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Table 3. Average mathematics scores of 8th-grade students, by education system: 2011

Grade 8
Education system   Average score
TIMSS scale average   500  
Korea, Rep. of   613
Singapore1   611
Chinese Taipei-CHN   609
Hong Kong-CHN   586
Japan   570
Russian Federation1   539
Israel2   516  
Finland   514  
United States1   509  
England-GBR3   507  
Hungary   505  
Australia   505  
Slovenia   505  
Lithuania4   502  
Italy   498
New Zealand   488
Kazakhstan   487
Sweden   484
Ukraine   479
Norway   475
Armenia   467
Romania   458
United Arab Emirates   456
Turkey   452
Lebanon   449
Malaysia   440
Georgia4,5   431
Thailand   427
Macedonia, Rep. of6   426
Tunisia   425
Chile   416
Iran, Islamic Rep. of6   415
Qatar6   410
Bahrain6   409
Jordan6   406
Palestinian Nat'l Auth.6   404
Saudi Arabia6   394
Indonesia6   386
Syrian Arab Republic6   380
Morocco7   371
Oman6   366
Ghana7   331
       
Benchmarking education systems      
Massachusetts-USA1,4   561
Minnesota-USA4   545
North Carolina-USA2,4   537
Quebec-CAN   532
Indiana-USA1,4   522
Colorado-USA4   518  
Connecticut-USA1,4   518  
Florida-USA1,4   513  
Ontario-CAN1   512  
Alberta-CAN1   505  
California-USA1,4   493
Dubai-UAE   478
Alabama-USA4   466
Abu Dhabi-UAE   449
△ Average score is higher than U.S. average score.
▽ Average score is lower than U.S. average score.
1 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of National Target Population (see appendix A).
2 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent, but at least 77 percent, of National Target Population (see appendix A).
3 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included.
4 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population (see appendix A).
5 Exclusion rates for Georgia are slightly underestimated as some conflict zones were not covered and no official statistics were available.
6 The TIMSS International Study Center has reservations about the reliability of the average achievement score because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 15 percent, though it is less than 25 percent.
7 The TIMSS International Study Center has reservations about the reliability of the average achievement score because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 25 percent.
NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2011 average score. Italics indicate participants identified and counted in this report as an education system and not as a separate country. Participants that did not administer TIMSS at the target grade are not shown; see the international report for their results. All U.S. state data are based on public school students only. All average scores reported as higher or lower than the U.S. average score are different at the05 level of statistical significance. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between the United States and one education system may be significant while a large difference between the United States and another education system may not be significant. The standard errors of the estimates are shown in table E-2 available at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfor.asp?pubid=2013009.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2011.