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Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

Study of international math and science skills

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)'s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)^[1] is a series of international assessments of the mathematics and science knowledge of students around the world. The participating students come from a diverse set of educational systems (countries or regional jurisdictions of countries) in terms of economic development, geographical location, and population size. In each of the participating educational systems, a minimum of 4,000 to 5,000 students is evaluated. Contextual data about the conditions in which participating students learn mathematics and science are collected from the students and their teachers, their principals, and their parents via questionnaires.^[2]

TIMSS is one of the studies established by IEA aimed at allowing educational systems worldwide to compare students' educational achievement and learn from the experiences of others in designing effective education policy. This assessment was first conducted in 1995, and has been administered every four years thereafter. Therefore, some of the participating educational systems have trend data across assessments from 1995 to 2019.^[3] TIMSS assesses 4th and 8th grade students, while TIMSS Advanced assesses students in the final year of secondary school in advanced mathematics and physics.

Definition of terms[edit]

"Eighth grade" in the United States is approximately 13–14 years of age and equivalent to:

• Year 9 (Y9) in England and Wales
• 2nd Year (S2) in Scotland
• 2nd Year in the Republic of Ireland
• 1st Year in South Africa
• Form 2 in Hong Kong
• 4ème in France
• Year 9 in New Zealand
• Form 2 in Malaysia

"Fourth grade" in the United States is approximately equivalent to 9–10 years of age and equivalent to:

• Year 5 (Y5) in England and Wales
• Primary 6 (P6) in Scotland
• Group 6 in the Netherlands
• CM1 in France
• Fourth Class in the Republic of Ireland
• Standard 3 or Year 5 in New Zealand

History[edit]

A precursor to TIMSS was the First International Mathematics Study (FIMS) performed in 1964 in 11 countries for students aged 13 and in the final year of secondary education (FS) under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). This was followed in 1970–1971 by the First International Science Study (FISS) for students aged 10, 14, and FS. Fourteen countries tested 10-year-olds; 16 countries tested the older two groups. These were replicated between 1980 and 1984.^[4]

These early studies were revised and combined by the IEA to create TIMSS, which was first administered in 1995. It was the largest international student assessment study of its time and evaluated students in five grades. In the second cycle (1999) only eighth-grade students were tested. In the next cycles (2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015) both 4th and 8th grade students were assessed. The 2011 cycle was performed in the same year as the IEA's Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), offering a comprehensive assessment of mathematics, science and reading for the countries participating in both studies. The sixth cycle was conducted in 2015, and the results were released in 2016;^[5] the data set was published in February 2017. TIMSS 2015 included data collected from parents for the first time.^[6] TIMSS Advanced, previously conducted in 1995 and 2008, was also conducted in 2015, and assessed final-year secondary students' achievement in advanced mathematics and physics. Policy-relevant data about curriculum emphasis, technology use, and teacher preparation and training accompanies the TIMSS Advanced results.

The seventh cycle of TIMSS was conducted in 2019 and marked the beginning of the transition to a digital assessment format, with the digital assessment administered to half of participating countries, and the paper assessment administered to the remaining half. 64 countries and 8 benchmarking systems participating in TIMSS 2019. Results were released in December 2020.^[7]

Preparations are underway for TIMSS 2023.

Method, data and documentation[edit]

Along with the overall students' achievement data, TIMSS comprehensive assessments include data on student performance in various mathematics and science domains (algebra, geometry, biology, chemistry, etc.) and on performance in the problem solving challenges in each of these contexts. In addition, TIMSS provides contextual data on crucial curricular, instructional, and resource-related factors that can impact the teaching and learning process. These data are gathered using student, teacher, school, and curriculum (national) questionnaires filled out by students, teachers, school principals and National Research Coordinators, respectively.

According to the TIMSS 2019 Assessment Frameworks, "The TIMSS mathematics and science achievement scales were created with the first TIMSS assessment in 1995, separately for each subject and each grade. The scale units were established so that 100 points on the scale was equivalent to one standard deviation of the distribution of achievement across all of the countries that participated in TIMSS 1995, and the scale midpoint of 500 was located at the mean of this international achievement distribution. The TIMSS achievement scales were first used for reporting TIMSS results with TIMSS 1995, and all results from subsequent TIMSS assessments have been reported on the same scale metrics, making it possible to measure growth or decline in countries' achievement distributions from assessment to assessment."^[8]

Because TIMSS is administered in four-year cycles, it enables participating counties to use the results between the fourth and eighth grades to track the changes in achievement and certain background factors from an earlier study. For example, results of the fourth grade in TIMSS 1995 can be compared with the results of the eighth grade in TIMSS 1999, as fourth graders had become eighth graders in the next cycle of study.^[9]

The collected information is presented in different formats. For example, for TIMSS 2019 the results are presented as TIMSS 2019 International Results in Mathematics and Science TIMSS 2019 International Results in Mathematics and Science.^[10] The TIMSS 2019 Encyclopedia^[11] provides an overview of how mathematics and science are taught in each participating country. Methods and Procedures: TIMSS 2019 Technical Report^[12] documents the development of the TIMSS assessments and questionnaires, and describes the methods used. The TIMSS 2019 User Guide for the International Database describes the content and format of the data in the TIMSS 2019 International Database^[13]

The IEA has developed an application for working with data from TIMSS and other IEA large-scale assessments called the IEA International Database (IDB) Analyzer.^[14] This application allows researchers to combine data files and facilitates some types of statistical analysis (such as computing means, percentages, percentiles, correlations, and estimating single level multiple linear regression). The application takes into account the complex sample structure of the databases when calculating the statistics and their standard errors. It also allows researchers to estimate achievement scores and their standard errors.

For an overview of the IEA study results and interpretation of information, see IEA's Data Visualizer.^[15]

Cycles[edit]

TIMSS 2019[edit]

TIMSS 2019 was the seventh cycle of TIMSS and reported overall achievement as well as results according to international benchmarks, by major content domains (number, algebra, and geometry in mathematics, and earth science, biology, and chemistry in science) and by cognitive domains (knowing, applying, reasoning).^[16] TIMSS 2019 collected detailed information about curriculum and curriculum implementation of participating countries and published this information the TIMSS 2019 Encyclopedia: Education Policy and Curriculum in Mathematics and Science.^[17]

TIMSS 2019 marked the transition to a digital assessment format, allowing for new and innovative item types. In the digital assessment, students solved problems by interacting with shapes and patterns, arranging items on the screen, dragging and dropping items, and drawing. The digital version of TIMSS 2019 also introduced Problem Solving and Inquiry tasks that simulated real-world and laboratory situations and called for students to integrate and apply process skills and content knowledge. Half of the participating countries took the paper version of TIMSS and half of the participating countries took the digital version of TIMSS.

TIMSS 2019 results are summarized in TIMSS 2019 International Results in Mathematics and Science.^[7] This detailed report presents achievement and contextual data from participating countries and benchmarking entities. The TIMSS 2019 Encyclopedia: Education Policy and Curriculum in Mathematics and Science describes various features of the education systems in each participating country, including the mathematics and science curriculum, professional development requirements for teachers, and methods of monitoring student progress in mathematics and science. Each country's "chapter" in the encyclopedia was authored by that country's TIMSS representative.^[17]

Eighth grade[edit]

Mathematics[18] Rank Country Average scale score Change over 4 years 1  Singapore 616 5 points 2  Chinese Taipei 612 13 points 3  South Korea 607 1 point 4  Japan 594 8 points 5  Hong Kong 578 16 points 6  Russia 543 5 points 7  Ireland 524 1 point 8  Lithuania 520 9 points 9  Israel 519 8 points 10  Australia 517 12 points 10  Hungary 517 3 points 12  United States 515 3 points 12  England 515 3 points 14  Finland 509 N/A 15  Norway[a] 503 9 points 15  Sweden 503 2 points 17  Cyprus 501 N/A 18  Portugal 500 N/A International average 500 19  Italy 497 3 points 20  Turkey 496 38 points 21  Kazakhstan 488 40 points 22  France 483 N/A 23  New Zealand 482 11 points 24  Bahrain 481 27 points 25  Romania 479 N/A 26  United Arab Emirates 473 8 points 27  Georgia 461 8 points 27  Malaysia 461 4 points 29  Iran 446 8 points 30  Qatar 443 6 points 31  Chile 441 14 points 32  Lebanon 429 13 points 33  Jordan 420 34 points 34  Egypt 413 21 points 35  Oman 411 8 points 36  Kuwait 403 11 points 37  Saudi Arabia 394 26 points 38  South Africa[a] 389 17 points 39  Morocco 388 4 points Benchmarking participants – Moscow (Russia) 575 N/A – Quebec (Canada) 543 – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 537 25 points – Ontario (Canada) 530 8 points – Western Cape (South Africa)[a] 441 N/A – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 436 6 points – Gauteng (South Africa)[a] 421 N/A

Science[19] Rank Country Average scale score Change over 4 years 1  Singapore 608 11 points 2  Chinese Taipei 574 5 points 3  Japan 570 1 point 4  South Korea 561 5 points 5  Russia 543 1 point 5  Finland 543 N/A 7  Lithuania 534 15 points 8  Hungary 530 3 points 9  Australia 528 16 points 10  Ireland 523 7 points 11  United States 522 8 points 12  Sweden 521 1 point 13  Portugal 519 N/A 14  England 517 20 points 15  Turkey 515 22 points 16  Israel 513 6 points 17  Hong Kong 504 42 points 18  Italy 500 1 point International average 500 19  New Zealand 499 14 points 20  Norway[a] 495 14 points 21  France 489 N/A 22  Bahrain 486 20 points 23  Cyprus 484 N/A 24  Kazakhstan 478 55 points 25  Qatar 475 18 points 26  United Arab Emirates 473 4 points 27  Romania 470 N/A 28  Chile 462 8 points 29  Malaysia 460 11 points 30  Oman 457 2 points 31  Jordan 452 26 points 32  Iran 449 7 points 33  Georgia 447 4 points 34  Kuwait 444 33 points 35  Saudi Arabia 431 35 points 36  Morocco 394 1 point 37  Egypt 389 18 points 38  Lebanon 377 21 points 39  South Africa[a] 370 12 points Benchmarking participants – Moscow (Russia) 567 N/A – Quebec (Canada) 548 18 points – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 537 12 points – Ontario (Canada) 522 2 points – Western Cape (South Africa)[a] 439 N/A – Gauteng (South Africa)[a] 422 N/A – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 420 34 points

Fourth grade[edit]

Mathematics[20] Rank Country Average scale score Change over 4 years 1  Singapore 625 7 points 2  Hong Kong 602 13 points 3  South Korea 600 8 points 4  Chinese Taipei 599 2 points 5  Japan 593 6  Russia 567 3 points 7 Northern Ireland 566 4 points 8  England 556 10 points 9  Ireland 548 1 point 10  Latvia 546 N/A 11  Norway[a] 543 6 points 12  Lithuania 542 7 points 13  Austria 539 N/A 14  Netherlands 538 8 points 15  United States 535 4 points 16  Czech Republic 533 5 points 17  Belgium (Flemish) 532 14 points 17  Cyprus 532 9 points 17  Finland 532 3 points 20  Portugal 525 16 points 20  Denmark 525 14 points 22  Hungary 523 6 points 22  Turkey[a] 523 N/A 24  Sweden 521 2 points 24  Germany 521 1 point 26  Poland 520 15 points 27  Australia 516 1 point 28  Azerbaijan 515 N/A 28  Bulgaria 515 9 points 28  Italy 515 8 points 31  Kazakhstan 512 32 points 31  Canada 512 1 point 33  Slovakia 510 12 points 34  Croatia 509 7 points 34  Malta 509 N/A 36  Serbia 508 10 points 37  Spain 502 3 points International average 500 38  Armenia 498 N/A 39  Albania 494 N/A 40  New Zealand 487 4 points 41  France 485 3 points 42  Georgia 482 19 points 43  United Arab Emirates 481 29 points 44  Bahrain 480 29 points 45  North Macedonia 472 N/A 46  Montenegro 453 N/A 47  Bosnia and Herzegovina 452 N/A 48  Qatar 449 10 points 49  Kosovo 444 N/A 50  Iran 443 12 points 51  Chile 441 18 points 52  Oman 431 6 points 53  Saudi Arabia 398 15 points 54  Morocco 383 6 points 54  Kuwait 383 30 points 56  South Africa[a] 374 2 points 57  Pakistan 328 N/A 58  Philippines 297 N/A Benchmarking participants – Moscow (Russia) 593 N/A – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 544 33 points – Quebec (Canada) 532 4 points – Madrid (Spain) 518 N/A – Ontario (Canada) 512 – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 441 22 points

Science[21] Rank Country Average scale score Change over 4 years 1  Singapore 595 5 points 2  South Korea 588 1 point 3  Russia 567 4  Japan 562 7 points 5  Chinese Taipei 558 3 points 6  Finland 555 1 point 7  Latvia 542 N/A 8  Norway[a] 539 1 point 8  United States 539 7 points 10  Lithuania 538 10 points 11  Sweden 537 3 points 11  England 537 1 point 13  Czech Republic 534 14  Australia 533 9 points 15  Hong Kong 531 26 points 15  Poland 531 16 points 17  Hungary 529 13 points 18  Ireland 528 1 point 19  Turkey[a] 526 N/A 20  Croatia 524 9 points 21  Canada 523 2 points 22  Denmark 522 5 points 22  Austria 522 N/A 24  Bulgaria 521 15 points 24  Slovakia 521 1 point 26 Northern Ireland 518 2 points 26  Netherlands 518 1 point 26  Germany 518 10 points 29  Serbia 517 8 points 30  Cyprus 511 30 points 30  Spain 511 7 points 32  Italy 510 6 points 33  Portugal 504 4 points 34  New Zealand 503 3 points 35  Belgium (Flemish) 501 11 points International average 500 36  Malta 496 N/A 37  Kazakhstan 494 56 points 38  Bahrain 493 34 points 39  Albania 489 N/A 40  France 488 1 point 41  United Arab Emirates 473 22 points 42  Chile 469 9 points 43  Armenia 466 N/A 44  Bosnia and Herzegovina 459 N/A 45  Georgia 454 3 points 46  Montenegro 453 N/A 47  Qatar 449 13 points 48  Iran 441 20 points 49  Oman 435 4 points 50  Azerbaijan 427 N/A 51  North Macedonia 426 N/A 52  Kosovo 413 N/A 53  Saudi Arabia 402 12 points 54  Kuwait 392 55 points 54  Morocco 374 17 points 56  South Africa[a] 324 N/A 57  Pakistan 290 N/A 58  Philippines 249 N/A Benchmarking participants – Moscow (Russia) 595 N/A – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 545 27 points – Ontario (Canada) 524 6 points – Madrid (Spain) 523 N/A – Quebec (Canada) 522 3 points – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 418 3 points

TIMSS 2015[edit]

In TIMSS 2015,^[22] nationally representative samples of students in 57 countries and 7 benchmarking entities participated in the fourth grade assessment, the eighth grade assessment, or both.^[23]

Eighth grade[edit]

Mathematics[24] Rank Country Average scale score Change over 4 years 1  Singapore 621 10 points 2  South Korea 606 7 points 3  Chinese Taipei 599 10 points 4  Hong Kong 594 8 points 5  Japan 586 16 points 6  Russia 538 1 point 7  Kazakhstan 528 41 points 8  Canada 527 N/A 9  Ireland 523 N/A 10  United States 518 9 points 10  England 518 11 points 12  Slovenia 516 11 points 13  Hungary 514 9 points 14  Norway[a] 512 N/A 15  Lithuania 511 9 points 15  Israel 511 5 points 17  Australia 505 18  Sweden 501 17 points International average 500 19  Italy 494 4 points 19  Malta 494 N/A 21  New Zealand 493 5 points 22  Malaysia 465 25 points 23  United Arab Emirates 465 9 points 24  Turkey 458 6 points 25  Bahrain 454 45 points 26  Georgia 453 22 points 27  Lebanon 442 7 points 28  Qatar 437 27 points 29  Iran 436 21 points 30  Thailand 431 4 points 31  Chile 427 11 points 32  Oman 403 37 points 33  Kuwait 392 N/A 33  Egypt 392 N/A 35  Botswana[a] 391 6 points 36  Jordan 386 20 points 37  Morocco 384 13 points 38  South Africa[a] 372 20 points 39  Saudi Arabia 368 26 points Benchmarking participants – Quebec (Canada) 543 11 points – Ontario (Canada) 522 10 points – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 512 34 points – Florida (United States) 493 20 points –  Norway[b] 487 12 points – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 442 7 points – Buenos Aires (Argentina) 396 N/A

Science[25] Rank Country Average scale score Change over 4 years 1  Singapore 597 7 points 2  Japan 571 13 points 3  Chinese Taipei 569 5 points 4  South Korea 556 4 points 5  Slovenia 551 8 points 6  Hong Kong 546 11 points 7  Russia 544 2 points 8  England 537 4 points 9  Kazakhstan 533 43 points 10  Ireland 530 N/A 10  United States 530 5 points 12  Hungary 527 5 points 13  Canada 526 N/A 14  Sweden 522 13 points 15  Lithuania 519 5 points 16  New Zealand 513 1 point 17  Australia 512 7 points 18  Norway[a] 509 N/A 19  Israel 507 9 points International average 500 20  Italy 499 2 points 21  Turkey 493 10 points 22  Malta 481 N/A 23  United Arab Emirates 477 12 points 24  Malaysia 471 45 points 25  Bahrain 466 14 points 26  Qatar 457 38 points 27  Iran 456 18 points 27  Thailand 456 5 points 29  Oman 455 35 points 30  Chile 454 7 points 31  Georgia 443 23 points 32  Jordan 426 23 points 33  Kuwait 411 N/A 34  Lebanon 398 8 points 35  Saudi Arabia 396 40 points 36  Morocco 393 17 points 37  Botswana[a] 392 12 points 38  Egypt 371 N/A 39  South Africa[a] 358 26 points Benchmarking participants – Quebec (Canada) 530 10 points – Dubai (United Arab Emirates) 525 40 points – Ontario (Canada) 524 3 points – Florida (United States) 508 22 points –  Norway[b] 489 5 points – Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) 454 7 points – Buenos Aires (Argentina) 386 N/A