A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Indicator 36. International Reading Comparison

Average score on an international reading assessment of 14-year-olds in selected countries and provinces: 1990

__________________________________________________________________________________                        |  Mean  | Below   About the   Higher  |  Mean   |  Grade         Country        | score  |  the     same as     than   |   age   | tested                        |        | U.S.1/ the U.S.1/ the U.S.1/|         | _______________________|________|_____________________________|_________|_________                                                               | Finland ...............     560                         X     |    14.7         8                                                               | France ................     549               X               |    15.4         9 Sweden ................     546               X               |    14.8         8 New Zealand ...........     545               X               |    15.0        10 Hungary ...............     536               X               |    14.1         8 Iceland ...............     536               X               |    14.8         8 Switzerland ...........     536               X               |    14.9         8 Hong Kong .............     535               X               |    15.2         9 United States .........     535               X               |    15.0         9 Singapore .............     534               X               |    14.4         8 Slovenia ..............     532               X               |    14.7         8 Germany, former East ..     526               X               |    14.4         8 Denmark ...............     525               X               |    14.8         8 Portugal ..............     523               X               |    15.6         9 Canada, British                                               |   Columbia.............     522               X               |    13.9         8 Germany, former West ..     522               X               |    14.6         8 Norway ................     516     X                         |    14.8         8 Italy .................     515     X                         |    14.1         8 Netherlands ...........     514               X               |    14.3         8                                                               | Ireland ...............     511     X                         |    14.5         9 Greece ................     509     X                         |    14.4         9 Cyprus ................     497     X                         |    14.8         9 Spain .................     490     X                         |    14.2         8 Belgium, French .......     481     X                         |    14.3         8 Trinidad/Tobago .......     479     X                         |    14.4         9 Thailand2/ ............     477     X                         |    15.2         9 Philippines ...........     430     X                         |    14.5         8 Venezuela .............     417     X                         |    15.5         9 Nigeria2/ .............     401     X                         |    15.3         9 Zimbabwe2/ ............     372     X                         |    15.5         9 Botswana ..............     330     X                         |    14.7         9 ______________________________________________________________|___________________
1/Significance test at the 95 percent confidence level.
2/Sampling response rate of schools was below 80 percent.

NOTE: Score distributions are based on a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100.

SOURCE: The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, How in the World Do Students Read?

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