Top Performing Countries
Learn about top-performing global models of education and what sets them apart.
NCEE analyzes education systems around the world for insights that U.S. states and districts can learn from. With the release of the 2022 PISA results, we’re currently updating our list of global models, blending PISA data with other key measures as part of our benchmarking modernization. Stay tuned for updates to these profiles.
The 2018 PISA-based list below includes Canada (British Columbia and Ontario), China (Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang), Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. This group met high achievement across subjects and ranked at or above the OECD average on two key indicators: percent of resilient students and percent of low performers.
Canada turned in one of the strongest records of student achievement in the world when PISA was first administered in 2000, and has remained a top performer in more recent iterations of PISA.
Estonia emerged as a top performer on PISA 2012. By 2018, Estonia had become a top performer globally in all three subjects and the highest performer in Europe.
Finland outperformed all other jurisdictions on the first PISA in 2000. Since then, Finland has remained among the top tier of OECD countries.
Hong Kong emerged as a world leader in education on the first PISA in 2000. It has stayed near the top of the PISA charts ever since.
Japan has ranked among the top performers on PISA since 2000, particularly in mathematics. Japan’s results also show less variation between socio-economic groups than in many other OECD jurisdictions.
Korea’s academic prowess represents a remarkable achievement for a country that essentially built a brand-new education system at the end of the 20th century.
In 2000, Poland scored below the OECD average in all three PISA subjects. By 2012, Poland had joined the top performers in science and reading. By 2018, Poland was among the top performers in all three subjects.
China is the world’s most populous country with the world’s largest education system. Since 2009, the handful of Chinese provinces that have participated in the assessment have topped the PISA league tables.
Singapore is an extraordinary success story. Since becoming an independent republic in 1965, it has developed an education system with student performance at the very top of the PISA league tables.
Taiwan ranks among the best in the world on international comparisons of student performance. Taiwan has also made progress on equity: variation in scores among schools (particularly rural and urban) has steadily declined.