Differences in average mathematics scale scores of eighth-grade students, by country: 1995, 1999, and 2003

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

TIMSS 2003 Tables

Table 7. Differences in average mathematics scale scores of eighth-grade students, by country: 1995, 1999, and 2003

Country	1995	1999	2003	(2003-1995)	2003-1999
				Difference¹
Country	1995	1999	2003	Singapore	609	604	605	-3	1
Korea, Republic of	581	587	589	8^	2
Hong Kong SAR^2,3	569	582	586	17^	4
Chinese Taipei	—	585	585	+	#
Japan	581	579	570	-11~	-9~
Belgium-Flemish	550	558	537	-13~	-21~
(Netherlands)²	529	540	536	7	-4
Hungary	527	532	529	3	-2
Malaysia	—	519	508	+	-11
Russian Federation	524	526	508	-16~	-18~
Slovak Republic	534	534	508	-26~	-26~
(Latvia-LSS)⁴	488	505	505	17^	#
(Australia)⁵	509	—	505	-4	+
(United States)	492	502	504	12^	3
Lithuania⁶	472	482	502	30^	20^
Sweden	540	—	499	-41~	+
(Scotland)²	493	—	498	4	+
(Israel)⁷	—	466	496	+	29^
New Zealand	501	491	494	-7	3
(Slovenia)⁵	494	—	493	-2	+
Italy⁷	—	479	484	+	4
(Bulgaria)	527	511	476	-51~	-34~
(Romania)	474	472	475	2	3
Norway	498	—	461	-37~	+
Moldova, Republic of	—	469	460	+	-9
Cyprus	468	476	459	-8~	-17~
(Macedonia, Republic of)	—	447	435	+	-12~
Jordan	—	428	424	+	-3
Iran, Islamic Republic of	418	422	411	-7	-11~
Indonesia⁶	—	403	411	+	8
Tunisia	—	448	410	+	-38~
Chile	—	392	387	+	-6
Philippines	—	345	378	+	33^
South Africa⁸	—	275	264	+	-11
—Not available. +Not applicable. #Rounds to zero. ^p<.05, denotes a significant increase. ~p<.05, denotes a significant decrease.

¹ Difference calculated by subtracting 1995 or 1999 from 2003 estimate using unrounded numbers.
² Met international guidelines for participation rates in 2003 only after replacement schools were included.
³ Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People's Republic of China.
⁴ Designated LSS because only Latvian-speaking schools were included in 1995 and 1999. For this analysis, only Latvian-speaking schools are included in the 2003 average.
⁵ Because of national-level changes in the starting age/date for school, 1999 data for Australia and Slovenia cannot be compared to 2003.
⁶ National desired population does not cover all of the international desired population in all years for Lithuania, and in 2003 for Indonesia.
⁷ Because of changes in the population tested, 1995 data for Israel and Italy are not shown.
⁸ Because within classroom sampling was not accounted for, 1995 data are not shown for South Africa.
NOTE: Countries are sorted by 2003 average scores. The tests for significance take into account the standard error for the reported difference. Thus, a small difference between averages for one country may be significant while a large difference for another country may not be significant. Parentheses indicate countries that did not meet international sampling or other guidelines in 1995, 1999, or 2003. See appendix A for details regarding 2003 data. See Gonzales et al. (2000) for details regarding 1995 and 1999 data. Countries were required to sample students in the upper of the two grades that contained the most number of 13-year-olds. In the United States and most countries this corresponds to grade 8. See table A1 in appendix A for details. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1995, 1999, and 2003.

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