Fourth Grade:

• In both 1995 and 2003, U.S. fourth-graders had an average score of 518 in mathematics (table 4 and table C3 in appendix C). Fourth-graders in six other countries also showed no measurable change in average mathematics performance over the same time period.

• In contrast, fourth-graders in six of the 15 participating countries showed an increase in average mathematics achievement scores between 1995 and 2003: Cyprus, England, Hong Kong SAR, Latvia-LSS¹, New Zealand, and Slovenia (table 4). Fourth-graders in two countries—the Netherlands and Norway—experienced a decrease in average mathematics achievement scores over the same period of time.

Eighth Grade:

• U.S. eighth-graders showed significant improvement in average mathematics performance over the 8-year period between 1995 and 2003 (table 5 and table C4 in appendix C). In 1995, U.S. eighth-graders had an average score of 492. In 2003, U.S. eighth-graders improved their average mathematics score by 12 points, to 504. No measurable change was detected in the average U.S. mathematics performance between 1999 and 2003, thus indicating that the increase in average mathematics performance in the United States occurred primarily between 1995 and 1999.

• In addition to the United States, eighth-graders in seven other countries improved their average mathematics performance between 1995 and 2003 or between 1999 and 2003: Hong Kong SAR, Israel, Korea, Latvia-LSS, Lithuania, Morocco, and the Philippines (table 5).

• Eighth-graders in 11 countries showed significant declines in their average mathematics achievement between 1995 and 2003 or between 1999 and 2003: Belgium-Flemish, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Iran, Japan, Macedonia, Norway, Russian Federation, Slovak Republic, Sweden, and Tunisia. The remaining 16 countries showed no measurable difference in the average mathematics scores of their students (table 5).