Finnish students’ good performance in PISA 2000 Reading literacy was not a surprise as Finnish students have performed at the top in comparative studies in reading since the first IEA PIRLS study. But their scoring among the best also in the minor domains of Mathematical and Scientific literacy was a surprise. The high Finnish mean scores of 546, 536 and 538 for Reading, Mathematical and Scientific literacy (OECD mean 500, SD 100) reflect a high share of top-performing students but also an exceptionally small share of students performing below level 2, the level deemed necessary for full participation in today’s society.
The only major deviation from the even results of Finnish students in the different domains was the substantial difference in Finnish girls’ and boys’ performance in reading literacy. The difference was one of the biggest among all participating countries despite Finnish boys outperforming boys from most other countries.
The same high level of performance and uniformity of results have since been repeated in PISA 2003 and PISA 2006, regarding both the major domains of Mathematical and Scientific literacy, the minor domains, and the special component of Problem solving in PISA 2003. Finnish students’ performance has been among the best at each cycle and except for the chronic gender difference in reading, found also in national studies, Finnish students’ performance has been marked by relatively small between-student and exceptionally small between-school differences.