In 2007, U.S. 4th-graders scored higher in mathematics than their peers in 23 countries and lower than those in 8 countries. U.S. 8th-graders scored higher than their peers in 37 countries and lower than those in 5 countries. Compared with 1995, U.S. 4th- and 8th-graders improved in mathematics in 2007.

Conducted in 2007, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessed students' mathematics performance at grade 4 in 36 countries and at grade 8 in 48 countries. The assessment is curriculum based and measures what students have actually learned against the subject matter that is expected to be taught in the participating countries by the end of grades 4 and 8.

At grades 4 and 8, U.S. students scored above the TIMSS mathematics scale average in 2007. U.S. 4th-graders scored higher, on average, than their counterparts in 23 countries and lower than those in 8 countries. Average scores in the other 4 countries were not measurably different from the U.S. average. At grade 4, the 8 countries with higher average scores than the United States were Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, England, and Latvia. U.S. students scored higher than the TIMSS scale average on all 4 mathematics content domains measured at grade 8: number, algebra, geometry, and data and chance (see table A-15-1).

At grade 8, the average U.S. mathematics score was higher than those of students in 37 countries in 2007 and below the average scores of students in 5 countries. The 5 countries with higher average scores than the United States were all in Asia: Chinese Taipei, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, and Japan. U.S. students scored higher than the TIMSS scale average on all 4 mathematics content domains measured at grade 8: number, algebra, geometry, and data and chance (see table A-15-2).

To examine the mathematics performance of each participating country's highest and lowest performing students, cutpoint scores were calculated for students performing at or above the 90th percentile (that is, the top 10 percent of students) and those performing at or below the 10th percentile (the bottom 10 percent of students) based on the distribution of scores within each country. In 2007, the score defining the highest performing U.S. 4th-graders was higher than the 90th percentile scores for 4th-graders in 23 countries and lower than the scores in 7 countries (see table A-15-1). The score defining the lowest performing U.S. 4th-graders was higher than the 10th percentile scores in 23 countries and lower than those in 6 countries.

At grade 8, the U.S. score at the 90th percentile in mathematics was higher than the corresponding scores in 34 countries and lower than those in 6 countries in 2007 (see table A-15-2). The U.S. score at the 10th percentile was higher than those in 34 countries and lower than those in 4 countries.

The United States was 1 of the 16 countries at grade 4 and 1 of the 20 countries at grade 8 that participated in both the first TIMSS mathematics assessment in 1995 and the most recent one in 2007. At both grades 4 and 8, U.S. students showed improvement in mathematics in 2007 compared with 1995 (see tables A-15-3 and A-15-4). The United States was among the 8 countries at grade 4 and 6 countries at grade 8 to show improvement in mathematics over this period.

Among U.S. 4th-graders, there was no measurable change in the mathematics score at the 90th percentile in 2007 compared with 1995 (see table A-15-5). However, the 90th percentile score was higher in 2007 than in 2003. The score at the 10th percentile was higher in 2007 than in either 1995 or 2003. Among U.S. 8th-graders, the 90th percentile score was higher in 2007 than in 1995. The 10th percentile score was higher in 2007 than in 1995 or 1999.

Technical Notes

The total number of countries reported here differs from the total number reported in the TIMSS reports. In addition to the 36 countries at grade 4 and 48 countries at grade 8, some 8 other educational jurisdictions, or "benchmarking" entities, participated: the states of Massachusetts and Minnesota; the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec; the Basque region of Spain; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The TIMSS scale average was established with a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100, based on the average of all the countries that participated in 1995. Successive assessments have scaled the achievement data so that scores are equivalent from assessment to assessment. That is, a score of 500 in grade 8 mathematics in 2007 is equivalent to a score of 500 in grade 8 mathematics in 2003, 1999, and 1995. For more information on TIMSS, see supplemental note 5.