Student characteristics and achievement in science: Results of the 2006 Programme for International Student Assessment - ARCHIVED

The latest results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 were published in early December 2007. This time, the focus of the assessment was on science literacy. Overall, the 2006 PISA results show that Canadian 15 year-olds students performed very well in science. Among 57 countries, only 15 year-olds in Finland and in Hong Kong-China performed better than Canadian youth on the combined science scale.

The amount of within-country variation in performance in science varied widely across OECD countries. Both Canada and the majority of the provinces were among the few jurisdictions where science achievement was above average while, at the same time, the disparity in student performance was below average. Nevertheless, differences in student achievement persist and are linked to a number of student characteristics. This article focusses on the most recent PISA results regarding science achievement of Canadian 15 year-olds and their background characteristics.