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Table 4. Average science scores of 4th-grade students, by education system: 2011

Grade 4
Education system   Average score
TIMSS scale average   500  
Korea, Rep. of   587
Singapore1   583
Finland   570
Japan   559
Russian Federation   552
Chinese Taipei-CHN   552
United States1   544  
Czech Republic   536
Hong Kong-CHN1   535
Hungary   534
Sweden   533
Slovak Republic   532
Austria   532
Netherlands2   531
England-GBR   529
Denmark1   528
Germany   528
Italy   524
Portugal   522
Slovenia   520
Northern Ireland-GBR2   517
Ireland   516
Croatia1   516
Australia   516
Serbia1   516
Lithuania1,3   515
Belgium (Flemish)-BEL   509
Romania   505
Spain   505
Poland   505
New Zealand   497
Kazakhstan1   495
Norway4   494
Chile   480
Thailand   472
Turkey   463
Georgia3,5   455
Iran, Islamic Rep. of   453
Bahrain   449
Malta   446
Azerbaijan1,5   438
Saudi Arabia   429
United Arab Emirates   428
Armenia   416
Qatar1   394
Oman   377
Kuwait3,6   347
Tunisia6   346
Morocco7   264
Yemen7   209
       
Benchmarking education systems      
Florida-USA3,8   545  
Alberta-CAN1   541  
North Carolina-USA1,3   538  
Ontario-CAN   528
Quebec-CAN   516
Dubai-UAE   461
Abu Dhabi-UAE   411
△ 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 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.
3 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population (see appendix A).
4 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included.
5 Exclusion rates for Azerbaijan and 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.
8 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent, but at least 77 percent of National Target Population (see appendix A).
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-22 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.