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Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Gender

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Figure 5. Average mathematics scores of 4th-grade students and differences in average mathematics scores, by sex and education system: 2015
Education system Males' average score s.e. Females' average score s.e. Male-female difference in average scores 1 s.e.

higher icon Average score is higher than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance.

lower icon Average score is lower than U.S. average score at the .05 level of statistical significance.

# Rounds to zero.

*p<.05. Difference in average scores is significant at the .05 level of statistical significance.

1 The difference in average score is calculated by subtracting the females' estimate from the males' estimate using unrounded numbers.

2 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of National Target Population.

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

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

5 Nearly satisfied guidelines after replacement schools were included.

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

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

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

9 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by the male-female difference in average score. 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. 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.

Italy2 517 lower 3.0 497 lower 2.7 20 * 2.7
Croatia 508 lower 2.3 496 lower 2.1 12 * 2.7
Spain2 511 lower 2.7 499 lower 2.7 12 * 2.4
Slovak Republic 504 lower 2.6 493 lower 3.0 11 * 2.6
Portugal2 547 2.5 536 2.4 11 * 2.2
Hong Kong-CHN3 619 higher 2.8 609 higher 3.8 10 * 3.3
Canada2, 3, 4 515 lower 2.6 506 lower 2.5 9 * 2.1
Australia 522 lower 3.9 513 lower 3.1 9 * 3.5
Netherlands3 534 lower 2.2 526 lower 1.8 8 * 2.2
Korea, Republic of 612 higher 2.5 604 higher 2.3 7 * 1.9
Czech Republic 532 lower 2.5 525 lower 3.0 7 * 3.2
United States2, 3 543 2.6 536 2.3 7 * 1.9
Cyprus 526 lower 3.1 520 lower 2.9 6 * 2.7
England-GBR 549 3.3 543 3.0 6 * 2.9
Denmark2, 3 542 3.0 536 3.1 6 * 2.8
France 491 lower 3.2 485 lower 3.2 6 * 2.8
Hungary 532 lower 3.8 526 lower 3.4 6 3.4
Belgium (Flemish)-BLG3 549 2.4 543 higher 2.4 6 * 2.4
Chinese Taipei-CHN 599 higher 2.3 594 higher 2.2 6 * 2.5
Slovenia 522 lower 2.4 518 lower 2.1 4 2.6
Ireland 549 2.9 545 higher 2.6 4 3.4
Germany 523 lower 2.3 520 lower 2.4 3 2.3
Kazakhstan 543 4.8 546 4.6 2 2.8
New Zealand 492 lower 2.6 489 lower 2.8 2 2.8
Northern Ireland-GBR5 571 higher 3.1 569 higher 3.8 2 3.8
Turkey 484 lower 3.5 482 lower 3.2 2 2.7
Poland 536 2.7 534 2.3 1 2.5
Chile 459 lower 3.0 458 lower 2.8 1 3.2
Japan 593 higher 2.5 593 higher 2.0 #
Russian Federation 564 higher 3.7 564 higher 3.7 -1 2.8
Sweden2 518 lower 3.2 519 lower 3.2 -1 3.0
Morocco 377 lower 3.9 378 lower 3.5 -1 2.8
Lithuania2 534 lower 3.1 537 2.8 -2 3.3
Qatar 438 lower 4.9 440 lower 4.1 -3 5.9
Serbia6 517 lower 4.7 520 lower 3.7 -3 4.7
Georgia4 461 lower 4.4 465 lower 3.9 -3 4.0
United Arab Emirates 450 lower 3.4 453 lower 3.9 -3 5.4
Singapore2 616 higher 4.3 620 higher 3.9 -4 3.0
Norway (5)7 547 3.1 551 higher 2.6 -4 2.9
Bulgaria 522 lower 5.1 527 5.7 -5 2.9
Finland 531 lower 2.6 540 2.3 -9 * 2.9
Iran, Islamic Rep. of 393 lower 3.9 403 lower 4.0 -10 * 2.7
Indonesia 426 lower 4.5 437 lower 4.5 -10 6.3
Kuwait8 347 lower 5.6 359 lower 5.4 -12 * 6.2
Bahrain2 443 lower 2.3 459 lower 1.7 -15 * 2.5
Jordan 379 lower 4.9 399 lower 3.3 -20 * 5.8
Oman 415 lower 2.8 436 lower 3.0 -22 * 2.9
Saudi Arabia8 363 lower 6.5 405 lower 4.4 -43 * 7.7
Benchmarking participants
Quebec-CAN9 541 4.8 531 3.9 11 * 3.8
Ontario-CAN 516 lower 2.8 509 lower 2.6 7 * 2.9
Buenos Aires-ARG 435 lower 2.9 430 lower 3.5 5 2.8
Dubai-UAE 512 lower 2.7 510 lower 3.1 2 5.0
Florida-USA4 544 5.5 548 higher 4.9 -4 4.5
Abu Dhabi-UAE2, 8 417 lower 6.6 422 lower 8.0 -4 11.2