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Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Gender

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Figure 6. Average mathematics scores of 8th-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 differences in average scores1 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.

† Not applicable.

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

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

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

5 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only 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 percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 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.

Chile2 436 lower 4.2 418 lower 3.7 18 * 4.9
Russian Federation 543 higher 4.6 533 higher 5.1 9 * 2.9
Hungary 519 4.0 510 4.3 9 * 3.4
Sweden 504 lower 3.1 497 lower 3.3 7 * 3.2
Italy3 498 lower 2.8 491 lower 3.0 7 * 2.8
Kazakhstan 525 5.3 531 5.8 6 3.7
Hong Kong-CHN 597 higher 6.0 591 higher 4.7 5 5.7
Ireland 526 4.0 521 2.6 5 3.9
Canada4, 5 530 higher 2.7 525 higher 2.0 4 * 2.0
Lithuania3 513 3.1 510 3.4 3 3.4
Lebanon 444 lower 4.5 441 lower 3.7 3 3.9
Slovenia 518 2.5 515 2.4 2 2.4
Israel6 512 4.8 510 4.3 2 3.9
Australia 506 lower 3.5 504 lower 3.8 2 4.0
United States5 519 3.2 517 3.3 2 2.0
Norway (9)7 512 2.7 511 2.5 1 2.6
Korea, Republic of 606 higher 3.1 605 higher 2.6 1 2.7
Chinese Taipei-CHN 599 higher 3.0 599 higher 2.6 #
Georgia3, 4 453 lower 4.0 454 lower 3.9 -1 4.0
Morocco8 384 lower 2.6 385 lower 2.3 -2 2.0
Japan 585 higher 3.0 588 higher 3.1 -2 4.2
New Zealand5 491 lower 4.6 494 lower 3.2 -3 4.2
Malta 492 lower 1.6 495 lower 1.8 -3 2.8
England-GBR 517 4.8 520 5.2 -3 5.6
Iran, Islamic Rep. of2 435 lower 7.5 438 lower 5.0 -3 8.9
Turkey 455 lower 5.3 461 lower 4.8 -6 3.6
Qatar2 434 lower 4.5 440 lower 3.2 -7 4.9
Kuwait2 389 lower 7.1 396 lower 4.6 -7 7.5
Egypt2 387 lower 5.1 397 lower 5.5 -9 6.7
Singapore3 616 higher 3.8 626 higher 3.4 -9 * 3.5
Malaysia 461 lower 3.8 470 lower 3.8 -9 * 2.8
United Arab Emirates 459 lower 4.0 471 lower 3.5 -12 6.4
Saudi Arabia8 360 lower 7.1 375 lower 5.1 -14 8.2
Bahrain 446 lower 2.2 462 lower 2.4 -16 * 3.6
Thailand 422 lower 5.7 440 lower 5.2 -18 * 5.5
Jordan8 376 lower 5.4 395 lower 4.0 -19 * 7.0
Oman2 388 lower 3.5 420 lower 2.9 -32 * 4.6
Benchmarking participants
Quebec-CAN9 550 higher 5.1 538 higher 3.8 12 * 4.6
Buenos Aires-ARG5, 8 401 lower 5.4 391 lower 4.8 11 5.8
Dubai, UAE 514 4.3 510 3.7 4 6.9
Ontario-CAN 523 3.3 521 2.9 2 2.6
Florida-USA4 493 lower 6.5 494 lower 7.2 -1 4.7
Abu Dhabi-UAE 427 lower 7.7 457 lower 6.0 -29 * 10.7