Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

International educational scores (latest, 2007) (8th graders average score, TIMSS International Math and Science Study, 2007)
Countries: (sample)	Global rank	Maths		Science
		Rank	Score	Rank	Score
Singapore	1	3	593	1	567
Taiwan	2	1	598	2	561
South Korea	3	2	597	4	553
Japan	4	5	570	3	554
Hong Kong	5	4	572	9	530
Hungary	6	6	517	6	539
England	7	7	513	5	542
Czech Republic	8	11	504	7	539
Russia	9	8	512	10	530
Slovenia	10	12	501	8	538
United States	11	9	508	11	520
Lithuania	12	10	506	12	519
Australia	13	14	496	13	515
Sweden	14	15	491	14	511
Armenia	15	13	499	17	488
Italy	18	19	480	16	495
Maths Highlights from TIMSS 2007 Science Highlights from TIMSS 2007

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of 9–10 and 13–14 year old (Year 5 and Year 9 or fourth grade and eighth grade) students around the world. TIMSS was developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to allow participating nations to compare students' educational achievement across borders. The IEA also conducts the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). TIMSS was first administered in 1995, and every 4 years thereafter. In 1995, forty-one nations participated in the study; in 2007, 48 countries participated. Another similar study is the Programme for International Student Assessment.

Method

TIMSS consists of an assessment of mathematics and science, as well as student, teacher, and school questionnaires. The current assessment includes those topics in mathematics and science that students are likely to have been exposed to up to and including grade 4 and grade 8.

1995

The 1995 assessment included grades 4, 8, and the final year of high school. To be able to assess the knowledge of students, assessment items exhibit a range of difficulty and complexity. The student questionnaires are designed to collect information on students' backgrounds, attitudes and beliefs related to schooling and learning, information about their classroom experiences, among many other topics. The teacher and school questionnaires asks about class scheduling, mathematics and science content coverage, school policies, teachers' educational backgrounds and preparation, among many other topics.

International educational scores (1995) (13-year-old's average score, TIMSS Trends in International Math and Science Study, 1995)
Countries: (sample)	Global rank	Maths		Science
		Score	Rank	Score	Rank
Singapore	1	643	1	607	1
Japan	2	605	3	571	3
South Korea	3	607	2	565	4
Czech Republic	4	564	6	574	2
Belgium (Fl)	5	565	5	550	11
Hong Kong	6	588	4	522	24
Bulgaria	7	540	11	565	5
Netherlands	8	541	9	560	6
Slovenia	9	541	10	560	7
Austria	10	539	12	558	8
Slovakia	11	547	7	544	13
Hungary	12	537	14	554	9
Australia	13	530	16	545	12
Russia	14	535	15	538	14
Switzerland	15	545	8	522	25
Ireland	16	527	17	538	15
Canada	17	527	18	531	18
England	18	506	25	552	10
Sweden	19	519	22	535	16
Thailand	20	522	20	525	21
Israel	21	522	21	524	23
Germany	22	509	23	531	19
France	23	538	13	498	28
United States	24	500	28	534	17
New Zealand	25	508	24	525	22
Norway	26	503	26	527	20
Belgium (W)	27	526	19	471	36
Denmark	28	502	27	478	34
Source: TIMSS data, in The Economist March 29th, 1997, p.25

TIMSS was created through an extensive collaboration among participating countries. Curriculum, measurement, and education experts from around the world worked together to create the assessment frameworks, item pools, and questionnaires. TIMSS is based on the curricula of schools around the world, and is organized to investigate how students are provided educational opportunities, and the factors that influence how students make use of these opportunities. Having its basis in the curricula of schools around the world, TIMSS intends to investigate three levels: the intended curriculum; the implemented curriculum; and the achieved curriculum. The intended curriculum is defined as the mathematics and science that societies intend for students to learn and how education systems are organized to meet this demand; the implemented curriculum is what is actually taught in classrooms, who teaches it, and how it is taught; the achieved curriculum is what students have learned. The various questionnaires seek information on the intended and implemented curriculum; the assessment seeks to ascertain what students know.

The U.S. was one of the few countries whose 12th graders scored lower than 8th graders in both math and science. Where eighth grade boys scored only 3 points lower than Norway's (502 vs 505), twelfth grade boys scored 143 points lower (446 vs 589, for a relative decrease of 140 points), Where eighth grade boys scored 30 points higher than Cyprus (502 vs 472), 12th grade boys scored 115 points lower (446 vs 561) for a 145 point swing. Latvian boys scored 6 points lower at eighth grade but 63 points higher at twelfth grade for a 69 point swing, Denmark 9 points higher at the 8th grade and 94 points higher at the 12 grade for an 85 point swing, Sweden 18 points higher, then 140 points higher for a 122 point swing, Greece 12 points lower, then 79 points higher for a 91 point swing, Russia 33 points higher, then 117 points higher for a 150 point swing.

The relative performance in general science knowledge per Table A5.6 U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics "Pursuing Excellence: A Study of U.S. Twelfth-Grade Mathematics and Science Achievement in International Context" NCES 98-049. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1998. February 1998 REVISED August 1998 Available for downloading at http://nces.ed.gov/timss

was in some ways slightly better than the performance in math. Cyprus, South Africa, Lithuania and Hungary scored lower than 12th grade boys, and Cyprus, South Africa, Lithuania, Hungary, Italy, France, Russia, and the Czech Republic scored lower than 12th grade girls--about 30 points lower (except for South Africa whose boys scored 125 points lower than boys and whose girls scored 133 points lower than girls {sic}). New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, and Norway all scored 55 or more points higher, with the Netherlands scoring 90 points higher than boys and Sweden scoring 65 points higher than girls.

The amount by which we scored lower than the Netherlands was in the range of the amount by which South Africa scored lower than the United States (90 points vs. 125 points). Excluded from this list are the Asian nations (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong) who did not participate at the 12th grade level and who all scored more than 100 points higher at the 8th grade level. Had their 12th graders participated it is very likely that they all would have scored higher than the United States by an amount much greater than the amount by which the United States scored higher than South Africa.

United States 2007

International educational math scores (2007) (4th graders average score, TIMSS International Math and Science Study, 2007)
American students: (by origin)	Maths
	Score
Asian American	582
European American	550
Hispanic American	504
African American	482
Highlights From TIMSS 2007

In the United States, TIMSS is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics of the U.S. Department of Education.

Data for US students is further tracked for ethnic and racial groups, which can be tracked as the nation. As a whole, grade four students in the United States lagged the best Asian and European nations in the 2007 TIMSS international math and science test. However, broken down by race, Asian Americans scored comparably to Asian nations, European Americans scored comparably to the best European nations (although European nations aggregate their own result independent of race or origin). Hispanic Americans averaged 505, comparable to students in Austria and Sweden, while African Americans at 482 were comparable to Norway.

Grade eight students in the United States also lagged the best Asian and European nations in the 2007 TIMSS international math and science test. Broken down by race, in math, US Asians scored comparably to, although lower than sampled Asian nations, at 549, white Americans scored comparably to, although more strongly than, the best European nations, at 533, Hispanic Americans averaged 475, comparable to students in Malaysia and Norway, while African Americans at 457 were comparable to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lebanon.

Top 10 countries by subject and year

Math (8th grade)

TIMSS（1995）	TIMSS-R（1999）	TIMSS2003	TIMSS2007
1. Singapore 643 2. South Korea 607 3. Japan 605 4. Hong Kong 588 5. Belgium 565 6. Czech Republic 564 7. Slovakia 547 8. Switzerland 545 9. Netherlands 541 10. Slovenia 541	1. Singapore 604 2. South Korea 587 3. Taiwan 585 4. Hong Kong 582 5. Japan 579 6. Belgium 558 7. Netherlands 540 8. Slovakia 534 9. Hungary 532 10. Canada 531	1. Singapore 605 2. South Korea 589 3. Hong Kong 586 4. Taiwan 585 5. Japan 570 6. Belgium 537 7. Netherlands 536 8. Estonia 531 9. Hungary 529 10. Malaysia 508	1. Taiwan 598 2. South Korea 597 3. Singapore 593 4. Hong Kong 572 5. Japan 570 6. Hungary 517 7. England (and Wales) 513 8. Russia 512 9. United States 508 10. Lithuania 506

Science (8th grade)

TIMSS（1995）	TIMSS-R（1999）	TIMSS2003	TIMSS2007
1. Singapore 607 2. Czech Republic 574 3. Japan 571 4. South Korea 565 5. Bulgaria 565 6. Netherlands 560 7. Slovenia 560 8. Australia 558 9. Hungary 554 10. England (and Wales) 552	1. Taiwan 569 2. Singapore 568 3. Hungary 552 4. Japan 550 5. South Korea 549 6. Netherlands 545 7. Australia 540 8. Czech Republic 539 9. England 538 10. Finland 535	1. Singapore 578 2. Taiwan 571 3. South Korea 558 4. Hong Kong 556 5. Estonia 552 6. Japan 552 7. Hungary 543 8. Netherlands 536 9. United States 527 10. Australia 527	1. Singapore 567 2. Taiwan 561 3. Japan 554 4. South Korea 553 5. England (and Wales) 542 6. Hungary 539 7. Czech Republic 539 8. Slovenia 538 9. Hong Kong 530 10. Russia 530

Older results

International educational scores (2003) (13-year-old's average score, TIMSS Third International Math and Science Study, 2003) Countries: (sample) Global rank Maths Science Score Rank Score Rank Singapore 1 605 1 578 1 Taiwan 2 585 4 571 2 South Korea 3 589 2 558 3 Hong Kong 4 586 3 556 4 Japan 5 570 5 552 5 Netherlands 7 536 7 536 9 Australia 9 505 14 527 10 England 10 498 18 544 7 United States 12 504 15 527 11 Malaysia 18 508 10 510 21 Italy 23 484 22 491 22 Sources:TIMSS Math 2003 and TIMSS Science 2003

See also

• Programme for International Student Assessment, an educational ranking among OECD nations.

Key publications

• TIMSS 2007 Assessment Frameworks [1]
• TIMSS 2003 International Mathematics Report [2]
• TIMSS 2003 International Science Report [3]
• IEA's TIMSS 2003 International Report on Achievement in the Mathematics Cognitive Domains [4]

External links

• International TIMSS
• U.S. Department of Education TIMSS
• TIMSS: What Have We Learned about Math and Science Teaching? - Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse for Science Mathematics and Environmental Education, Columbus, Ohio.