Chapter 2: International Test Rankings and Student Academic Performance: It’s the Economy Stupid

Our purpose for this study was to explain the relationship between national economic conditions in the years preceding an international test of mathematics and science in the G20 countries and their country ranks on those tests. We used the ranks from the 2003 and 2006 PISA tests of mathematics and science for each G20 nation and a composite economic strength ranking for each G20 nation from a variety of indicators from 1994 up through 2005. The results of correlation tests suggest a positive, statistically significant relationship between the strength of the economies in G20 nations for the decade preceding the administration of the PISA tests of mathematics and science and the subsequent ranks on those tests. The findings call into question policy makers claims that PISA ranks drive future economic achievement and support the notion that it is the economy driving education output in the G20 nations.