Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

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

• 3rd Form in England, Northern Ireland and Wales
• 2nd Year in the Republic of Ireland
• 2nd Year in Scotland
• 1st Year in South Africa
• Form 2 in Hong Kong
• Third Year 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:

• Primary 6 (P6) in the United Kingdom
• Group 6 in the Netherlands
• CM1 in France
• Fourth Class in the Republic of Ireland
• Standard 3 or Year 5 in New Zealand

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 1970-71 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.[3]

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;[1] the data set was published in February 2017. TIMSS 2015 included data collected from parents for the first time.[4] 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.

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 2011 international results in mathematics, “The TIMSS mathematics achievement scales were established in TIMSS 1995 based on the achievement distribution across all participating countries, treating each country equally. At each grade level, the scale center point of 500 was set to correspond to the mean of the overall achievement distribution, and 100 points on the scale was set to correspond to the standard deviation. Achievement data from subsequent TIMSS assessment cycles were linked to these scales so that increases or decreases in average achievement may be monitored across assessments. TIMSS uses the scale center point as a point of reference that remains constant from assessment to assessment”.[5]

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.[6]

The collected information is presented in different formats. For example, for TIMSS 2015 the results are presented as TIMSS International Results in Science TIMSS International Results in Science and TIMSS International Results in Mathematics. The TIMSS 2015 Encyclopedia provides an overview of how mathematics and science are taught in each participating country. Methods and Procedures in TIMSS 2015 documents the development of the TIMSS assessments and questionnaires, and describes the methods used. The TIMSS 2015 User Guide for the International Database describes the content and format of the data in the TIMSS 2015 International Database. The fully documented TIMSS 2015 international database can be downloaded.

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".. 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, the IEA's "Data Visualizer". can come in handy.

In TIMSS 1995,[7] there were 41 educational systems in five grades (third, fourth, seventh, eighth, and the final year of secondary school).[4] In 1999,[8] TIMSS only focused on the eighth grade in 38 educational systems; there was no study done for the fourth grade in that year.[9] In TIMSS 2003,[10] there were 26 educational systems for the fourth grade and 48 for the eighth grade.[11] In TIMSS 2007,[12] 44 educational systems participated in the fourth grade and 57 educational systems in the eighth grade. TIMSS 2011[13] had 52 participating educational systems for the fourth grade and 45 for the eighth grade.[4]

In TIMSS 2015,[14] nationally representative samples of students in 57 countries and 7 benchmarking entities participated in the fourth grade assessment, the eighth grade assessment, or both.[15]

TIMSS 2019 will be the seventh cycle of TIMSS, reporting 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, and reasoning). Like the previous TIMSS assessments (conducted in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015), the study will collect detailed information about curriculum and curriculum implementation, instructional practices, and school resources. TIMSS 2019 is focusing on converting to a digital format (eTIMSS 2019). Fourth-grade students can interact with geometric shapes and patterns to demonstrate their mastery of fractions and symmetry, or arrange square flower boxes to explore the relationship between perimeter and area. Eighth-grade students can help to design a storage building by calculating its dimensions, or plan a plant growth experiment and see the results. Other tasks will assess students’ knowledge in areas covered by the TIMSS frameworks, including algebra, data and chance, physics, and chemistry.[16]

eTIMSS will continue all the benefits of TIMSS, enabling countries to measure how effective they are in teaching mathematics and science.

The TIMSS 1999 Video Study[17] was a study of eighth-grade mathematics and science teaching in seven countries. The study involved videotaping and analyzing teaching practices in more than one thousand classrooms. In conjunction with the IEA, the study was conducted by the US National Center for Education Statistics, and the US Department of Education under a contract with LessonLab, Inc. of Los Angeles, California.

TIMSS depends on the collaboration of a large number of individuals and organizations around the world including the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College, IEA's offices in Amsterdam and Hamburg, Statistics Canada, and Educational Testing Service (ETS). In the United States, TIMSS is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics of the US Department of Education. Data for US students is further tracked for ethnic and racial groups. TIMSS is mainly funded by the participating countries. Also, the US National Center for Education Statistics of the US Department of Education and the World Bank provide major support funding for the assessments.[4]

• TIMSS 1995: 4th grade ; 8th grade
• TIMSS 1999: 8th grade
• TIMSS 2003: 4th grade ; 8th grade
• TIMSS 2007: 4th and 8th grades
• TIMSS 2011: 4th grade ; 8th grade
• TIMSS 2015: 4th and 8th grades

Hanushek and Woessmann[18] developed a methodology to rescale 14 different international comparisons of math and / or science achievement to make them comparable. This includes the FIMS, FISS, and PISA, mentioned above, with TIMSS.

This methodology is somewhat disputed amongst experts in quantitative methods used in educational and psychological measurement as it is basically only a linear scale transformation that cannot ensure or examine whether PISA and TIMSS scores are based on the same or at least comparable measurement constructs: The numerical values used to measure shoe size and intelligence can be transformed so that both have the same arithmetic mean and standard deviation, but they still represent two very different characteristics.

• International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement
• Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), an educational ranking among OECD nations
• Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

• Hanushek, Eric A.; Woessmann, Ludger (2015), The knowledge capital of nations, CESifo, ISBN 978-0-262-02917-9.

• IEA's TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College
• www.iea.nl: TIMSS. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
• 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.
• Benchmarking to the world's best in mathematics. Quality control in curriculum and instruction among the top performers in the TIMSS