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1. The country I wish to cover is the United Kingdom.

2. Some trends in student performance are as follows:

In the United Kingdom, 83% of students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in reading. On average across OECD countries, 77% of students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in reading.

Some 81% of students in the United Kingdom attained Level 2 or higher in mathematics. On average across OECD countries, 76% of students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in mathematics.

Some 83% of students in the United Kingdom, compared with 78% on average across OECD countries, attained Level 2 or higher in science.

3. Some key findings that I found interesting in the PISA report are shown below:

Some 81% of students in the United Kingdom (OECD average: 74%) agreed or strongly agreed that their teacher shows enjoyment in teaching.

One in three of these immigrant students was socio-economically disadvantaged. However, in spite of their relative socio-economic disadvantage, 21% of immigrant students scored in the top quarter of reading performance – a share 4 percentage points larger than the OECD average (17%).

Some 23% of advantaged students in the United Kingdom, but only 5% of disadvantaged students, were top performers in reading in PISA 2018. On average across OECD countries, 17% of advantaged students, and 3% of disadvantaged students, were top performers in reading.

As in many countries, socio-economically advantaged students outperformed their disadvantaged peers by 80 score points in reading. This difference was smaller than the OECD average of 89 score points.

When it comes to students’ well-being, 53% of students in the United Kingdom reported that they are satisfied with their lives, compared to 67% on average across OECD countries.

In the United Kingdom, 27% of students reported being bullied at least a few times a month, compared to 23% on average across OECD countries.

In the United Kingdom, 59% of students reported that their schoolmates co-operate with each other (OECD average: 62%) and 66% reported that they compete with each other (OECD average: 50%).

4. Some topics regarding education in the United Kingdom that I would like to learn more about:

Why are students in the United Kingdom less satisfied with their lives, less likely to cooperate, and less ambitious when compared to other OECD countries.

Why is there a higher percentage of bullying in the United Kingdom even though they have a greater academic achievement in reading, mathematics, and science.

Why is there greater competition and stress among students in the United Kingdom.

The dichotomy between bullying and violence in schools in the United Kingdom when their school environment is inherently safer due to gun laws in other OECD countries.

Laws in the United Kingdom that enable free education and resources to students.

Military and or college requirements for students in the United Kingdom.

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1. Country- Portugal

2. Trends

1. Gender

1. In all countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018, girls significantly outperformed boys in reading – by 30 score points on average across OECD countries. In Portugal too, girls scored on average 24 score points higher than boys.

2. In Portugal, boys outperformed girls in mathematics by 9 score points (OECD average: 5 score points). While girls slightly outperformed boys in science (by two score points) on average across OECD countries in PISA 2018, in Portugal girls and boys performed similarly in science.

3. Amongst high-performing students in mathematics or science, about one in two boys in Portugal expect to work as an engineer or science professional at the age of 30, while about one in seven girls expects to do so. Less than one in two high-performing girls expects to work in health-related professions, while about one in seven high-performing boys expects to do so. Some 6% of boys and 1% of girls in Portugal expect to work in ICT-related professions.

2. Content Focus

1. In reading and mathematics, mean performance in 2018 was close to the level observed over the period 2009- 15; in science, mean performance in 2018 was below that of 2015, and returned close to the level observed in 2009 and 2012.

2. In Portugal, 80% of students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in reading

3. Some 7% of students in Portugal were top performers in reading, meaning that they attained Level 5 or 6 in the PISA reading test

4. Some 77% of students in Portugal attained Level 2 or higher in mathematics

5. In Portugal, 12% of students scored at Level 5 or higher in mathematics

6. Some 80% of students in Portugal attained Level 2 or higher in science

7. In Portugal, 6% of students were top performers in science, meaning that they were proficient at Level 5 or 6

3. Key findings

1. Socio-economic status was a strong predictor of performance in reading, mathematics and science in Portugal. In Portugal, advantaged students outperformed disadvantaged students in reading by 95 score points in PISA 2018.

2. Four criteria were rated by more than nine out of ten parents in Portugal as “important” or “very important” when choosing their child’s school: “There is a safe school environment”; “There is an active and pleasant school climate”; “The school has a good reputation”; and “The school offers particular courses or school subjects”. Some 88% of parents also rated “The academic achievements of students in the school are high” as equally important, and 80% “The school has a focus on foreign-language instruction”.

3. In Portugal, mean performance in reading, mathematics and science improved since 2000, 2003 and 2006. In reading and mathematics, mean performance in 2018 was close to the level observed over the period 2009-15; in science, mean performance in 2018 was below that of 2015, and returned close to the level observed in 2009 and 2012.

4. What I’d like to find out more

1. How this compares to the United States

2. Equity related to socioeconomic status

3. Effects of school climate/bullying

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1. The country you wish to cover: JAPAN
2. Trends in student performance by gender, age, and content focus (e.g. math, science,  literacy)
-Japan's gender game amongst students was narrower than the OECD average gap. The girl performance declined while boys' performance remained stable over the period. In Japan, 15-year-old students scored higher than the OECD average in reading, mathematics, and science.  Overall, mean mathematics, reading, and science, performance was scored higher than the OECD average. Compared to the OECD average, in Japan, a larger proportion of students performed at the highest levels of proficiency in at least one subject. Larger proportions of students achieved a minimum level of proficiency in at least one subject.
3. Key Findings of interest you discovered in the PISA report for this country/nation.
-10% of students in Japan were top performers in reading, meaning that they attained Level 5 or6 in the PISA reading test (OECD average: 9%)
-89% of students in Japan attained Level 2 or higher in mathematics (OECD average: 76%).
-89% of students in Japan attained Level 2 or higher in science (OECD average: 78%)
-13% of students were top performers in science, meaning that they were proficient at Level 5 or 6 (OECD average: 7%
-17% of students reported being bullied at least a few times a month
-12% of students in Japan (OECD average: 16%) agreed or strongly agreed that they feel lonely
at school.
4. What you'd like to find out more about that IS NOT included in the report. *These wondering will become part of what you will investigate further for your final project.
-Why is the percentage of loneliness and bullying in students so high among Japanese students?

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1. Country: Italy

2. Trends in student performance:

Age: 15 year old students in Italy “scored lower than the OECD average in reading, not significantly different from the OECD average in mathematics, and lower than the OECD average in science.” (PISA)

Gender: Boys performance was stable while girls performance declined. 1 in 4 boys are expected to work as engineers but 1 in 8 girls are expected to work in engineering or another science profession in 30 years.

Content Focus: Italy scored lower in OECD scores in all subjects. In Italy 67% of students reported that they are unsatisfied with their lives. Economically advantaged students out performed the disadvantaged in reading by 75 points in reading

3.  Key findings: On average in OECD countries 21% of students skipped a day of school and 48% arrived late in the two weeks before the PISA test. In Italy 57% of of students skipped school and 45% showed up late prior to the PISA test. Frequently bullied students are more likely to miss school.

4. Additional questions

Do teachers enjoy teaching?

How long is a school day/ how many breaks to students get?

What do Italian school systems do to combat bullying?

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Students in Luxembourg seemed do very well in their performance of math, science and reading. Their mean score in reading was a little lower than the OECD average and was above many other countries like their score in science. Their mean score in mathematics was closer to the OECD average only 6 away. They were still above many other countries as well.

“Some 91% of students in Luxembourg reported sometimes or always feeling happy and about 6% of students reported always feeling sad. In most countries and economies, including Luxembourg, students were more likely to report positive feelings when they reported a stronger sense of belonging at school and greater student co-operation. Students were more likely to express sadness when they were bullied more frequently.” This finding was surprising to me because not a lot of schools can make kids always feel positive or create and environment where they are more likely to express their emotions when getting bullied. I want to find more about their philosophy and what they strive to teach children.

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1. Country: Italy
2. Trends in student performance:
-Gender: Reading performance declined amongst girls but remained stable amongst boys. The science performance declined by a similar amount among boys and girls, and most significantly among the highest-achieving students.
-Age: The career expectations among 15-year-olds reflect gender stereotypes. 1 in 4 boys are expected to work in engineering or science professions by 30 years, while 1 in 8 girls are expected to do so. 1 in 4 girls are expected to work in health-related professions while only 1 in 9 boys are expected to. Only 7% of these Italian boys and girls are expected to work in ICT-related professions.
-Content focus: Italy scored below average in OECD scores in reading and science and average in mathematics. The mean performance declined after 2012 in reading and science but remained stable in math. Compared to other students in OECD countries, 15-year-old students in Italy miss more learning time due to indiscipline in class and absences.
3. Key findings of interest:
- Italian students have a lot more missed instruction time due to misbehavior and absences.
- between 2012 and 2018 the screen or internet time 15-year-olds spent online more than doubled. This includes time they are at school and using the internet.
- the criteria expected for more than 3/4 parents in Italy were "a safe school environment," "an active and pleasant school climate," "school has a good reputation," "school has a focus on foreign-language instruction," and only 2/3 parents stressed the academic high achievement of their students.
4. Extra Questions:
- What is the work load and curriculum like?
- What is set in place to make sure students are hitting benchmarks?
- What kind of real world exposure do the students get to prepare them for life outside of school?
- How many options for schooling is there? (ie. homeschool, boarding, public, private, primary, secondary, university)

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1. Country- Australia

2. Student Performance

In terms of gender, girls seemed to outperform boys in reading by a mean gap of 31 points. Boys seemed to outperform girls in math by an average score of 6 points. Girls seemed to outperform boys in science by an average score of 2 points. It was also interesting to note that Girls seemed to take into account careers in engineering, science. Boys seemed to take into account more careers in health-related professions. Taking age into account, over 10% of 15 year old students were top performers in reading.

3. Key Findings of Interest

I think that it was really interesting that Australian students reported higher levels of bullying in school. I would wonder if this is due to the fact that Australian students seems to be highly competitive with each other in comparison to OECD countries. Additionally, it was noted that declined reading scored were more prevalent in lowest-achieving students. Math And Science however, seemed to be equal across the top and bottom acheciving students. These performances could also correlate with SES.

4. Findings Outside the Reading.

I know that growth mindset was briefly mentioned but I think it would be really interesting to dive into that more and I am learning about growth mindset in my Social Psychology Class. Additionally, I think that if there is a way to compare public vs private education could be interesting and factor into differences between classes which can heavily effect access to higher education.

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1. Italy

2. Overall, according to the findings on oecd.org Italy is average or a little below average when it comes to the mean testing scores in reading, mathematics and science. In Italy, socio-economically advantaged students outperformed disadvantaged students in reading by 75 score points in PISA 2018 (OECD average: 89 score points). In PISA 2009, the performance gap related to socio-economic status was 85 score points in Italy (and 87 score points on average across OECD countries). Socio-economic status was a strong predictor of performance in mathematics and science in all PISA participating countries. Many students, especially disadvantaged students, hold lower ambitions than would be expected given their academic achievement. In Italy, about two in five high-achieving disadvantaged students – but one in eight high-achieving advantaged students – do not expect to complete tertiary education.

3. I thought it was interesting that the advantage and disadvantages of the students was a strong predictor in the performance of these students, as shown in the graphs on oecd.org. I also thought it was interesting that they thought they could predict the future occupations of these students based on gender “Amongst high-performing students in mathematics or science, about one in four boys in Italy expect to work as an engineer or science professional at the age of 30, while one in eight girls expects to do so. About one in four high-performing girls expects to work in health-related professions, while one in nine high-performing boys expects to do so. Some 7% of boys and a negligible percentage of girls in Italy expect to work in ICT-related professions.”

4. Why is the girl students' performance declining overtime while the boy students' performance is staying stable?

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1. The country that I would like to cover is Finland.

2. Some key trends in students’ demographics are that the gap in performance related to students’ socio-economic status (79 score points) is smaller than the average difference between advantaged and disadvantaged students (89 score points) across OECD countries. Boys were also less likely to have a growth mindset, as were disadvantaged as well. Girls significantly outperformed the boys in reading, and this gender gap is higher than the average gap. Girls also outperformed boys in mathematics and science.

3. Something I found very interesting was the growth mindset statistic. 67% of students held a growth mindset which I think is one of the keys of learning and growing so I would love to learn more about this. Something I also found interesting was for Finland, 78% of students were satisfied with their life, while the OECD average is only 67%

4. Something I would like to learn more about is programs that are offered for high performing girls. In Finland it seems that there are many girls who are over performing the boys, yet one in eight boys expects to work as an engineer or science related profession while one in ten girls are expected to do so. I wonder if there are programs that are in Finland relating to STEM for girls.

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1. Portugal

2.  In the student performace with reading, math and science Portugal is around the national average as of 2018. During the 200s they were about 30 points below the average in each subject. Students that were of a s higher socioeconomic status generally performed better than students of a lower status. In the report it also mentioned that half of highest performaing males in math and science were expected to go into an engineering or science profession. Where as half of the highest performing females were expected to go into a health profession

3.  I thought it was interesting that 83% of students thought their teachers enjoyed teaching, which is 9% above the national average. I also thought it was interesting that 66% of students reported having a growth mindset. With this I also read that 56% of students when they fail, they are afraid of what others may think of them. I think that is interesting that so many students want to grow, but are afraid of failure. As students, we often have to fail and learn from our mistakes. So how can we create a better environment for students to make mistakes and learn from them?

4. What can be done to create less of gap for disadvantaged and advantaged students and how did these gaps form?

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1. Country - United States

2. Trends in student performance
Content Focus - Students performed above the OECD average in reading (505 score points) and science (502), and below the OECD average in mathematics (478). 81% of students attained at least Level 2 proficiency in reading (OECD average: 77%). Some 14% of students were top performers in reading, meaning that they attained Level 5 or 6 in the PISA reading test (OECD average: 9%). Some 73% of students attained Level 2 or higher in mathematics (OECD average: 76%). 8% of students scored at Level 5 or higher in mathematics (OECD average: 11%). Some 81% of students attained Level 2 or higher in science (OECD average: 78%). 9% of students were top performers in science, meaning that they were proficient at Level 5 or 6 (OECD average: 7%).

Age - In reading, the share of 15-year-old students who scored at Level 5 or 6 (top performers) increased by almost 4 percentage points – a statistically significant increase – between 2009 and 2018, to 13.5%. The share of 15-year-old students scoring below Level 2 proficiency in science shrank by 5.7 percentage points between 2006 and 2018.

Gender - The gender gap in reading in favor of girls was 24 score points (OECD average: 30 score points). Boys outperformed girls in mathematics (by 9 score points), while in science boys and girls performed similarly. While girls slightly outperformed boys in science (by two score points) on average across OECD countries in PISA 2018, in the United States girls and boys performed similarly in science.

3. Key Findings - Socio-economically advantaged students outperformed disadvantaged students in reading, mathematics, and science. In reading, the performance gap between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged students was 99 score points (OECD average: 89 score points).

While immigrants and non-immigrants scored at a similar level before accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile, immigrant students outperformed their native-born peers by 16 score points after accounting for these factors.

20% of students had skipped a day of school and 43% of students had arrived late for school during that period. 26% of students reported being bullied at least a few times a month, compared to 23% on average across OECD countries.

4. Questions - How effective are the initiatives in the United States that are aimed at helping socio-economically disadvantaged students?

What is the impact of mental health on academic performance?

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The Country I wish to consider is Italy.
The trend in Itays academic performance declined. As of 2018, Italy scored below the OECD average in reading and science but around OECD average in mathematics. Their mean performance from 2012 declined but their mathematics mean performance stayed around average. Specifically, in girls, the reading performance declined while boys reading performance stayed stable. In science, both boys and girls performance declined. It was found specifically the highest performing students performance declined.

One in four boys are expected to go into the engineering or science profession by the time they are 30.

One in four girls was expected to work in the health care related profession while only one in nine boys were expected to do so.

7% of boys are expected to work in ICT- related jobs but no girls.
I found it surprising that the highest-performing students scored declined on the assessment.

Girls were not expected to be able to achieve the same career compared to boys. For example, boys were expected to get jobs in engineering or ICT when girls were expected to work in health care taking care of others.

Compared to the other OECD countries, in Italy 57% of students had skipped a day of school two weeks prior to the assessment. When students did attend class and the teacher had to wait for the class to stop talking so they could began the lecture.

When parents were rating areas of importance on criteria for their childs school not often were “The academic achievements of students in the school are high” marked as high or very high importance. School reputation, save environment, and pleasant climate were more important to parents.
I would like to find out how important an education is to people that live in Italty compared to the U.S. In the U.S if you do not have a good education then it limited job opportunities and I wonder if in Italty an education is not needed for most professions.

All of the schools I have attended to have attendance policies and I wonder if the schools in Italy have the same.

Based off the data, the lack of attendance, and the chattiness of the students do the students value or want an education like students in the U.S.

I wonder how gender roles infulence carrers compared to the U.S.

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1.   The country I wish to cover—Australia.

2.   Australia’s performance in reading, mathematics, and science has been declining. Reading steadily declined from 2000 to 2018, however, was the most rapid decline. Science has high-performance levels but began an average decline in 2012. Math averagely declined between 2003 and 2018. The top performers remained stable in reading from 2009 to 2018, decreased in mathematics from 2012 to 2018, and science between 2006 and 2018.

Australian girl students outperformed the boys by 31 score points in reading, however, in 2009 the boy's performance remained stable while the girl's performance declined over the years. Boy students excelled more than girls by 6 score points and the girls slightly excelled greater than the boys by 2 score points in science.

This is focusing on the age group of 15-year-old students.

3.   Australian students are reported to be bullied more frequently, experience the fear of failure, are more likely to skip school, and feel lonely at school. Girls experience a greater fear of failure than boys.

Socio-economically advantaged students outperform disadvantaged students in reading.

4.   Why are Australian students more likely to get bullied than others? How can this be stopped? Why is the performance levels declining?

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1) Portugal

2) Students in Portugal were reported to score around the OCED average in reading, mathematics, and science. There was mean inconsistencies for all three subjects, however, Portugal was listed as one of the few to have positive trajectory for the subjects.

Age Tested: 15
Reading
- OCED (average): 487
- Portugal: 492
Mathematics
- OCED (average): 489
- Portugal: 494
Science
- OCED (average): 489
- Portugal: 492

*High achieving disadvantaged students = lower ambitions
*3 out of 4 students expected to complete tertiary educations compared to all high-achieving students.
*50% of boys in mathematics or science expected to work as an engineer or science professional
*50% of girls in science are expected to work in health-related profession
*Overall, only a small percentage of boys and girls are expected to work in ICT related professions

3) I found the school climate to be interesting how the two biggest gaps were found in the sections titled 'Bullied at least a few times a month' and 'Schoolmates compete with each other'.

The average for OCED in terms of being bullied at least a few times a month was 23 but Portugal was 14. However for schoolmates competing with each other, OECD was 50 and Portugal was 57.

I would assume this is healthy competition and could be a positive motivator to help individuals develop determination. However, unhealthy competition could lead to a toxic environment such as bullying.

4)  Where is competition more seen: disadvantaged vs advantaged, advantaged vs advantaged, or disadvantaged vs disadvantaged?

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1.
United Kingdom

2.
-Students in the United Kingdom scored above the OECD average in reading, math, and science
-Girls outperformed boys in reading by 20 points (narrower than the OECD average), girls outperformed boys by 12 points in math (wider than the OECD average by 5 score points), and boys and girls preformed similarly in science

3.
-In the UK one in three immigrants is at an socio-economically disadvantage.  However, 21% of immigrant students scored in the top quarter of reading performance, 4% higher than the OECD average.
-The level of exposure to bullying in the UK is slightly higher than the average. 27% of students reported being bullied, compared to the 23% OCED average.
-Students in the UK like most countries reported having positive feelings when they reported having a stronger sense of belonging at school and a greater student co-operation

4.
What is the UK doing to prevent bullying?
What are the curriculums that are being taught in the UK?

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1: Italy
2: Trends

Gender: Boys

Boy's performance remained stable in reading and girls declined over the years.

-1 in 4 boys expected engineer or science compared to 1 in 8 girls
- 7% ICT-related professional girls: girls none
- Outperformed girls in math by 16 score points

Girls:
-1 in 4 girls desired to be in health care: 1 in 9 boys
-outprefomed boys in reading by 30 score points

- boys and girls similar in science

AGE:

-2012 and 2018,  amount of time that 15-year-olds in Italy spent on the Internet, on a typical weekday, more than doubled, from less than two hours per day to about four hours per day (one of which was at school).

-students in Italy missed out on a greater amount of learning time due to absences and indiscipline in class. Some 57% of students had skipped a day of school in the two weeks prior to the PISA test (OECD average: 21%);

Content Focus:

-77% attained at least a 2 in reading

-5% top performance in reading (5 or 6)

-76% 2 or higher in math

-10% 5 or higher  math

-74% 2 or higher in science
-3% top in science (5 or 6)

Economic status: advantage student outperformed disadvantage in reading by 75 points
- 10% advantage 2% distadvantage were top performers
- 12% of disadvantage scored in top quarter of reading

3. Key Findings

-2018, Italy scored below the OECD average in reading and science, and around the OECD average in mathematics.

-In all three subjects, mean performance in Italy was lower than that in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom (amongst other countries).

-Italy scored at a similar level as Portugal and Spain in mathematics, but lower than these two countries in science and lower than Portugal in reading, and scored at a similar level as Switzerland in reading, but below Switzerland in mathematics and science.

-high-achieving students hold lower ambitions than would be expected given their academic achievement
-three in five high-achieving disadvantaged students – but seven in eight high-achieving advantaged students – expect to complete tertiary education.

4. What is causing Italys students to lack ambition and follow strict gender roles?

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PISA Padlet Project: Finland

https://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_FIN.pdf

Trends in student performance by: 600,000 people

·         Gender: gender gap in reading was one of the widest of participating countries (52 points)

o   Most OECD countries boys outperform girls in math, but here girls outperform boys

o   Girls outperformed boys in science by 24 points

·         Age: 15

·         Math: 507: higher than average of 489

·         Science: 522: higher than the average of 489

·         Reading: 520: higher than the average of 487

·         Large proportion of students performed highest level of proficiency in at least 1 subject (14% versus average 9%)

·         85% have basic proficiency (avg 75)

Interesting Discoveries:

·         Happiness: 91% report sometimes or always being at school

·         Low bullying rate 18% vs avg 23%

·         Overall happiness: 78% report they are satisfied with their lives (avg 67%)

·         Ability to problem solve and critically think: 84% (girls expressed greater fear of failer than boys)

·         Passionate teachers 69%, students score higher in reading when they think the teacher is passionate

·         Socioeconomic (gap in performance 79 points) smaller than average of 89, 13% disadvantaged students scored in top 25% reading

o   91% disadvantaged schools are fully certified with at least master’s degree

What is it specifically that these schools do to have this satisfactory performance?

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1. Germany

2.
- score consistently above global average on all reading, math, and science
- all scores peaked around 2011
- boys tend to score better and have more aspiration for STEM careers whereas girls are more geared towards healthcare

3.
- the gap between the advantages and disadvantaged kids in performance is very large and getting larger

4.
- what are the structure of their classrooms like?
- what do their school years/days look like?
- do they have lot of standardized testing?
- when do they start school and how long is it required?

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1.
Brazil

2.
Students in Brazil scored lower than the OECD average in reading, math, and science. Boys outperformed girls in math, while girls outperformed boys in reading. Boys and girls performed similarly in science.

3.
-Brazil is very low on their scores, much below average.
-Students are separated into groups, one being low-performance and the other being high-performance. These are most likely do to being disadvantaged or advantaged.
-There are high percentages of growth mindset and positivity, such as feeling satisfied and happy.

4.
I would like to find out why Brazil is so far under the average for OECD. What pushes Brazil down? What is different in Brazil compared to countries that are at, or above, the OECD average?