Table C.4.5
Estimated average scores of 15-year-old students, science, Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Canada and provinces, 2006 and 2009

* The difference between the PISA 2006 and PISA 2009 estimated average scores is statistically significant (p < 0.05).
Notes: The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) reports on reading, mathematics, and science every three years, providing a more detailed look at each domain in the years when it is a major focus: reading in 2000 and 2009, mathematics in 2003, and science in 2006.
Comparisons over time can only be made from the point at which a major assessment of the domain took place. As the first major assessment of science took place in 2006, it is not possible to compare these results with those from the minor science assessments done in 2003 and 2000.
Performance differences should be interpreted with caution. As comparable data for science are available for only two points in time, it is not possible to determine the extent to which observed differences are indicative of longer-term changes.
The confidence interval represents the range within which the score for the population is likely to fall, with 95% probability. It is calculated as a range of plus or minus about two standard errors around the estimated average score. The difference between estimated average scores are statistically significant if the confidence intervals do not overlap. Where confidence intervals overlapped slightly, an additional t-test was conducted to confirm statistical difference.
The 2009 standard errors and confidence intervals in this table include linking errors associated with the uncertainty that results from making comparisons with PISA 2006. To compare the performance of Canada or of provinces in a particular assessment year with that of other countries, economies or provinces, the PISA Canada report for that year should be consulted.
For a brief description of this indicator, including the methodology, please see the Handbook for the Pan-Canadian Education Indicators Program.
Sources: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada, Statistics Canada, and Council of Ministers of Education, Canada, 2010, Measuring Up: Canadian Results of the OECD PISA Study: The Performance of Canada's Youth in Reading, Mathematics and Science, 2009 First Results for Canadians Aged 15, Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 81-590-XIE.
Statistics Canada, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics, special tabulation for standard errors, January 2011.
Updated April 29, 2011.