Linking The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)and The Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS): Eighth-Grade Results

May 1998

(NCES 98-500) Ordering information

Summary of Report

• This report presents the results of an international benchmarking study whose purpose is to provide useful student achievement information about the performance of states relative to other countries. It broadly compares state eighth-grade mathematics and science performance for each of 44 states and jurisdictions participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), with that of 41 nations who participated in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

• This is a research and development effort that statistically links the 1996 state results from NAEP with the 1995 country results from TIMSS.

• Because these two assessments (NAEP and TIMSS) contained different content, and were taken by different students at different times, only limited information can be provided from this statistical linking technique. The reader is strongly cautioned against drawing inferences or conclusions that go beyond the explicit statements contained in this report.

• The specific direction of the link is from NAEP to TIMSS. In particular, the linking procedure provides predicted TIMSS results for 44 states and jurisdictions, based on their actual NAEP results. In the report, these predicted scores are roughly compared with the actual TIMSS performance of the 41 countries that participated in TIMSS at the eighth grade.

• The data are presented as separate predicted performance profiles for each of the states and jurisdictions participating in NAEP in grade 8 mathematics and science.
  • The first profile displays those countries whose performance is expected to be higher than, not significantly different than, and lower than, the profiled state or jurisdiction in mathematics. It also displays an estimate and range of possible values indicating the estimated percentage of public school students in the state or jurisdiction that would perform above the top 10% and the top half of all students in the world who participated in the TIMSS study.

  • A second profile displays the same information for science.

• A research and development technical report that fully describes the statistical linking and validation procedures employed in this study will be available in June, 1998.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction
• NAEP and TIMSS
• Report Outline
• Comparisons of Each NAEP State and Jurisdiction with TIMSS Nations for Grade 8 Mathematics
• Comparisons of each NAEP State and Jurisdiction with TIMSS Nations for Grade 8 Science
• References

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For more information about the content of this report, contact Arnold Goldstein at Arnold.Goldstein@ed.gov.