China in the test of 15-year-olds is not the whole country: the provinces chosen meant first place or sixth
In 2018 Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang came first in maths with 591 points against an OECD average of 489. In 2015, with Guangdong instead of Zhejiang: 531 and 6th place. China did not take part in 2022.
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The famous "China is first in the international school test" rests on one to four provinces: in 2009 and 2012 only Shanghai sat it, in 2015 and 2018 Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and one more province. Swapping one of them moved the place from first to sixth. These provinces' result is truly among the world's best, but the test says nothing about schools across the country.
Bars: mean mathematics score of 15-year-olds for the Chinese participants and the OECD average in 2018.
- Shanghai, 2009 points, place
600; 1
- Shanghai, 2012 points, place
613; 1
- Beijing–Shanghai–Jiangsu–Guangdong, 2015 points, place
531; 6
- Beijing–Shanghai–Jiangsu–Zhejiang, 2018 points, place
591; 1
OECD PISA: mean mathematics score of the participants "Shanghai" (2009, 2012), "Beijing–Shanghai–Jiangsu–Guangdong" (2015) and "Beijing–Shanghai–Jiangsu–Zhejiang" (2018); place among all participants of the cycle by mean score.
2015 → 2018 is not a trend: different provinces and samples; "60 points in three years" would be wrong. What share of 15-year-olds in these provinces the sample covered is not in the base for these years.
A question for this picture
And in Europe? In 21 of 33 countries 2022 was the worst year in maths.