Motivation or Achievement?

The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) is an international test of 15-year-olds’ abilities to apply their knowledge. One explanation for the high scores of China and low scores of the United States is motivation of the students: Experts believe that students in the United States are not strongly motivated to learn in school—so they don’t.

Science Reading Math
Region PISA Score Region PISA Score Region PISA Score
China 575 China 556 China 600
Finland 554 Korea 539 Singapore 562
Hong Kong 549 Finland 536 Hong Kong 555
Singapore 542 Hong Kong 533 Korea 546
Japan 539 Singapore 526 Taiwan 543
Korea 538 Canada 524 Finland 541
New Zealand 532 New Zealand 521 Liechtenstein 536
Canada 529 Japan 520 Switzerland 534
Estonia 528 Australia 515 Japan 529
Australia 527 Netherlands 508 Canada 527
Netherlands 522 Belgium 506 Netherlands 526
Taiwan 520 Norway 503 New Zealand 519
Germany 520 Estonia 501 Belgium 515
Liechtenstein 520 Switzerland 501 Australia 514
Switzerland 517 Poland 500 Germany 513
Britain 514 Iceland 500 Estonia 512
Slovenia 512 United States 500 Iceland 507
Poland 508 Liechtenstein 499 Denmark 503
Ireland 508 Sweden 497 Slovenia 501
Belgium 507 Germany 497 Norway 498
Hungary 503 Ireland 496 France 497
United States 502 France 496 Slovakia 497
AVERAGE SCORE* 501 Taiwan 495 AVERAGE SCORE* 497
Czech Republic 500 Denmark 495 Austria 496
Norway 500 Britain 494 Poland 495
Denmark 499 Hungary 494 Sweden 494
France 498 AVERAGE SCORE* 494 Czech Republic 493
Iceland 496 Portugal 489 Britain 492
Sweden 495 Italy 486 Hungary 490
Austria 494 Latvia 484 Luxembourg 489
Latvia 494 Slovenia 483 United States 487
Portugal 493 Greece 483 Ireland 487
*Average is based on all the students who took the test, which includes many in low-scoring nations not shown here.
Sources: OECD, 2010a, 2010b.

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