Shanghai ( CNN ) -- So , they apparently did it again . For the second time in a decade , 15-year-olds in Shanghai have scored at the top of the PISA global education assessment , ranking number one in the world in reading , math and science . The Chinese city has a top performing system thanks in part to the strong drive and self-belief of its students , says OECD special advisor on education policy -- and PISA survey head -- Andreas Schleicher . `` In Shanghai , you have nine out of ten students telling you , 'It depends on me . If I invest the effort , my teachers are going to help me to be successful , ' '' Schleicher tells me during a taping of CNN 's `` On China '' on location in the city . The Shanghai exam results have come under fire for shutting out the city 's migrant children and not being representative of the city 's total student population -- something the OECD refutes . But one thing is for certain . The results are not representative of a nation . China as a whole does not take the PISA exam . Data on a number of Chinese cities and provinces is not yet published by PISA . China as a whole is expected to be included in the 2015 assessment . Data from the Rural Education Action Program ( REAP ) at Stanford University in the United States provides a stark picture of how Shanghai 's education success is not repeated in China 's less wealthy , rural interior . While 84 % of high school grads in Shanghai go to college , less than 5 % of China 's rural poor make it to university . High school attendance is just 40 % in poor , rural areas of China . And as they struggle with poverty and debate the opportunity cost of simply going to class , a significant number of rural students start dropping out in middle school . Why are students dropping out ? Across the world 's second biggest economy , the education system is vastly unequal . But incredibly , Schleicher tells me a child from a poor background in China has a better chance to be well educated than poor , rural students in other countries . `` The learning environment you would encounter there , the quality is a lot higher than what you 'd encounter in a similar context almost anywhere else in the world , '' he says . Seated across from Schleicher during the `` On China '' panel discussion in Shanghai is Andrea Pasinetti , the founder of Teach for China -- a non-profit that brings graduates from China and the U.S. to teach at some of China 's most under-resourced schools . Pasinetti reveals a particularly bullish view on rural education in China : `` A lot of these ( rural ) schools tend to be boarding schools . So the school provides not only a context for classroom instruction , it also provides a context for personal growth and exploration . '' Pasinetti 's views are distinctly out of sync with that of educator Jiang Xueqin , currently the Deputy Principal of Tsinghua University High School . `` Kids in the rural regions are at a huge disadvantage . Teachers and school are under-resourced , '' he says . `` The other issue is that in the rural regions , there 's a lot of movement so parents move to the cities leaving their kids behind in the schools . So there is n't that parental support and guidance that kids need to thrive . `` Rural schools are under a lot of cultural stigma . No one in China believes they will succeed . '' Though Jiang 's assessment is in line with what has generally been reported about China 's rural education challenges , Pasinetti calls it an `` irresponsible perception . '' `` It is a huge misconception that local communities are n't invested in the education of their children and grandchildren , '' says the Teach for China founder . `` I speak to grandmothers who are illiterate , who live often on two or three dollars a day ... who would do anything and stop at nothing to make sure that the child they have in their home is able to achieve a great education . `` The big difficulty is that oftentimes , they do n't know where to start . '' The Chinese government is attempting to tackle the challenge . In 2010 , China released a 10-year national education reform plan . Among other objectives , it plans to focus less on tests and get the best teachers into the rural communities that desperately need them . `` Every discussion you have with Chinese officials about education reform revolves around the question of equity , '' says Pasinetti . But Jiang is not optimistic about the prospects for education equity in China . `` Over the years it will become worse and worse , '' he says . `` The rich and powerful are choosing to detach themselves from the traditional school system . '' Jiang sees a China where the wealthy will move education resources to a system of new private schools that cater only to them . And that is the dark future China must avoid . `` If you do n't change the school system now , you 'll get people buying themselves out of it , '' says Schleicher . `` That 's basically the challenge that China has . ''
15 year olds in Shanghai rank number one in the country in reading , math and science . But critics say these results are not representative of the city 's total student population . Debate about the quality of education available in China 's poorer , rural areas . China released a 10-year national education reform plan in 2010 to tackle the issue .