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First Results from the 2003 Programme for International Student AssessmentThe Performance of Canadian students in mathematics in an international context Forty-one countries, including Canada and all 30 OECD countries, participated in the most recent round of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2003. Results of that assessment, which became available in December 2004, show that Canadian 15-year-olds continue to perform very well in an international context. PISA was launched in 2000. In that year, the primary focus was on reading skills, with a secondary focus on mathematics and science. The primary focus of PISA 2003 was on the mathematics domain, with a secondary focus on reading, science and problem-solving. Science will be the primary focus of PISA 2006.The Performance of Canadian students in mathematics in an international contextResults of the 2003 assessment show that, among the 41 participating countries, students in only two – Hong Kong-China and Finland -- performed better than Canadian students on the mathematics scale. Students in seven other countries performed as well as Canadian students, while students in the remaining countries performed less well. In fact, students in three provinces - Alberta, Quebec and British Columbia - ranked among the best in the world.Mathematics skill is a continuum; that is, it is not something a student does or does not have, but rather, every 15-year-old shows a certain level of mathematics skill. Students were grouped into six proficiency levels representing tasks of increasing difficulty, with level one including the lowest scores and level six, the highest. Students at Level 1 or below would have great difficulty in continuing studies in mathematics and in using mathematics in daily life. Compared to the OECD average of 15%, a significantly higher proportion of Canadian students (20%) performed at Level 5 or above. Only four countries had significantly higher percentages of students performing at the highest levels of proficiency in mathematics in 2003. In contrast, a much smaller proportion of Canadian students (10%) performed at Level 1 or below in mathematics compared to the OECD average (21%). Only Finland had a significantly smaller proportion of students at Level 1 or below. Provincial results in mathematicsProvinces fell into one of three groups when compared to the average Canadian performance: students in Alberta scored significantly above the Canadian average on the combined mathematics scale; those in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba andBritish Columbia performed at about the Canadian average; and students in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan scored lower than the Canadian average. Students in all provinces performed higher than the OECD average with the exception of students in Prince Edward Island who performed at the OECD average. With the exceptions of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, the percentages of students who performed at Level 1 or below on the combined mathematics scale were similar to the average for Canada (10%). The percentage of students in New Brunswick performing at Level 1 or below (14%) was significantly higher than the Canadian average but lower than the average observed for the OECD. In Prince Edward Island, 18% performed at Level 1 or below, similar to the average for the OECD. In Alberta, the percentage of students scoring at Level 5 or above (27%) was significantly greater than the Canadian average (20%). The percentages of students in Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario who performed at Level 5 or above were comparable to the average for Canada. Relative to the Canadian average, lower percentages of students in Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan performed at Level 5 or above. However, with the exception of Prince Edward Island, these percentages were similar to the average for the OECD. The performance of Canadian students in reading, science and problem solving in an international contextWhile the primary focus of PISA 2003 was on student achievement in mathematics, assessments were also carried out for the minor domains of reading and science. In addition, PISA 2003 also assessed student achievement in a new minor domain – problem solving. Results of PISA 2003 in reading confirm the findings that were observed in 2000 when reading was the major emphasis. Canadian 15-year-olds continue to perform very well in reading: the overall achievement of Canadian students was significantly higher than the OECD average; only students in Finland outperformed Canadian students in 2003. The performance of Canadian 15-year-olds in science and problem solving in 2003 was also significantly above the OECD average. However, relative to Canada’s position in mathematics and reading, Canadian students did not perform as strongly in these two domains. Four countries performed significantly better than Canada in both science and problem solving. Eight countries performed as well as Canada in science and seven countries performed as well as Canada in problem solving. Across the three minor domains of PISA 2003 the performance of students in all provinces was, with a few exceptions, above the OECD average. Students in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan performed at the OECD average in science, while students in Prince Edward Island performed at the OECD average in reading and problem solving and below the OECD average in science. Students in Alberta performed above the Canadian average in each of the three minor domains, while students in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia performed at the Canadian average in all three domains. Students in Newfoundland and Labrador performed at the Canadian average in reading and science, but below the average in problem solving. Students in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan performed below the Canadian average in all minor domains. How does the performance of boys and girls compare?In PISA 2003, boys performed significantly better than girls on the combined mathematics scale in 27 participating countries, including Canada. However, the magnitude of these gender differences was generally small. In Canada, boys outperformed girls by an average of eleven points, which is the same as the average difference between boys and girls for the OECD. This difference in scores represents about 17% of a proficiency level. No gender differences were observed in 12 countries and in one country (Iceland) girls performed significantly better than boys. Gender differences were observed in seven of the ten provinces on the combined mathematics scale. Boys performed significantly better than girls in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and British Columbia. No significant gender differences were observed in Prince Edward Island, Quebec or Saskatchewan. As was the case in PISA 2000, girls performed significantly better than boys on the reading test in all but one country and in all provinces in PISA 2003. However, the gap between girls and boys in reading was much larger than the gap between boys and girls in mathematics. In Canada, while boys outperformed girls by eleven points in mathematics, girls outperformed boys by 32 points in reading; the gap in reading scores represents about 40% of a proficiency level. In PISA 2000, no significant gender differences were observed between boys and girls in any country or any province on the science test. In PISA 2003, in Canada as well as in eleven other countries, boys performed significantly better than girls in science. However, as with mathematics, the gap was small, at eleven points in Canada and six points at the OECD average. At the provincial level, boys outperformed girls only in Nova Scotia, Ontario and Manitoba. In the case of problem solving, girls outperformed boys in only six countries. No significant gender differences were observed for Canada as a whole. At the provincial level, girls outperformed boys only in Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan. Achievement of Canadian students by language of the school systemTo allow comparisons of student achievement in minority-language and majority-language school systems, the number of students participating in the 2003 PISA assessment was much larger in Canada than in other countries – approximately 28,000 15-year-olds participated in PISA 2003 in Canada compared to between 5,000 and 10,000 in other countries. Minority-language students are those enrolled in French-language school systems in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba and in the English-language school system in Quebec. PISA 2000 found that, for mathematics, significant differences were apparent only in Ontario, with students in the French-language school system scoring lower than those in English-language schools. The PISA 2003 results confirm this finding: students in the English-language school system in Ontario outperformed students in the French-language school system by 26 points on the combined mathematics scale. No significant differences in mathematics performance on the combined scale were found for students in French-language and English-language school systems in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba. In both reading and science in 2003, students enrolled in the French-language school systems in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba scored significantly lower than students in the English-language systems. In Quebec, student performance in reading and science did not differ between the English-language and French-language school systems. These results are the same as those found in PISA 2000. For problem solving, students in the English-language school systems in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Ontario out-performed those in the French-language systems; no significant differences were observed for Quebec and Manitoba. ConclusionIn an increasingly technical world, mathematics is key to many areas of activity both inside and outside of school. Canada’s performance in PISA 2003 suggests that, on the whole, Canadian 15-year-olds will have the mathematics skills and knowledge needed to participate fully in today’s knowledge-based economy and a strong foundation upon which to continue to build those skills throughout life. In addition, the PISA 2003 results confirm the PISA 2000 findings with respect to the performance of Canadian students in reading. Canadian 15-year-olds continue to perform very well in reading, being outperformed only by students in Finland among a total of 41 countries. Canada also performed well in science and problem solving with only four countries outperforming Canadian students in each of these two domains. The PISA survey results provide a rich set of data not only on student achievement, but also on the characteristics of the students, their school experiences, work activities and relationships with others, their families and their schools. The factors that influence student academic achievement are varied and complex. The Canadian national report on the PISA results, published in December 2004, explores two of these: the relationship between student engagement in mathematics, student learning and mathematics achievement; and the impact of student socio-economic background on mathematics performance. But much more analysis is needed in order to develop a thorough understanding of what factors help students achieve their best and of how education systems, teachers and parents can assist in achieving that goal. Notes
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