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Table A-15-4. Average mathematics and content domain scale scores of 8th-grade students, by sex and country: 2007
Country (ordered by total score)           Content domain
Total mathematics   Number   Algebra   Geometry   Data and chance
Male   Female     Male   Female     Male   Female     Male   Female     Male   Female  
International average 448   453   453 448     444   457   448   454   449   453
Chinese Taipei 598   599     579   574     613   622     591   593     564   567  
Korea, Republic of 599   595     591 575     596   596     588   585     579   580  
Singapore 586   600   593   601     569   589   571   586   568   581
Hong Kong SAR1,2  567   578     564   570     558   573   567   573     544   554  
Japan 572   568     558 545     559   560     572   573     573   573  
                                                 
Hungary 517   517     523 511     498   509   507   508     525   523  
England2  516   511     518 502     491   493     512   508     549   545  
Russian Federation 509   514     509   504     509   527   509   510     489   486  
United States2,3 510   507     515 506     498   503     483 477     535 527  
Lithuania4  502   509   507   505     474   491   503   510     521   525  
                                                 
Czech Republic 503   505     515 507     476   492   498   497     511   512  
Slovenia 503   500     508 496     483   493   501   498     515 507  
Armenia 497   501     492   492     525   538   495   490     427   427  
Australia 504 488     514 492     475   466     493   481     534 516  
Sweden 490   493     508   506     452   462   469   475     525   526  
                                                 
Malta 488   488     497   495     471   476     497   493     486   487  
Scotland2  489   486     495 483     464   470     486   485     518   515  
Serbia3,4  483   489     481   474     491   510   480   491   461   455  
Italy 483   477     485 469     459   462     491   488     493   488  
Malaysia 468   479   485   495     446   461   473   480     468   469  
                                                 
Norway 467   471     488   487     423   428     453   464   500   510
Cyprus 455   476   461   468   455   481   445   470   454   474
Bulgaria 456   471   457   459     464   488   460   476   436   445  
Israel5  462   465     474 464     463   476   433   439     466   465  
Ukraine 459   465     461   459     455   472   466   468     456   459  
                                                 
Romania 452   470   454   461     464   493   459   475   426   431  
Bosnia and Herzegovina 455   456     454 447     467   483   450   452     440   435  
Lebanon 456 443     465 446     469   461     465   459     414 402  
Thailand 430   453   435   452   420   446   433   451   442   464
Turkey 432   432     435 423     434   447   407   415   442   448  
                                                 
Jordan 417   438   414   419     436   461   425   447   417   434
Tunisia 431 410     440 411     427 420     446 429     423 400  
Georgia4  408   412     424   417     413   429   408   409     367   378
Iran, Islamic Republic of 400   407     397   392     401   417   418   429     413   417  
Bahrain 382   414   384   392   380   427   396   429   408   429
                                                 
Indonesia 395   399     401   398     400   410   393   396     400   405  
Syrian Arab Republic 403 387     407 380     408   403     422   413     392   383  
Egypt 384   397   392   393     401   418   402   411     377   391
Algeria 389 384     408 398     349   350     435 429     373 369  
Colombia 396 364     391 348     400 381     385 358     420 391  
                                                 
Oman 344   399   344   380   360   421   362   412   367   411
Palestinian National Authority 349   385   355   376   362   403   373   403   352   388
Botswana 355   371   361   372   383   404   324   325     376   390
Kuwait6  342   364   347   346     339   367   371   396   352   378
El Salvador 351 331     366 345     337 326     326 310     377 348  
                                                 
Saudi Arabia 319   341   305   314     338   350   344   375   336   362
Ghana 319 297     319 298     369 345     283 265     328 311  
Qatar 288   325   327   342   293   331   280   323   281   329
p <05. Score is significantly higher than other sex's score.
1 Hong Kong SAR is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
2 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after substitute schools were included.
3 National Defined Population covered 90 to 95 percent of National Target Population.
4 National Target Population did not include all of the International Target Population.
5 National Defined Population covered less than 90 percent of National Target Population (but at least 77 percent).
6 Kuwait tested the same cohort of students as other countries, but later in 2007, at the beginning of the next school year.
NOTE: Results from the grade 8 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessment are reported on a total mathematics scale, which captures students’ overall mathematics knowledge and skills, and four content domains. The TIMSS scale is from 0 to 1,000, with the average set at 500 and a standard deviation of 100, based on the average of all the countries that participated in 1995. Successive TIMSS assessments since then have scaled 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. Countries are ordered by total mathematics average score. Ordering of countries does not imply that scores are measurably different from one another. Morocco participated at grade 8, but due to sampling difficulties its data are not shown. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference in one country may be significant, while a large difference in another country may not be significant. For more information on TIMSS, see supplemental note 5.
SOURCE: Gonzales, P., Williams, T., Jocelyn, L., Roey, S., Kastberg, D., and Brenwald, S. (2009). Highlights From TIMSS 2007: Mathematics and Science Achievement of U.S. Fourth- and Eighth-Grade Students in an International Context (NCES 2009-001 Revised), tables 3 and 7, and figure 7, and Martin, M.O., Mullis, I.V.S., and Foy, P. (2008). TIMSS 2007: International Mathematics Report, exhibit 3.3, data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2007.
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National Center for Education Statistics - http://nces.ed.gov
U.S. Department of Education