In addition to the following questions about TIMSS, more FAQs about international assessments are available at: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/international/faqs.asp.

• What areas of mathematics and science are assessed in TIMSS?
  
• How many U.S. schools and students participated in previous TIMSS cycles?
  
• How does TIMSS select a representative sample of students?
  
• Have there been changes in the countries participating in TIMSS?
  
• If the makeup of the countries changes across the years, how can one compare countries to the TIMSS scale average?
  
• How do the results of TIMSS compare with the results in PISA?
  
• How does the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. students on TIMSS compare with achievement on NAEP?
  
• Can you directly compare TIMSS scores at grade 4 to scores at grade 8?
  
• On TIMSS, why do U.S. boys outperform girls in mathematics at grade 4 but not at grade 8, and U.S. boys outperform girls in science at grade 8 but not at grade 4? Why aren't differences between the sexes more consistent?
• When are TIMSS data collected?
  
• Where can I get a copy of the TIMSS U.S. Report?
  
• When is TIMSS scheduled to be administered next?
  

On TIMSS, why do U.S. boys outperform girls in mathematics at grade 4 but not at grade 8, and U.S. boys outperform girls in science at grade 8 but not at grade 4? Why aren't differences between the sexes more consistent?

The seeming inconsistencies between the 2007 achievement scores of U.S. boys and girls in mathematics and science are not easily explainable. Research into differences in achievement by sex has been unable to offer any definitive explanation for these differences. For example, in examining sex differences primarily at the high school level Xie and Shauman (2003)¹ found that "differences in mathematics and science achievement cannot be explained by the individual and familial influences that we examine." Indeed, that sex differences vary in the participating TIMSS countries—some in favor of males and others in favor of females—would appear to support the idea that the factors related to sex differences in mathematics and science achievement are complicated.

¹Xie, Y. & Shauman, K. (2003). Women in Science: Career Processes and Outcomes. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

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