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Digest of Education Statistics: 2008
Digest of Education Statistics: 2008

NCES 2009-020
March 2009


Table 406. Average fourth-grade mathematics scores, by content areas, index of time students spend doing mathematics homework in a normal school week, and country: 2003
Country or other jurisdiction Average score by content area Index of time students spend doing mathematics homework (TMH) in a normal school week
Mathematicsoverall Number1  Patterns and relationships2  Measurement3  Geometry4  Data5  High TMH6  Medium TMH7  Low TMH8 
Percent Mean score Percent Mean score Percent Mean score
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
International average 495 (0.8) 495 (0.7) 495 (0.7) 495 (0.7) 495 (0.7) 495 (0.6) 18 (0.2) 489 (1.3) 56 (0.3) 500 (0.9) 26 (0.3) 494 (1.6)
Armenia9  456 (3.5) 473 (3.0) 461 (4.1) 465 (3.1) 431 (3.8) 417 (3.6) 33 (1.3) 467 (5.1) 65 (1.3) 465 (3.5) 2 (0.3) (†)
Australia10  499 (3.9) 479 (4.3) 495 (3.7) 514 (3.7) 524 (3.7) 525 (3.6) 7 (0.8) 486 (13.0) 43 (2.1) 500 (4.6) 50 (2.1) 505 (4.4)
Belgium (Flemish) 551 (1.8) 549 (1.9) 542 (1.9) 550 (1.4) 533 (1.8) 548 (2.2) 9 (0.7) 538 (3.9) 48 (1.7) 549 (2.7) 43 (2.0) 557 (2.0)
Chinese Taipei 564 (1.8) 568 (1.8) 555 (2.4) 557 (1.6) 553 (2.5) 564 (2.3) 11 (0.6) 546 (3.5) 62 (1.1) 569 (2.0) 27 (1.2) 561 (2.7)
Cyprus 510 (2.4) 514 (2.7) 519 (2.4) 506 (2.3) 505 (2.3) 509 (2.3) 14 (0.6) 494 (4.6) 76 (0.9) 521 (2.4) 10 (0.6) 497 (5.3)
                                                 
England10  531 (3.7) 519 (4.1) 523 (3.9) 535 (3.3) 542 (3.7) 552 (3.4) 4 (0.6) 489 (14.3) 37 (1.8) 531 (4.8) 59 (1.9) 540 (4.2)
Hong Kong, SAR10,11  575 (3.2) 574 (3.3) 568 (3.5) 563 (2.7) 557 (2.9) 562 (2.3) 24 (1.0) 575 (3.8) 71 (0.9) 580 (3.2) 5 (0.5) 530 (5.6)
Hungary 529 (3.1) 524 (2.9) 545 (3.7) 532 (2.7) 514 (3.3) 513 (3.2) 17 (0.9) 515 (4.9) 78 (1.1) 538 (3.1) 5 (0.9) 535 (10.6)
Iran, Islamic Republic of 389 (4.2) 410 (3.7) 394 (3.9) 398 (3.2) 416 (3.9) 356 (4.4) 31 (2.3) 404 (5.1) 52 (1.8) 391 (5.0) 17 (2.3) 376 (8.1)
Italy 503 (3.7) 502 (3.6) 496 (4.3) 504 (3.4) 522 (3.5) 497 (3.0) 24 (1.1) 496 (5.2) 52 (1.1) 504 (4.5) 24 (1.6) 512 (3.6)
                                                 
Japan 565 (1.6) 556 (2.0) 554 (1.4) 568 (1.6) 559 (1.9) 593 (1.6) 8 (0.6) 543 (4.6) 57 (1.8) 568 (2.3) 35 (2.1) 565 (2.7)
Latvia 536 (2.8) 531 (2.6) 532 (3.4) 545 (2.6) 523 (2.2) 526 (2.7) 25 (1.1) 525 (4.1) 71 (1.1) 546 (2.7) 4 (0.6) 517 (9.1)
Lithuania12  534 (2.8) 535 (2.9) 531 (3.0) 540 (2.7) 524 (2.2) 517 (2.5) 29 (1.2) 527 (3.8) 66 (1.3) 545 (3.1) 5 (0.6) 510 (10.7)
Moldova, Republic of 504 (4.9) 507 (4.7) 521 (5.1) 505 (4.0) 501 (4.9) 477 (4.3) 31 (2.0) 518 (6.3) 66 (1.9) 504 (5.4) 3 (0.6) 494 (10.9)
Morocco13  347 (5.1) 359 (4.7) 360 (4.7) 345 (5.5) 362 (4.9) 355 (5.0) 22 (1.3) 362 (5.9) 58 (1.9) 365 (4.8) 20 (2.1) 353 (12.3)
                                                 
Netherlands10  540 (2.1) 536 (2.2) 527 (2.4) 545 (2.2) 521 (3.2) 553 (2.4) 1 (0.2) (†) 10 (0.8) 508 (6.6) 89 (0.9) 546 (1.8)
New Zealand 493 (2.2) 475 (2.3) 495 (2.9) 503 (2.0) 517 (1.8) 522 (2.0) 7 (0.4) 489 (6.7) 41 (1.1) 491 (3.3) 52 (1.3) 504 (3.1)
Norway14  451 (2.3) 440 (2.2) 439 (2.7) 475 (2.2) 478 (2.2) 479 (2.3) 12 (1.0) 447 (4.7) 56 (1.8) 462 (3.2) 32 (2.1) 467 (4.0)
Philippines 358 (7.9) 380 (7.4) 382 (7.0) 330 (7.8) 335 (8.8) 384 (7.5) 17 (0.8) 349 (7.0) 52 (1.7) 362 (6.7) 31 (1.9) 372 (15.7)
Russian Federation 532 (4.7) 532 (4.6) 531 (5.0) 538 (3.8) 528 (4.8) 505 (4.1) 38 (1.3) 531 (5.3) 59 (1.2) 537 (4.7) 2 (0.4) (†)
                                                 
Scotland10  490 (3.3) 475 (3.3) 495 (2.9) 499 (3.1) 511 (2.5) 516 (2.7) 6 (0.8) 477 (6.8) 40 (2.0) 488 (4.2) 54 (2.2) 498 (3.4)
Singapore 594 (5.6) 612 (6.0) 579 (5.4) 566 (4.6) 570 (5.5) 575 (3.9) 40 (1.5) 604 (6.0) 49 (1.3) 595 (5.8) 11 (0.6) 575 (7.2)
Slovenia 479 (2.6) 461 (2.7) 490 (2.7) 497 (2.8) 498 (2.2) 486 (2.7) 14 (0.9) 466 (6.7) 76 (1.2) 490 (2.6) 10 (0.9) 455 (8.6)
Tunisia13  339 (4.7) 360 (4.1) 330 (4.7) 308 (5.5) 346 (5.1) 308 (4.7) 22 (2.2) 373 (8.6) 50 (2.8) 365 (6.3) 28 (3.0) 365 (8.0)
United States10  518 (2.4) 516 (2.6) 524 (2.7) 500 (2.1) 518 (2.2) 549 (2.0) 12 (0.6) 504 (4.0) 63 (1.3) 524 (2.7) 25 (1.5) 520 (3.5)
† Not applicable.
‡ Reporting standards not met.
1 Topic includes whole numbers; fractions and decimals; integers; and ratio, proportion, and percent.
2 Topic includes patterns, equations and formulas, and relationships.
3 Topic includes attributes and units and tools, techniques, and formulas.
4 Topic includes lines and angles, two- and three-dimensional shapes, congruence and similarity, locations and spatial rela­tionships, and symmetry and transformations.
5 Topic includes data collection and organization, data representation, and data interpretation.
6 High level indicates more than 30 minutes of mathematics homework assigned 3–4 times a week.
7 Medium level includes all possible combinations of responses not included in the high or low level categories (see below for details on the low level).
8 Low level indicates no more than 30 minutes of mathematics homework assigned no more than twice a week.
9 Response rate for the TMH index was at least 70 but less than 85 percent of the students, with missing data having not been explicitly accounted for in the analysis.
10 Met international guidelines for participation rates only after replacement schools were included.
11 SAR = Special Administrative Region.
12 National Desired Population does not cover all of the International Desired Population.
13 Response rate for the TMH index was at least 50 but less than 70 percent of the students, with missing data having not been explicitly accounted for in the analysis.
14 Students had received 4 years of formal schooling, but first grade is called "First grade/preschool."
NOTE: TMH index data are provided by students. Data are for fourth-grade students or equivalent in most countries. Possible scores range from 0 to 1,000. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2003, TIMSS 2003 International Mathematics Report, by Ina V.S. Mullis et al. (This table was prepared March 2005.)