Because there often are relatively small differences between countries, Exhibits 1.3 and 1.4 show whether the differences in average achievement among the countries are statistically significant.
At the fourth grade, Singapore and Hong Kong SAR were the top performing countries, with similar achievement and higher achievement than all of the other countries. The next highest performing country was Korea, which had higher achievement than all countries except the two with the highest achievement, followed by Chinese Taipei and Japan. Northern Ireland and the Russian Federation also performed very well, as did Norway, Ireland, England, and Belgium (Flemish).
At the eighth grade, Singapore was the top performing country, followed by Korea and Chinese Taipei. The next highest performing country was Hong Kong SAR and then Japan, which had higher achievement than all countries except the other four East Asian countries. The Russian Federation as well as Kazakhstan, Canada, and Ireland also performed very well.
