National tests, 2012

As observed in previous years, there is a positive correlation between parental level of education and achieved test results. Pupils who have parents with tertiary education are more likely to achieve a high mastering level at all tests, compared with other pupils. The national tests of 2012, also imply that pupils who have parents with tertiary education are more likely to improve test results from 5th to 8th grade compared with other pupils. Half of all pupils who have parents with tertiary education and achieved the lowest mastering level in English in 5th grade, were able to achieve medium or high mastering level in 8th grade. In contrast, only a third of pupils who do not have parents with tertiary education, did the same. Similar differences can be observed in reading Norwegian and mathematics. Pupils who have parents with tertiary education are also more likely to maintain a high mastering level from 5th grade to 8th grade.

Better results in Oslo

In Oslo and Akershus the pupils achieve higher results in all national tests. In Oslo, 20 per cent of the pupils achieve the highest level in mathematics in 8th grade. In comparison, the national average is 12 per cent at this level. The pupils in Sogn- and Fjordane also have good results, but not as good as Oslo. These geographical differences are seen despite the level of participation apparently being the same for the different counties.

There is a difference of 19 percentage points between the counties with the highest and lowest shares of the lowest mastering level in english in 5th grade. The best county here is Oslo with 16 per cent, while Nord-Trøndelag has 35 per cent at this level. Finnmark, Nordland, Nord-Trøndelag and Østfold all have high shares of the lowest mastering levels in most of the tests. About one third of the pupils in these counties achieve the lowest mastering levels.

Further, there is a correlation between the results and living in a central municipality, with the pupils in the most central municipalities getting the best results. However, this is not the case for pupils whose parents do not have tertiary education. Therefore, the positive correlation seen between results and centrality seems to depend on the parental level of education, and not centrality alone.

Improvement in 9th grade

In the national tests in 2012, pupils in 8th grade and 9th grade were given the same tests in reading Norwegian and mathematics. A comparison between the test results of the two grades shows that pupils in 9th grade achieve higher results in both tests, most notably in reading Norwegian. Whereas one third of all pupils in 8th grade achieved a high level in reading Norwegian, half of all pupils in 9th grade did the same. The difference is greater for those who achieve the highest mastering levels, with no big change in evidence for those achieving the lowest mastering levels. This means that the differences between the best pupils and the pupils whose performance is poorer grow.

Gender differences

The boys continue to achieve better results in mathematics than the girls, while the opposite is the case in reading Norwegian. No gender differences are seen in English. The difference between the genders is greater in 8th grade than in 5th grade.