TIMSS researchers also looked at schools, curricula, instruction, lessons, textbooks, policy issues, and the lives of teachers and students to understand the educational context in which mathematics and science learning take place. By combining multiple methodologies and scientific sampling procedures that go beyond simple student test score comparisons and questionnaires, TIMSS created a fair and comprehensive portrait of how U.S. mathematics and science education differs from that of other nations. The richness of TIMSS includes a videotape study of eighth grade mathematics teaching, which observed 231 typical classrooms in Japan, Germany, and the United States, and an analysis of 1500 textbooks and curriculum frameworks from about 50 countries.

At the fourth grade, U.S. students were near the first in the world in science, and were above the international average in mathematics. In the eighth grade, U.S. students scored slightly above the international average in science and below the international average in mathematics. By the twelfth grade, U.S. performance was significantly lower relative to the international average in both science and mathematics, even among our most advanced students.

Because precise scores cannot be determined with perfect accuracy, it is unfair to compare the U.S. to other countries by rank score alone. Therefore, nations have been grouped into broad bands according to whether their performance is significantly higher than, not significantly different from, or significantly lower than the U.S.

Key findings for each grade level, overall comparative findings, and charts and sample test items are detailed below:

FOURTH GRADE (26 Nations)

ACHIEVEMENT

• U.S. students score near the first in the world in science, outperformed only by Korea.

• U.S. students score above the international average in mathematics, outperformed by only 7 countries.

• In science, students' performance in earth science, life science, and environmental science and the nature of science is near the first in the world. In physical science, U.S. students are significantly outperformed by 5 other nations.

• In mathematics, students' performance exceeds the international average in whole numbers; fractions; data representation; geometry; and patterns, relations, and functions. Our students are below the international average in measurement.

• If an international talent search were to select the top 10 percent of all fourth graders, 9 percent of U.S. fourth graders would be included in mathematics, and 16 percent would be included in science.

CURRICULUM

• The content of the fourth grade U.S. mathematics and science curricula is similar to the content covered by other nations.

• The number of topics covered is above the international average in fourth grade mathematics and below the international average in fourth grade science.

EIGHTH GRADE (41 Nations)

ACHIEVEMENT

• U.S. students score below the international average in mathematics.

• U.S. students score slightly above the international average in science.

• In mathematics, U.S. students score above the international average in data representation, at about the international average in algebra and fractions, and below the international average in geometry, measurement, and proportionality.

• In science, U.S. students score above the international average in earth science, life science, and environmental science and the nature of science. They score at about the international average in chemistry and physics.

• If an international talent search were to select the top 10 percent of all eighth graders, only 5 percent of U.S. eighth graders would be included in mathematics, but 13 percent would be included in science.

• The U.S. eighth grade mathematics and science curriculum is very different from other nations -- less focused and less advanced. For example, most other nations consider topics from algebra, geometry, physics, and chemistry while U.S. curriculum continues to cover more repetitive and less challenging material.

• Approximately 50 percent of class time for U.S. eighth grade students is spent studying arithmetic, whereas only 7 percent of class time for Japanese eighth grade students is focused on arithmetic.

• U.S. textbooks cover more mathematics and science topic areas than international textbooks. For example, the typical U.S. 8th grade mathematics textbook covers 35 topics while the typical Japanese 8th grade textbook covers only 7.

• The content in U.S. eighth-grade mathematics classrooms is at a seventh-grade level in comparison to other countries.

• U.S. eighth-grade mathematics classes require students to engage in less high-level mathematical thought than classes in Germany and Japan.

• In the judgment of independent experts, none of the U.S. lessons evaluated in the TIMSS videotape study was considered to contain a high-quality sequence of mathematical ideas, compared to 30 percent of Japanese lessons, and 23 percent of German lessons.

TEACHING

• Eighth-grade U.S. mathematics teachers' typical goal is to teach students how to do something, while Japanese teachers' goal is to help students learn how to do something and also understand mathematical concepts so that they can solve future problems.

• Most U.S. eighth-grade mathematics teachers report familiarity with reform recommendations, although only a few were observed to apply the key points in their classrooms. Japanese teachers widely practice what U.S. mathematics reforms recommend.

• New teachers in the U.S. receive less on-the-job training and mentoring than do new teachers in Japan and Germany.

TWELFTH GRADE

ACHIEVEMENT OF ALL STUDENTS (21 Nations)

• A sample of all students at the end of secondary school (twelfth grade in the U.S.) was assessed in mathematics and science general knowledge. The mathematics and science general knowledge assessments were a test of the mathematics and science needed to function effectively in society as adults.

• The content of the mathematics general knowledge assessment most closely matched the content covered up through 7th grade in most TIMSS nations and the 9th grade in the U.S. The science general knowledge assessment was at a 9th grade level for other nations and an 11th grade level in the U.S.

• TIMSS is a fair and accurate comparison of high school mathematics and science achievement in the participating nations. The high enrollment rate for secondary education in the U.S. is typical of other TIMSS countries, so our general population is not being compared to more select groups in other countries.

• U.S. twelfth graders scored below the international average and among the lowest of the 21 participating nations in both mathematics and science general knowledge. The U.S. outperformed only South Africa and Cyprus on both assessments.

ACHIEVEMENT OF ADVANCED STUDENTS (16 Nations)

• The advanced mathematics and physics assessments were administered to a sample of the top 10-20 percent of students in their final year of secondary school in each nation. In the advanced mathematics assessment, this included the 14 percent of U.S. students who had taken or were taking pre-calculus, calculus, or AP calculus compared to advanced mathematics students in other countries. In the physics assessment, this included the 14 percent of U.S. students who had taken or were taking physics or AP physics compared to advanced science students in other countries.

• The performance of U.S. physics and advanced mathematics students was below the international average and among the lowest of the 16 countries that administered the physics and advanced mathematics assessments. The U.S. outperformed no other country on either assessment.

• When you compare U.S. twelfth graders with Advanced Placement calculus instruction (about 5 percent of the U.S. cohort) to all advanced mathematics students in other nations, their performance was at the international average and significantly higher than 5 other countries.

• When you compare U.S. twelfth graders with Advanced Placement physics instruction (about 1 percent of the U.S. cohort) to all advanced science students in other nations, their performance was below the international average and significantly higher than only 1 other country.

• More countries outperformed U.S. students in physics than in advanced mathematics. This differs from results for mathematics and science general knowledge, where more countries outperformed the U.S. in mathematics than in science.

• The way in which countries structure secondary mathematics and science education differs greatly around the world. While almost all U.S. students study mathematics and science content areas in separate courses (e.g., algebra, geometry, chemistry, physics), students in many other TIMSS nations study these content areas simultaneously.

OVERALL COMPARATIVE FINDINGS

ACHIEVEMENT

• Our students' performance was stronger in science than in mathematics in fourth and eighth grades, and in the twelfth grade general knowledge assessment relative to the other countries participating in TIMSS.

• U.S. students' international standing was stronger at the fourth grade than at the eighth grade in both mathematics and science relative to the 26 countries that participated in TIMSS at both grade levels.

• U.S. students' international standing was stronger at the eighth grade than at the twelfth grade in both mathematics and science relative to the 20 countries that participated in TIMSS at both levels.

• There was no significant gender gap in fourth-grade or eighth-grade mathematics achievement or eighth grade science achievement. The U.S. was one of ten countries with a gender gap favoring males in fourth grade science achievement.

• There was no significant gender gap among U.S. twelfth grade students on the mathematics general knowledge assessment. There was a gender gap favoring males among U.S. twelfth graders in science general knowledge, physics, and advanced mathematics.

CONTEXTS OF LEARNING

• The amount of homework assigned does not appear to account for U.S. performance relative to other TIMSS nations. For example, U.S. fourth graders were assigned mathematics homework about as frequently as the international average. On the other hand, U.S. advanced twelfth graders reported being assigned homework in their advanced mathematics and in their physics classes more frequently than the international average.

• The amount of time spent in class does not appear to account for U.S. performance relative to other TIMSS nations. U.S. fourth graders spend more time in class learning mathematics and science than do their average international counterparts. U.S. eighth graders spend more time in mathematics classes per year than students in Germany and Japan.

• The amount of television watching also does not appear to strongly influence U.S. performance relative to other nations. Heavy television watching is as common among U.S. eighth graders as it is among their Japanese counterparts, and U.S. twelfth graders spend, on average, the same amount of time watching television or videos as the international average.

• Although U.S. twelfth-grade students are more likely to have jobs outside of school than their international counterparts and work longer hours, this does not appear to contribute to the relatively poor U.S. performance on the twelfth-grade general knowledge assessments in comparison to their international counterparts.

U.S. MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE PERFORMANCE AT A GLANCE

How Do U.S. Students Compare with the International Average... ?	At Grade 4? (26 Nations)	At Grade 8? (41 Nations)	At Grade 12? (21 Nations)	Advanced Students At Grade 12? (16 Nations)
Mathematics overall	Above	Below	Below	--
Science overall	Above	Above	Below	--
Advanced mathematics overall	--	--	--	Below
Physics overall	--	--	--	Below

• Fourth Grade Mathematics and Science Results
• Eighth Grade Mathematics and Science Results
• Twelfth Grade Results
• Advanced Students: Twelfth Grade Results
• Fourth Grade Items
• Eighth Grade Items
• Twelfth Grade Items
• Twelfth Grade Items -- Advanced Mathematics and Physics

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