1 . The Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA)

The 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA)found that high school students from the Chinese mainland ranked No. 1 in all three core subjects.

PISA tests are conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD).     1    It provides the most comprehensive international assessment of student learning outcomes to date. Results from PISA allow educators and policymakers to learn from the policies and practices applied in other countries.

PISA 2018 tested around 600,000 15-year-old students in 79 countries and regions in reading, science and mathematics.     2    Singapore came in second place, slipping from its previous top position in 2015. In the next test, creative thinking will be included in the assessment for the first time.

The first PISA was carried out in 2000. China has participated in the study every time since 2009, when students from Shanghai were selected as representatives and came out as champions in all three categories.

China’s overall ranking dropped to No. 10 in 2015 when it was represented by Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Guangdong that year. The country placed 27th in reading, sixth in mathematics and tenth in science then.     3    

Responding to disputes that a few eastern regions cannot show the whole educational picture of the world’s most populous country, the OECD said that each of them is comparable in size to many Western countries, and have a combined population of over 180 million. It added that even 10% of the most disadvantaged students in these four provinces showed better reading skills than the most advantaged students in some countries, and better performance than the average student in OECD countries.

    4     Results from the latest well-being study showed that students are not happy at school. Only about two-thirds of students across OECD countries said they were satisfied with their lives, a 5%drop from 2015.