Shanghai students earn top test scores

Shanghai students outscored other countries in reading, math and science, according to the results of a respected exam.

However, American and European officials said that the scores from Shanghai are not representative of all of China, the New York Times said.

The Shanghai region topped every country in every category.

"It is striking," Andreas Schleicher, who oversees the test for the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development, told Bloomberg. "These countries are improving very rapidly."

Shanghai was the first city in China to have universal primary and junior-secondary education.