 | 354 | 394 | 458 | 602 | 656 | 685 |
Austria | 507 | (2.4) | 93 | 341 | 383 | 447 | 573 | 621 | 648 |
Belgium | 507 | (3.6) | 107 | 308 | 354 | 437 | 587 | 634 | 659 |
Canada | 534 | (1.6) | 95 | 371 | 410 | 472 | 600 | 652 | 681 |
Czech Republic | 492 | (2.4) | 96 | 320 | 368 | 433 | 557 | 610 | 638 |
Denmark | 497 | (2.4) | 98 | 326 | 367 | 434 | 566 | 617 | 645 |
Finland | 546 | (2.6) | 89 | 390 | 429 | 492 | 608 | 654 | 681 |
France | 505 | (2.7) | 92 | 344 | 381 | 444 | 570 | 619 | 645 |
Germany | 484 | (2.5) | 111 | 284 | 335 | 417 | 563 | 619 | 650 |
Greece | 474 | (5.0) | 97 | 305 | 342 | 409 | 543 | 595 | 625 |
Hungary | 480 | (4.0) | 94 | 320 | 354 | 414 | 549 | 598 | 626 |
Iceland | 507 | (1.5) | 92 | 345 | 383 | 447 | 573 | 621 | 647 |
Ireland | 527 | (3.2) | 94 | 360 | 401 | 468 | 593 | 641 | 669 |
Italy | 487 | (2.9) | 91 | 331 | 368 | 429 | 552 | 601 | 627 |
Japan | 522 | (5.2) | 86 | 366 | 407 | 471 | 582 | 625 | 650 |
Korea | 525 | (2.4) | 70 | 402 | 433 | 481 | 574 | 608 | 629 |
Luxembourg | 441 | (1.6) | 100 | 267 | 311 | 378 | 513 | 564 | 592 |
Mexico | 422 | (3.3) | 86 | 284 | 311 | 360 | 482 | 535 | 565 |
New Zealand | 529 | (2.8) | 108 | 337 | 382 | 459 | 606 | 661 | 693 |
Norway | 505 | (2.8) | 104 | 320 | 364 | 440 | 579 | 631 | 660 |
Poland | 479 | (4.5) | 100 | 304 | 343 | 414 | 551 | 603 | 631 |
Portugal | 470 | (4.5) | 97 | 300 | 337 | 403 | 541 | 592 | 620 |
SCOTLAND | 526 | (3.8) | 99 | 356 | 394 | 460 | 596 | 647 | 680 |
Male | 511 | | 99 | 343 | 380 | 446 | 582 | 632 | 663 |
Female | 542 | | 97 | 378 | 417 | 478 | 609 | 660 | 694 |
Spain | 493 | (2.7) | 85 | 344 | 379 | 436 | 553 | 597 | 620 |
Sweden | 516 | (2.2) | 92 | 354 | 392 | 456 | 581 | 630 | 658 |
Switzerland | 494 | (4.2) | 102 | 316 | 355 | 426 | 567 | 621 | 651 |
United Kingdom | 523 | (2.6) | 100 | 352 | 391 | 458 | 595 | 651 | 682 |
United States | 504 | (7.1) | 105 | 320 | 363 | 436 | 577 | 636 | 669 |
OECD total | 499 | (2.0) | 100 | 322 | 363 | 433 | 569 | 622 | 653 |
Country mean | 500 | (0.6) | 100 | 324 | 366 | 435 | 571 | 623 | 652 |
Non-OECD countries |
Brazil | 396 | (3.1) | 86 | 255 | 288 | 339 | 452 | 507 | 539 |
Latvia | 458 | (5.3) | 102 | 283 | 322 | 390 | 530 | 586 | 617 |
Liechtenstein | 483 | (4.1) | 96 | 310 | 350 | 419 | 551 | 601 | 626 |
Russian Federation | 462 | (4.2) | 92 | 306 | 340 | 400 | 526 | 579 | 608 |
Chart 1. Mean scores in reading literacy, and score at 10th and 90th percentiles, by country
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