Exhibit 3.9 shows the changes in percentages of students reaching the benchmarks for countries that have comparable data from previous assessments. The trends paint a positive picture of improvement across all four benchmarks. Of the 33 countries participating in both 2015 and 2019, 9 increased and none decreased at the Advanced International Benchmark, 7 increased and 3 decreased at the High Benchmark, 10 increased and 6 decreased at the Intermediate Benchmark, and 10 increased and 4 decreased at the Low Benchmark.

The longer-term trends also show considerable improvement across the percentages of students reaching all four of the benchmarks. Between 2007 and 2019, the 23 countries participating in those two assessments had 15 increases and only 1 decrease at the Advanced level, 16 increases and 2 decreases at the High level, 15 increases and 3 decreases at the Intermediate level, and 12 increases and 3 decreases at the Low level. Between 1995 and 2019, the 18 countries participating in both assessments had 13 increases and 2 decreases at the Advanced level, 9 increases and 4 decreases at the High level, 6 increases and 5 decreases at the Intermediate level, and 5 increases and 5 decreases at the Low level.