Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: International Benchmarks

Excel File Excel Download

Figure 1. Percentage of 4th-grade students reaching the TIMSS international benchmarks in mathematics, by education system: 2015
Education system Percentage of students reaching each international benchmark
Advanced (625) s.e. High (550) s.e. Intermediate (475) s.e. Low (400) s.e.

† Not applicable.

# Rounds to zero.

*p<.05. Percentage is significantly different from the U.S. percentage at the same benchmark at the .05 level of statistical significance.

1 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population.

2 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.

3 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included.

4 The number in parentheses indicates years of school not grade in schooling.

5 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent).

6 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population.

7 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 15 percent but does not exceed 25 percent.

8 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by the percentage of students reaching the Advanced international benchmark. Education systems that are not countries are designated by the appended three-letter international abbreviation for their country. Participants that did not administer TIMSS at the target grade are not shown; see the international report for their results. U.S. state data are based on public school students only. The TIMSS international median represents all participating TIMSS education systems, including the United States, shown in the main part of the figure; benchmarking education systems are not included in the international median. Standard error is abbreviated as s.e. For TIMSS 2015, Norway revised its assessed population to students in their 5th and 9th years of schooling to obtain better comparisons with Sweden and Finland. However, in previous TIMSS cycles Norway assessed students in their 4th and 8th years of schooling, which were defined as 4th and 8th grades but have been redefined as 3rd and 7th grades because year 1 in Norway is now considered the equivalent of a year of kindergarten. To maintain trend with previous TIMSS cycles, in 2015 Norway also collected data from students in their 4th and 8th years of schooling, which is used in trend tables.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 2015.

Singapore1 50 * 2.1 80 * 1.7 93 * 0.9 99 * 0.3
Hong Kong-CHN2 45 * 2.0 84 * 1.3 98 * 0.4 100 * 0.1
Korea, Republic of 41 * 1.3 81 * 1.0 97 * 0.4 100 * 0.1
Chinese Taipei-CHN 35 * 1.5 76 * 1.0 95 * 0.4 100 * 0.2
Japan 32 * 1.1 74 * 1.0 95 * 0.4 99 * 0.1
Northern Ireland-GBR3 27 * 1.3 61 * 1.5 86 * 1.1 97 * 0.6
Russian Federation 20 * 1.8 59 * 1.8 89 * 1.1 98 * 0.4
England-GBR 17 1.2 49 1.5 80 1.2 96 0.7
Kazakhstan 16 1.8 47 2.6 80 1.5 96 * 0.5
United States1, 2 14 0.8 47 1.1 79 1.0 95 0.5
Ireland 14 1.0 51 * 1.6 84 * 1.0 97 * 0.4
Norway (5)4 14 1.1 50 1.6 86 * 1.0 98 * 0.4
Hungary 13 0.9 44 1.5 75 * 1.5 92 * 0.9
Portugal1 12 0.9 46 1.3 82 * 1.1 97 * 0.4
Denmark1, 2 12 0.9 46 1.6 80 1.3 96 0.6
Serbia5 10 * 0.8 37 * 1.4 72 * 1.6 91 * 1.2
Bulgaria 10 * 1.3 40 * 2.6 75 2.1 92 * 1.3
Lithuania1 10 * 1.0 44 1.5 81 1.1 96 * 0.5
Poland 10 * 0.7 44 1.4 80 1.0 96 * 0.4
Belgium (Flemish)-BEL2 10 * 0.8 47 1.5 88 * 0.9 99 * 0.3
Cyprus 10 * 0.7 39 * 1.5 74 * 1.3 93 * 0.6
Australia 9 * 0.9 36 * 1.6 70 * 1.3 91 * 0.9
Finland 8 * 0.7 43 * 1.3 82 * 1.0 97 * 0.4
Czech Republic 8 * 0.7 38 * 1.4 78 1.1 96 0.5
New Zealand 6 * 0.5 26 * 0.9 59 * 1.2 84 * 0.9
Slovenia 6 * 0.5 34 * 1.4 75 * 1.2 95 0.5
Canada1, 2, 6 6 * 0.5 31 * 1.1 69 * 1.2 92 * 0.8
Germany 5 * 0.5 34 * 1.3 77 1.1 96 * 0.6
Sweden1 5 * 0.5 34 * 1.6 75 * 1.6 95 0.8
United Arab Emirates 5 * 0.4 18 * 0.8 42 * 1.0 68 * 0.9
Turkey 5 * 0.5 25 * 1.2 57 * 1.3 81 * 1.1
Italy1 4 * 0.6 28 * 1.3 69 * 1.4 93 * 0.8
Slovak Republic 4 * 0.4 26 * 1.1 65 * 1.4 88 * 0.9
Netherlands2 4 * 0.6 37 * 1.3 83 * 1.0 99 * 0.3
Spain1 3 * 0.4 27 * 1.1 67 * 1.4 93 0.9
Croatia 3 * 0.4 24 * 1.1 67 * 1.2 93 0.6
Qatar 3 * 0.5 13 * 1.1 36 * 1.4 65 * 1.4
France 2 * 0.3 21 * 1.3 58 * 1.8 87 * 1.0
Georgia6 2 * 0.6 15 * 1.4 47 * 1.7 78 * 1.6
Oman 2 * 0.3 11 * 0.6 32 * 1.1 60 * 1.0
Bahrain1 2 * 0.2 13 * 0.5 41 * 0.8 72 * 0.8
Iran, Islamic Republic of 1 * 0.3 11 * 0.7 36 * 1.1 65 * 1.4
Chile 1 * 0.2 10 * 0.7 42 * 1.4 78 * 1.5
Saudi Arabia7 # * 3 * 0.7 16 * 1.2 43 * 1.7
Morocco # * 3 * 0.5 17 * 1.1 41 * 1.6
Jordan # * 5 * 0.6 21 * 1.1 50 * 1.2
Indonesia # * 3 * 0.4 20 * 1.2 50 * 1.8
Kuwait7 # * 3 * 0.5 12 * 1.2 33 * 1.7
Intermational median 6 * 0.0 36 * 0.0 75 * 0.0 93 * 0.0
Benchmarking participants
Florida-USA6 16 2.1 49 2.7 82 1.7 96 0.7
Dubai-UAE 11 * 0.5 35 * 0.9 66 * 0.8 87 * 0.5
Quebec-CAN8 9 * 1.3 42 2.5 82 1.8 98 * 0.6
Ontario-CAN 6 * 0.6 31 * 1.4 70 * 1.3 93 0.6
Abu Dhabi-UAE1, 7 3 * 0.7 12 * 1.4 32 * 1.9 56 * 1.8
Buenos Aires-ARG # * 6 * 0.6 32 * 1.3 66 * 1.4