Alberta students among the world’s best on international test

Government of Alberta press release

An international study reveals Alberta students are among the best in Canada and the world when it comes to solving complex problems.

On the computer-based problem solving component of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Alberta students tied for top place in Canada and fourth best in the world. A total of 53 jurisdictions across the globe participated in this component of PISA.

“Alberta students continue to benefit from our focus on helping them make sense of complex information and solve real-life problems. Through Inspiring Education and Curriculum Redesign, we’ll continue building on this strong performance by providing students with even more opportunities to apply knowledge and understand how different subject areas relate to each other.” - Jeff Johnson, Minister of Education

The results for the computer-based problem solving component of PISA are the fourth and final results to be released for the 2012 test. Previously released results show Alberta students continue to perform strongly on other test components, ranking 4th in science, 5th in reading, and 11th in math out of 74 participating jurisdictions.

PISA is administered every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. In Alberta, approximately 2,900 students from public, separate, francophone, charter, and private schools participated in PISA in the spring of 2012.