Student Achievement

Because there often were relatively small differences in achievement between countries, Exhibit 1.2 shows whether the differences in average achievement among the countries are statistically significant.

The Russian Federation and Singapore were the top-performing countries, with similar achievement. Fourth grade students in the Russian Federation had higher achievement than students in all of the other countries except Singapore. In turn, Singaporean students had higher achievement than those in all of the other countries except the Russian Federation and Hong Kong SAR. Hong Kong SAR was another top performer, with achievement similar to or higher than all the countries except the Russian Federation. Ireland, Finland, Poland, and Northern Ireland also performed very well, having achievement similar to or higher than all the other countries except the Russian Federation and Singapore.