Latin America has been stagnated at the same academic level for 10 years, the PISA Test shows

The largest economies in Latin America, which participate in the PISA test, show not only a low academic performance in the region compared to the rest of the countries evaluated, they also reflect a very slow progress in the region in terms of increasing educational quality .

Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil are the Latin American nations that have participated in the PISA (Program International Student Assessment) educational test conducted by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

The first three editions of the test (2000, 2003 and 2006) focused on one area of ​​study each, the first in reading comprehension, the second in mathematics and the third in science; As of the 2009 application, the test is performed evaluating the three areas of study of the students.

With a threshold of 500 points, the PISA test identifies the countries whose average is higher or lower than the expected minimum in students under 15 years of age.

The participating Latin American countries, including Mexico, have not achieved the passing score of 500 points in any of the study areas and in any of the PISA editions.

In almost all editions of the test, Uruguay and Chile stand out for obtaining the best scores in the region, although below the average. This also reflects another trend: the list of nations with the best marks continues to have the same protagonists.

Some results

In 2000, the first PISA test was carried out, Mexico and Brazil participated and stood out for registering an average score significantly lower than the OECD average.

Only 6% of the Mexican students and 3% of the Brazilian students reached the level of academic excellence (levels 5 and 6). New Zealand, Finland, and Canada significantly outperformed them with almost 20% of their students in academic excellence.

The OECD pointed out in the first edition of the PISA test the importance of the socio-economic environment in the performance of students. On average, privileged students show better results, especially in countries like Mexico and Brazil, which have high levels of inequality. In countries with better income distribution, socioeconomic status tends to influence student performance less.

In the following application, three years later, about 65% of Mexican students and slightly more than 75% of Brazilians did not reach level 2 of performance and the majority were below level 1. Finland, Korea and Canada have only 1 student in 10 below level 2.

In the test carried out in 2006, which focused on scientific skills, the participation of Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay was integrated.

Latin America once again occupied the lowest places along with Asian countries. The best performance was obtained by Chile, above Uruguay, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, which obtained scores similar to those of Jordan, Azerbaijan or Tunisia.

Although there is no general rule that explains why academic performance in the region is so low compared to other countries, the figures suggest that the use of school resources, the professionalization of teachers and pedagogy in schools are factors that can affect the academic level of students.

PISA 2015 and 2018: no progress

The most recent application of the academic assessment test was in 2018. Three six-year terms after the first application of PISA, Mexico has not managed to increase the educational level of its basic education students. The trend is similar for the rest of the Latin American countries.

Mexico, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina participated in the 2015 edition (its results are not representative because it was only applied in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires), Uruguay and Brazil. In the 2018 application, Panama was incorporated.

The only nation that showed significant progress in any of the subjects from 2015 to 2018 was Peru. Their performance in mathematics increased 13 points, in science they increased 6 points and points, and in reading comprehension it moved 4 points. The rest of the nations did not significantly change their academic performance, even in some areas they reduced it.

Academic excellence is almost non-existent in Latin American countries. Uruguay managed to place 3.6% of its students at this level in at least one subject, Chile 3.3%, Brazil 2.2%, Colombia 1.2%, Costa Rica 0.9%, Mexico and Peru 0.6% and the Dominican Republic only at 0.1 percent.

The cases of Mexico and Brazil are especially particular: Brazil was the ninth largest economy in the world in 2018 and Mexico ranked 15th, but in almost twenty years they have not managed to improve the educational level of its inhabitants.

"The problem for Mexico is not only the bad results, but the lack of clarity of the public policy measures and from society, which allow to stop the deterioration and begin to correct in the right direction," said Raúl Martínez Solares in his column for The Economist, specialist in behavioral economics and education.

ana.garcia@eleconomista.mx