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Table A-16-3. Average science and content domain scale scores of 4th-grade students, by sex and country: 2007
Country (ordered by total score)           Content domain
Total science   Life science   Physical science   Earth science
Male   Female     Male   Female     Male   Female     Male   Female  
International average 474   477   483   487   482   486   485   483  
Singapore 587   587     581   583     583   587     557 550  
Chinese Taipei 558   556     541   541     559   560     558 548  
Hong Kong SAR1  556   553     534   531     559   557     562 557  
Japan 547   548     528   532     564   565     529   528  
Russian Federation 544   548     536   541     545   549     537   536  
                                       
Latvia2  539   545     529   542   542   546     537   534  
England 540   543     529   536   541   544     543 533  
United States3,4 541   536     541   538     536   532     536 531  
Hungary 538   535     546   549     531   527     521   513  
Italy 541 529     554 544     525 516     533 518  
                                       
Kazakhstan2  532   533     528   527     526   529     534   534  
Germany 535 520     531 527     530 517     535 512  
Australia 530   525     529   528     525   520     538   531  
Slovak Republic 530 521     533   530     516   509     536 525  
Austria 532 519     529 522     519 508     540 524  
                                       
Sweden 524   526     527   535   509   508     537   533  
Netherlands5  528 518     539 532     506 499     533 513  
Slovenia 518   518     508   513   530   530     520   514  
Denmark3  520   514     527   527     505   500     529 515  
Czech Republic 518 511     519   520     513   508     524 511  
                                       
Lithuania2  512   516     514   519     513   515     509   512  
New Zealand 502   506     501   512   497   500     518 512  
Scotland3  501   500     502   505     501   498     510   505  
Armenia 476   493   482   497   486   499   468   490
Norway 478   475     486   487     469   468     501 492  
                                       
Ukraine 473   475     481   483     474   476     474   474  
Iran, Islamic Republic of 429   443     436   449     446   462     428   439  
Georgia2  413   423   424   430     406   422   426   438
Colombia 408 393     417 400     416   407     410 392  
El Salvador 396 383     415   404     396   387     402 384  
                                       
Algeria 349   359   348   354     370   385   360   370  
Kuwait6  315   379   319   384   311   378   332   391
Tunisia 304   335   310   338   321   361   313   339
Morocco 292   302     284   300   318   330     289   296  
Qatar 281   307   279   302   287   319   293   316
Yemen 188   209                    
p <05. Score is significantly higher than other sex's score.                                      
— Not available. Average achievement could not be accurately estimated.                                      
1 Hong Kong SAR is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.  
2 National Target Population did not include all of the International Target Population.  
3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after substitute schools were included.  
4 National Defined Population covered 90 to 95 percent of National Target Population.  
5 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates only after substitute schools were included.
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 4 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessment are reported on a total science scale, which captures students’ overall science knowledge and skills, and three 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 4 science in 2007 is equivalent to a score of 500 in grade 4 science in 2003 and 1995. Countries are ordered by total science average score. Ordering of countries does not imply that scores are measurably different from one another. 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), figures 20 and 21, and Martin, M.O, Mullis, I.V.S., and Foy, P. (2008). TIMSS 2007 International Science Report: Findings from IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study at the Fourth and Eighth Grades, exhibits 1.5 and 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