According to the results of the largest global school rankings ever released, Vietnam ranks ahead of the US and many EU countries when it comes to math and science.

Compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an economic think tank, the comparisons are based on the test performance of students in 76 countries across the globe.

"This is the first time we have a truly global scale of the quality of education," said the OECD's education director, Andreas Schleicher.

"The idea is to give more countries, rich and poor, access to comparing themselves against the world's education leaders, to discover their relative strengths and weaknesses, and to see what the long-term economic gains from improved quality in schooling could be for them," he added.

Vietnam came in 12th place overall in the rankings that were dominated by Asian economies – Singapore (1st), Hong Kong (2nd), South Korea (3rd), Japan, Taiwan (tied for 4th). The US found itself tied with Italy in 28th place while European nations such as the UK, France, Denmark, Norway, Spain and Portugal found themselves in the 20-30 range.

"If you go to an Asian classroom you'll find teachers who expect every student to succeed. There's a lot of rigor, a lot of focus and coherence," Schleicher told the BBC.

"These countries are also very good at attracting the most talented teachers in the most challenging classrooms, so that every student has access to excellent teachers."

Head over to the BBC for the full rankings.

[Photo via Ride to end poverty]