The PISA Survey (Programme for International Student Assessment), published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is a key international educational assessment tool providing valuable input for possible educational reforms. The 2015 edition of the PISA survey, which is based on tests given to 15/16 years old students, offers key insights into the performance of school systems in 28 EU Member States and 72 countries and economies worldwide. Some initial conclusions point to a decrease of gender differences in terms of achievement, even though, globally, in terms of preferences, there are more boys than girls interested in chemistry or physics. Also, the Socio-economic status continues to be a strongly influential factor for 15-year-old students’ achievement in science, with much higher shares of low achievers among the lower social groups than among students of higher socio-economic status.
Source: https://ec.europa.eu/