Indicator

International Comparisons of Mathematics and Science Performance

Two international assessments — the Trends in International Mathematics and Sciences Study (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) — compare U.S. students' achievement in mathematics and science with that of students in other countries. These two assessments differ in several fundamental ways, including the purpose of the study, age of the students tested, test content, and the number of participating nations.¹ Targeting students in grades 4 and 8 regardless of their age, the TIMSS tests focus on students' application of skills and knowledge to tasks akin to those encountered in school. The PISA tests, in contrast, assess the abilities of 15-year-olds to apply mathematics and science skills and information to solve real problems they may face at work or in daily life. This section compares the mathematics and science performance of U.S. students with that of their counterparts in other countries using assessment data from the latest administration of TIMSS (2011). No new data from PISA were available for this volume. The most recent PISA results showed that U.S. 15-year-olds did not perform as well as their peers in many developed countries. In 2009, the U.S. average score ranked 18th in mathematics and 13th in science out of 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations participating in the assessment.²

First conducted in 1995, TIMSS assesses the mathematics and science performance of fourth and eighth graders every 4 years. TIMSS has been administered five times, most recently in 2011. Over 20,000 students in more than 1,000 schools across the United States took the assessment in spring 2011, joining almost 500,000 other students from 62 countries and jurisdictions (Provasnik et al. 2012).

TIMSS is designed to test students' knowledge of specific mathematics and science topics that are closely tied to the curricula of the participating education systems (Mullis et al. 2009). The assessment framework includes two dimensions: a content domain for the subject matter to be assessed within mathematics and science and a cognitive domain for the skills (e.g., knowing, applying, and reasoning) expected of students as they learn the mathematics or science content. Specifically, the content domain for fourth and eighth grade mathematics and science in TIMSS 2011 includes the following topics (see sidebar, "TIMSS 2011 Sample Items"):

[TIMSS 2011 Sample Items]

Mathematics

• Number, Geometric Shapes and Measures, Data Display (Grade 4)
• Number, Algebra, Geometry, Data and Chance (Grade 8)

Science

• Life Science, Physical Science, Earth Science (Grade 4)
• Biology,Chemistry,Physics,EarthScience (Grade8)

Within each topic in the content domain, students are assessed on several skills, including their knowledge of facts, concepts, and procedures; application of those facts, concepts, and procedures to solve problems; and reasoning (i.e., solving unfamiliar, complex, or multistep problems). Although the content differs for fourth and eighth graders, reflecting the nature and difficulty of the mathematics and science taught at each grade, the cognitive domain is the same for both grade levels and subjects. Detailed discussion of the framework for the TIMSS 2011 mathematics and science assessments

Mathematics Performance of U.S. Students in Grades 4 and 8 on TIMSS

Performance on the 2011 TIMSS Mathematics Tests

The U.S. average score on the 2011 TIMSS mathematics assessment was 541 at grade 4 and 509 at grade 8 (figure 1-7). Both scores were higher than the international TIMSS average, which is set to 500 at both grades.⁴ Among 50 countries/ jurisdictions that participated in the 2011 TIMSS mathematics assessment at grade 4, the U.S. average mathematics score was among the top 13 (seven scored higher; five did not differ), outperforming 37 countries/jurisdictions (appendix table 1-6).⁴ The top scorers — Singapore, Republic of Korea, and Hong Kong (China) — each had average scores above 600.

At grade 8, the U.S average mathematics score was below the scores of six countries/jurisdictions, not different from the scores of seven, and higher than those of 28, placing the United States among the top 14 in eighth grade mathematics. The average scores of students in the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Taipei⁵ (the top three leaders) were at least 100 points higher than the average score of U.S. eighth graders (609–613 versus 509).

Performance Trends

Over the 16 years since the first TIMSS mathematics administration in 1995, U.S. fourth and eighth graders raised their scores and international ranking.22 At grade 4, the average mathematics score of 541 in 2011 was 23 points higher than the score of 518 in 1995 (figure 1-8). Not only did U.S. fourth graders' mathematics scores increase but also the U.S. position relative to other nations climbed from 1995 to 2011. Among the 17 countries that participated in both the 1995 and 2011 TIMSS mathematics assessment of fourth graders, 7 outscored the United States in 1995 compared with 4 in 2011 (Provasnik et al. 2012).

At grade 8, the U.S. average score of 509 in 2011 reflected a 17-point increase over the 1995 score (492) (figure 1-8). The relative standing of U.S eighth graders' mathematics performance has also improved over this time period: among the 16 countries that participated in both the 1995 and 2011 TIMSS mathematics assessment of eighth graders, 5 outperformed the United States in 2011, down from 8 in 1995 (Provasnik et al. 2012).

Science Performance of U.S. Students in Grades 4 and 8 on TIMSS

Performance on the 2011 TIMSS Science Tests

In 2011, the average science scores of both U.S. fourth and eighth grade students (544 and 525, respectively) were higher than the international TIMSS scale average (500) (figure 1-9). At grade 4, the United States was among the top seven countries/jurisdictions, outperforming 43 among a total of 50 participants (appendix table 1-7). Students in Republic of Korea, Singapore, Finland, Japan, Russian Federation, and Taipei outscored students in the United States (552–587 versus 544). At grade 8, the U.S. average science score of 525 was lower than those of 8 countries/jurisdictions, higher than those of 29, and not measurably different from those of the remaining 4.

Performance Trends

In contrast to the mathematics trends, which showed significant improvement in both grades, the average scores of U.S. students on the TIMSS science assessment have remained flat since 1995 for fourth graders and improved 12 points for eighth graders (figure 1-8). U.S. fourth and eighth graders have not improved their international position. Among 17 countries and jurisdictions that participated in both the 1995 and 2011 fourth grade TIMSS science assessments, 3 outscored the United States in 2011 compared with 2 in 1995; at grade 8, the number scoring higher than the United States was 6 in both years (Provasnik et al. 2012).

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