Among its many findings, our PISA 2018 assessment shows that 15-year-old students in the four provinces/municipalities of China that participated in the study – Beijing, Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang – outperformed by a large margin their peers from all of the other 78 participating education systems, in mathematics and science. Moreover, the 10% most disadvantaged students in these four jurisdictions also showed better reading skills than those of the average student in OECD countries, as well as skills similar to the 10% most advantaged students in some of these countries. True, these four provinces/municipalities in eastern China are far from representing China as a whole, but the size of each of them compares to that of a typical OECD country, and their combined populations amount to over 180 million. What makes their achievement even more remarkable is that the level of income of these four Chinese regions is well below the OECD average. The quality of their schools today will feed into the strength of their economies tomorrow.

Up to the end of the 1990s, OECD comparisons of education outcomes were mainly based on measures of years of schooling, which are not reliable indicators of what people are actually able to do. With the Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, we tried to change this. The transformational idea behind PISA lay in testing the skills of students directly, through a metric that was internationally agreed upon; linking that with data from students, teachers, schools and systems to understand performance differences; and then harnessing the power of collaboration to act on the data, both by creating shared points of reference and by leveraging peer pressure.

The principle that every person has a fair chance to improve his or her life, whatever his or her personal circumstances, lies at the heart of democratic political and economic institutions. Ensuring that all students have access to the best education opportunities is also a way of using resources effectively, and of improving education and social outcomes in general.

The data referred to in this volume are presented in Annex B and, in greater detail, including additional tables, on the PISA website (www.oecd.org/pisa).

PISA is a triennial survey of 15-year-old students around the world that assesses the extent to which they have acquired key knowledge and skills essential for full participation in social and economic life. PISA assessments do not just ascertain whether students near the end of their compulsory education can reproduce what they have learned; they also examine how well students can extrapolate from what they have learned and apply their knowledge in unfamiliar settings, both in and outside of school.

This chapter discusses how PISA defines and measures equity in education through two related principles: inclusion and fairness. Inclusion means ensuring that all students acquire essential foundation skills. Fairness relates to students’ access to a quality education and, more specifically, to the degree to which background circumstances influence students’ education outcomes. The chapter specifies the types of students who are most at risk when education systems do not give all students the same chances to succeed, and discusses how school systems can provide equal opportunities to all students.

This chapter shows how strongly socio-economic status is associated with performance in the countries and economies that participated in PISA 2018. It first examines the large heterogeneity in socio-economic status observed both between and within countries. It also discusses how student performance varies, even amongst students of similar socio-economic status, depending on the country/economy in which the students are enrolled in school. The chapter also illustrates how some school systems achieve excellence and weaken the association between students’ socio-economic status and performance in PISA.

This chapter explores the capacity of students to perform well in school in spite of socio-economic adversity. In particular, the chapter examines the factors that are related to student academic resilience, such as support from parents and teachers, positive school climate and students’ beliefs in their own abilities. It also investigates how academic resilience is related to positive attitudes and dispositions.

This chapter discusses how academic and socio-economic stratification between schools is related to equity and performance in a school system. It describes how performance varies between schools and how students are sorted across schools depending on their socio-economic status and ability. The chapter examines how the social mix in schools may be related to school-enrolment practices, and compares the degree of social diversity between public and private schools.

This chapter provides a comparative assessment of the allocation of resources to schools depending on their socio-economic profile. It describes how teacher resources, both in quantity and quality, are distributed across more- and less-advantaged schools. It also examines the relationships between indicators of inequity in sorting teachers across schools and in student performance.

This chapter analyses the extent to which the education and career expectations of 15-year-old students are shaped by their socio-economic status, and whether these expectations are aligned with students’ academic performance. The chapter also reviews the kinds of career guidance provided to 15-year-old students in schools, and what teenagers do to find out more about their possible future studies and careers.

This chapter analyses performance differences between boys and girls in the three core PISA subjects – reading, mathematics and science – in 2018. It identifies those countries where these disparities shrank over the past decade. It also discusses the variations in performance amongst boys and girls, and their relationship with students’ socio-economic status.

This chapter discusses differences in boys’ and girls’ behaviour and attitudes. It examines how teenagers spend their time outside of school, notably regarding reading and the use of digital devices. It then explores gender differences in self-regulation and attitudes towards learning, such as competitiveness. The chapter also focuses on gender gaps in the expectation of pursuing a science-related career.

This chapter examines the reading performance of immigrant students across PISA-participating countries and economies. It investigates how these students’ circumstances are related to their performance in reading. The chapter also explores the factors that are associated with academic resilience, and shows how resilience is related to students’ well-being.

This chapter compares differences in selected indicators on students’ attitudes and dispositions between immigrant and non-immigrant students. It examines how a range of aspects, including parental and teacher support, school climate, and co-operation at school, are related to those attitudes and dispositions.

PISA is a collaborative effort, bringing together experts from the participating countries, steered jointly by their governments on the basis of shared, policy-driven interests.