With PISA results being released today, you are going to hear a lot about how stupid American 15-year-olds are, but smart analysts remember to always adjust for race.
From the federal National Center for Education Statistics, a breakdown of 2012 PISA math scores showing how Americans of different races compare to the world. PISA scores are much like SAT scores, with an intended mean of 500 for the OECD (i.e., rich) countries and a standard deviation of 100. On PISA, Math is America's worst subject (Reading is its best).
From the federal NCES, a breakdown of 2012 PISA math scores for American students by race:
Tech note: I imputed Asian and Multiracial percentages below Level I and Multiracial percentage in Level 6, which were left out of report due to small samples sizes.
For more postings devoted to analyzing PISA scores, click the Labels: PISA below.
From the federal National Center for Education Statistics, a breakdown of 2012 PISA math scores showing how Americans of different races compare to the world. PISA scores are much like SAT scores, with an intended mean of 500 for the OECD (i.e., rich) countries and a standard deviation of 100. On PISA, Math is America's worst subject (Reading is its best).
| OECD average | 494 |
| Shanghai-China | 613 |
| Singapore | 573 |
| Hong Kong-China | 561 |
| Chinese Taipei | 560 |
| Korea, Republic of | 554 |
| Asian-Americans | 549 |
| Macao-China | 538 |
| Japan | 536 |
| Liechtenstein | 535 |
| Switzerland | 531 |
| Netherlands | 523 |
| Estonia | 521 |
| Finland | 519 |
| Canada | 518 |
| Poland | 518 |
| Belgium | 515 |
| Massachusetts-All Races | 514 |
| Germany | 514 |
| Vietnam | 511 |
| White Americans | 506 |
| Connecticut-All Races | 506 |
| Austria | 506 |
| Australia | 504 |
| Ireland | 501 |
| Slovenia | 501 |
| Denmark | 500 |
| New Zealand | 500 |
| Czech Republic | 499 |
| France | 495 |
| OECD Average | 494 |
| United Kingdom | 494 |
| Iceland | 493 |
| Multiracial Americans | 492 |
| Latvia | 491 |
| Luxembourg | 490 |
| Norway | 489 |
| Portugal | 487 |
| Italy | 485 |
| Spain | 484 |
| Russian Federation | 482 |
| Slovak Republic | 482 |
| United States | 481 |
| Lithuania | 479 |
| Sweden | 478 |
| Hungary | 477 |
| Croatia | 471 |
| Florida-All Races | 467 |
| Israel | 466 |
| Hispanic Americans | 455 |
| Greece | 453 |
| Serbia, Republic of | 449 |
| Turkey | 448 |
| Romania | 445 |
| Cyprus | 440 |
| Bulgaria | 439 |
| United Arab Emirates | 434 |
| Kazakhstan | 432 |
| Thailand | 427 |
| Chile | 423 |
| African Americans | 421 |
| Malaysia | 421 |
| Mexico | 413 |
| Montenegro, Republic of | 410 |
| Uruguay | 409 |
| Costa Rica | 407 |
| Albania | 394 |
| Brazil | 391 |
| Argentina | 388 |
| Tunisia | 388 |
| Jordan | 386 |
| Colombia | 376 |
| Qatar | 376 |
| Indonesia | 375 |
| Peru | 368 |
From the federal NCES, a breakdown of 2012 PISA math scores for American students by race:
Below level 1 | Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | Level 4 | Level 5 | Level 6 | |
< 358 | < 421 | < 483 | < 555 | < 607 | < 670 | >= 670 | |
| Race/ethnicity | % | % | % | % | % | % | % |
| OECD average | 8.0 | 15.0 | 22.5 | 23.7 | 18.2 | 9.3 | 3.3 |
| U.S. average | 8.0 | 17.9 | 26.3 | 23.3 | 15.8 | 6.6 | 2.2 |
White | 3.6 | 11.5 | 25.0 | 27.8 | 20.3 | 8.8 | 3.0 |
Black | 21.0 | 32.0 | 25.3 | 14.0 | 6.7 | 1.0 | ‡ |
| Hispanic | 10.8 | 24.2 | 30.2 | 20.3 | 10.2 | 3.5 | 0.7 |
Asian | ‡ | 5.4 | 15.6 | 23.6 | 28.1 | 16.1 | 9.0 |
Multiracial | ‡ | 17.1 | 29.6 | 23.3 | 16.4 | 7.7 | ‡ |
| Cumulative: Bottom Up | |||||||
OECD average | 8.0 | 23.0 | 45.5 | 69.2 | 87.4 | 96.7 | 100.0 |
U.S. average | 8.0 | 25.8 | 52.1 | 75.4 | 91.2 | 97.8 | 100.0 |
White | 3.6 | 15.1 | 40.1 | 67.9 | 88.2 | 97.0 | 100.0 |
Black | 21.0 | 53.0 | 78.3 | 92.3 | 99.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
Hispanic | 10.8 | 35.0 | 65.2 | 85.5 | 95.7 | 99.2 | 99.9 |
Asian | 2.2 | 7.6 | 23.2 | 46.8 | 74.9 | 91.0 | 100.0 |
Multiracial | 3.0 | 23.0 | 52.6 | 75.9 | 92.3 | 97.1 | 100.0 |
| Cumulative: Top Down | |||||||
| OECD average | 100.0 | 92.0 | 77.0 | 54.5 | 30.8 | 12.6 | 3.3 |
U.S. average | 100.0 | 92.0 | 74.2 | 47.9 | 24.6 | 8.8 | 2.2 |
White | 100.0 | 96.4 | 84.9 | 59.9 | 32.1 | 11.8 | 3.0 |
Black | 100.0 | 79.0 | 47.0 | 21.7 | 7.7 | 1.0 | 0.0 |
Hispanic | 99.9 | 89.1 | 64.9 | 34.7 | 14.4 | 4.2 | 0.7 |
Asian | 100.0 | 97.8 | 92.4 | 76.8 | 53.2 | 25.1 | 9.0 |
Multiracial | 100.0 | 94.1 | 77.0 | 47.4 | 24.1 | 7.7 | 0.0 |
Tech note: I imputed Asian and Multiracial percentages below Level I and Multiracial percentage in Level 6, which were left out of report due to small samples sizes.
For more postings devoted to analyzing PISA scores, click the Labels: PISA below.