Education Minister Mike Bernier welcomed today’s news that B.C. students have earned some of the best outcomes against their peers in the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) released today.

B.C.’s Grade 10 students earned the top-spot for reading, second in science and sixth in math – each an improvement over the last time testing was done in 2012. Conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the PISA assesses students from 72 countries and all 10 Canadian provinces.

“Our students are the best readers in the world and their outcomes put them at the head of the class globally. These results come thanks to hard work by the students, the skills and efforts of our teachers, and from the strength of our education system,” said Bernier. “It’s doubly rewarding to see the strong results are also an improvement from the already strong results three years ago.”

In PISA 2012, B.C. students performed second in reading, third in science, and 10th in math.

“World-leading results like the PISA results are what we are building on with our new curriculum,” Bernier noted. “Our new curriculum is going to help make sure that our students continue to have great outcomes and connect with the skills they need to succeed in our changing world.”

The OECD report is available at: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/

The Canadian report is available at: www.pisacan.ca

Quick facts

• B.C. students achieved the highest average score in reading in PISA 2015, no countries performed above B.C.’s range. Ten jurisdictions performed at B.C.’s range, and 71 jurisdictions performed below.
• In science, only Singapore outperformed B.C. statistically. Ten jurisdictions, including Canada as a whole, performed in B.C.'s range, including Alberta which statistically tied with B.C. Seventy jurisdictions performed below B.C.'s range.
• In math, five jurisdictions performed above B.C. statistically, 12 jurisdictions performed at the same level as B.C., and 64 performed below.
• In math rankings, only Quebec finished ahead of B.C. within Canada.
• B.C. also demonstrated high equality in student performance, which is the gap between the highest and lowest performing students, showing the system is delivering high student achievement in an equitable manner.
• PISA assesses the performance of 15 year old students in reading, science and math.
• It is conducted every three years and is one of the most comprehensive programs of its kind in the world.
• Seventy-two countries and all 10 Canadian provinces participated in PISA 2015.