Differences in average science scale scores of eighth-grade students, by country: 1995, 1999, and 2003

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

TIMSS 2003 Tables

Table 8. Differences in average science scale scores of eighth-grade students, by country: 1995, 1999, and 2003

Country	1995	1999	2003	(2003-1995)	(2003-1999)
				Difference¹
Country	1995	1999	2003	Singapore	580	568	578	-3	10
Chinese Taipei	—	569	571	+	2
Korea, Republic of	546	549	558	13^	10^
Hong Kong SAR^2,3	510	530	556	46^	27^
Japan	554	550	552	-2	3
Hungary	537	552	543	6	-10~
(Netherlands)²	541	545	536	-6	-9
(United States)	513	515	527	15^	12^
(Australia)⁴	514	—	527	13^	+
Sweden	553	—	524	-28~	+
(Slovenia)⁴	514	—	520	7^	+
New Zealand	511	510	520	9	10
(Lithuania)⁵	464	488	519	56^	31^
Slovak Republic	532	535	517	-15~	-18~
Belgium-Flemish	533	535	516	-17~	-19~
Russian Federation	523	529	514	-9	-16~
(Latvia-LSS)⁶	476	503	513	37^	11
(Scotland)²	501	—	512	10	+
Malaysia	—	492	510	+	18^
Norway	514	—	494	-21~	+
Italy⁷	—	493	491	+	-2
(Israel)⁷	—	468	488	+	20^
Bulgaria	545	518	479	-66~	-39~
Jordan	—	450	475	+	25^
Moldova, Republic of	—	459	472	+	13^
(Romania)	471	472	470	-1	-2
Iran, Islamic Republic of	463	448	453	-9~	5
(Macedonia, Republic of)	—	458	449	+	-9
Cyprus	452	460	441	-11~	-19~
Indonesia⁵	—	435	420	+	-15~
Chile	—	420	413	+	-8
Tunisia	—	430	404	+	-26
Philippines	—	345	377	+	32^
South Africa⁸	—	243	244	+	1
—Not Available. +Not applicable. ^p<.05, denotes a significant increase. ~p<.05, denotes a significant decrease.

¹ Difference calculated by subtracting 1995 or 1999 from 2003 estimate using unrounded numbers.
² Met international guidelines for participation rates in 2003 only after replacement schools were included.
³ Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
⁴ Because of national-level changes in the starting age/date for school, 1999 data for Australia and Slovenia cannot be compared to 2003.
⁵ National desired population does not cover all of the international desired population in all years for Lithuania, and in 2003 for Indonesia.
⁶ Designated LSS because only Latvian-speaking schools were included in 1995 and 1999. For this analysis, only Latvian-speaking schools are included in the 2003 average.
⁷ Because of changes in the population tested, 1995 data for Israel and Italy are not shown.
⁸ Because within classroom sampling was not accounted for, 1995 data are not shown for South Africa.
NOTE: Countries are sorted by 2003 average scores. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between averages for one country may be significant while a large difference for another country may not be significant. Parentheses indicate countries that did not meet international sampling and/or other guidelines in 1995, 1999, and/or 2003. See appendix A for details regarding 2003 data. See Gonzales et al. (2000) for details regarding 1995 and 1999 data. Countries were required to sample students in the upper of the two grades that contained the largest number of 13-year-olds. In the United States and most countries, this corresponds to grade 8. See table A1 in appendix A for details. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1995, 1999, and 2003.

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