TIMSS

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

• Some states (Florida, Massachusetts) did as well as the top countries. Which means that our schools can be competitive.

• Some characteristics seem to be consistent across cultures. Knowing comes before reasoning or applying.

• The top performers are clustered in one geographic region of the world, leading to a question of cause: teaching style, culture, linguistics.

• U.S. Schools are making forward progress towards reaching their goals. They are showing growth at both levels and moving up in the rankings.

• Countries varied in their strongest area between Algebra and Geometry, meaning there might be ways to improve those areas by looking at what goes on in those countries’ curriculums.

• Student engagement is statistically linked to performance.

• Student nutrition and sleep habits are tied to performance.

Teacher Preparation

• Teacher preparation and satisfaction linked to student performance.

School Resources

Classroom Instruction

• Surveys show that early parent involvement in math education is very helpful. Also, Pre-K instruction has a strong correlative effect.

School Climate

What does this tell us?

• Affluence is the biggest indicator of success within a given culture.

Performance in Cognitive and Content Domains

Home Support

International Benchmarks

Gender Differences

Average Achievement

How do we

compare?

Improvement

TIMSS

Since the early 1960s, education research organizations in the United States and other countries have conducted several major international comparisons of student performance in mathematics and science.

For example, the 1981 Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) measured mathematics achievement among 13 year olds in 14 industrialized and 6 developing nations.

It focused on curricula, classroom processes, preparation of teachers, and attitudes of teachers and students toward mathematics

Ethnocentricity

Similarly, in 1991 the International Assessment of Educational Progress assessed the mathematics and science skills of samples of 9 and 13 year olds from the United States and 19 other countries.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of 4th and 8th grade students around the world.

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which was conducted over the course of several years in the mid-1990s, was by far the largest and most ambitious international assessment of student performance in mathematics and science.

Like previous studies, TIMSS set out to assess how well students in different countries are able to solve mathematical and scientific problems at different stages of their education.

However unlike previous studies, TIMSS sought to gather these achievement data in a much richer context like an extensive variety of information about curricula, teaching practices, and the influences on teachers and students both inside and outside the classroom.

What is

TIMMS?

New international studies are being planned that will extend the results from TIMSS. The most directly related follow-up study is known as the TIMSS Repeat Project, or TIMSS-R. This study gathered achievement data very similar to the TIMSS data for the upper grade of population 2 (eighth grade in the United States) in 1999. Because TIMSS tested students in 1994–95, the students in population 1 for the original TIMSS will be in population 2 for TIMSS-R, making it possible to compare the progress of different groups of students over time. TIMSS-R also will include background questionnaires for students, teachers, and schools to investigate instructional practices and aspects of the learning environment.

The U.S. Department of Education is sponsoring a videotape project to extend the TIMSS videotape study of eighth-grade mathematics teaching in the United States, Japan, and Germany. The new videotape study will encompass additional countries as well as an analogous taping and analysis of eighth-grade science teaching.

Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is being conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). PISA will measure students' knowledge, skills, and competencies in three areas—reading, mathematics, and science

Students not still enrolled in school by their final year of secondary school were not tested in TIMSS.

Secondary school ends at different points in different countries and so the average age of these students varied from country to country, and some have asked whether it is fair to compare students of different ages.

The testing occurred toward the end of the school year so questions have arisen about whether the U.S. seniors were motivated to do well on the test.

The average age of the U.S. students tested in population 3—18.1 years—was somewhat less than the average age of all the students in this population who took the test—18.7 years.

The results depend largely on the sequence of topics within each country's overall curriculum and do not reflect the quality of those curricula or teaching practices.

The countries compared are so different culturally that comparisons of student performance have little relevance.

There are other intangibles as creativity, motivation, perseverance, flexibility, and entrepreneurial skill as positive outcomes of U.S. education that international comparisons cannot measure.

TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced are renowned international assessments that have been monitoring changes in educational achievement in mathematics and science since 1995. Countries use TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced for educational improvement by evaluating the effectiveness of their mathematics and science teaching and learning in comparison to other countries around the world.

TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced are projects of IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) which has been conducting international comparative studies of student educational achievement since 1959. It is Headquartered in Amsterdam.

IEA pioneered studies relating cross-national achievement to the different methods for teaching and learning used across the globe so that countries may learn about effective educational approaches from each other.

TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced are directed by the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College. TIMSS together with PIRLS, which assesses reading, comprise IEA’s core cycle of studies designed to provide participating countries with regular information about achievement in three fundamental subjects— mathematics, science, and reading.

TIMSS 2011 is the fifth in IEA’s series of international assessments of student achievement dedicated to improving teaching and learning in mathematics and science.

First conducted in 1995, TIMSS reports every four years on the achievement of fourth and eighth grade students.

It is a globally cooperative enterprise and conducts comprehensive state-of the-art assessments of student achievement supported with extensive data about country, school, and classroom learning environments.

Fifty countries participated in TIMSS 2007, and more than 60 took part in TIMSS 2011.

There is enormous diversity among the TIMSS countries—in terms of economic development, geographical location, and population size. This diversity is reflected in the educational philosophies, models, and approaches. So the world’s education systems constitute a natural laboratory in which each country can learn from the experiences of others.

TIMSS participants share the conviction that comparing education systems in terms of their organization, curricula, and instructional practices in relation to their corresponding student achievement provides crucial information for effective policy-making in education.

TIMSS Advanced measures trends in advanced mathematics and physics for students in their final year of secondary school (twelfth grade in most countries). The assessment provides educational policy makers with valuable information about how many students are excelling at highly specialized material in a global context. It was conducted in 1995 and 2008, and is scheduled for 2015 (with the sixth assessment of TIMSS).

TIMSS Advanced

assesses students enrolled in pre-university courses designed to lead into science and technologically-oriented programs and careers.

covers algebra, calculus, and geometry in advanced mathematics. In physics, it covers mechanics, electricity/magnetism, heat/temperature, and atomic/ nuclear physics.

collects extensive policy-relevant data about curriculum emphasis, technology use, and teacher preparation and training.

assesses students to enter STEM programs so as to help countries establish policies that support and strengthen the preparation of the next generation of scientists and engineers.

TIMSS Advanced was originally assessed together with TIMSS in 1995 but was assessed again only in 2008, when a number of countries expressed interest in an advanced assessment due to the strong link between specialized scientific expertise and economic productivity.

In 2015, TIMSS Advanced will be reunited with TIMSS so that countries can gain a better understanding of how one level of education influences the next.

Participating countries use the TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced assessment process and data to:

Monitor system-level achievement trends in a global context

Establish achievement goals and standards for educational improvement

Stimulate curriculum reform

Improve teaching and learning through research and analysis of TIMSS data

Conduct related studies, such as monitoring equity or assessing students in additional grades

Train researchers and teachers in assessment and evaluation

Do U.S. students know as much about mathematics and science as students in other countries?

Are U.S. curricula as demanding or as well structured as the curricula in other countries?

What do U.S. teachers actually do in the classroom, and how does this compare with what they say they are doing?

How much support do teachers receive for mathematics and science education?

How much time do students spend working in outside jobs, doing homework, and watching television?

TIMSS 2015 will be the sixth assessment, resulting in a 20-year trend line. This will give the participants information about changes in achievement at regular intervals. So TIMSS will provide further opportunities for studying whether new or revised educational policies impact achievement.

The data provided by TIMSS, along with information from previous international comparisons, have been an extremely valuable resource. They have called attention to factors associated with student achievement, thus identifying promising areas for future study.

They have provided deep insights into different ways of teaching and learning, which has made possible reexamination of conventional U.S. practices. TIMSS has made it viable for countries to share their educational systems and this brings new possibilities for U.S. education.

For example, information from TIMSS and from previous studies has made it possible to answer questions that have immediate implications for teaching and learning.

The participating countries use TIMSS in various ways to explore educational issues, like:

monitoring system-level achievement trends in a global context

establishing achievement goals and standards for educational improvement, stimulating curriculum reform

improving teaching and learning through research and analysis of the data, conducting related studies (e.g. monitoring equity or assessing students in additional grades)

training researchers and teachers in assessment and evaluation.

TIMSS results are provided according to four International Benchmarks

advanced, high, medium, and low

by major content domains

●algebra

●geometry

●biology.

Countries also obtain item-by-item results for diagnostic purposes for approximately 200 items per subject per grade (e.g., fourth grade mathematics, eighth grade science).

TIMSS provides important background information that can be used to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science.

TIMSS collects detailed information about curriculum and curriculum implementation, instructional practices, and school resources.

Participation in TIMSS enables evidence-based decisions for educational improvement.

High quality, internationally comparative data about student achievement in mathematics and science helps in monitoring and improving the health of a country’s education system.

Evidence of underperforming areas lead to call for education reform

Subsequent assessments are seen as effective monitors of changes in the educational system.

TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced results are disseminated through the TIMSS International Reports and via the web. A well-documented international database provides opportunities for research both within and across countries.