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Science for Grades 4 and 8: Gender

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Figure 11. Average science scores of 4th-grade students and differences in average science scores, by sex and education system: 2015
Education system Males' average score s.e. Females' average score s.e. Male-female difference 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 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included.

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

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

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

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

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

8 Reservations about reliability because the percentage 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 rates.

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. Jordan did not participate in the science assessment at 4th grade.

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

Korea, Republic of 595 higher 2.3 584 higher 2.3 11 * 2.4
Hong Kong-CHN2 561 higher 3.3 551 3.9 10 * 3.9
Italy3 521 lower 2.8 512 lower 3.1 9 * 2.5
Chinese Taipei-CHN 560 higher 2.4 551 higher 2.2 9 * 2.9
Slovak Republic 524 lower 2.7 516 lower 3.2 8 * 2.7
Czech Republic 538 lower 2.7 530 lower 2.8 8 * 2.6
Hungary 546 3.9 538 3.5 8 * 3.1
Portugal3 512 lower 2.4 504 lower 2.5 7 * 2.2
Slovenia 546 3.1 539 2.4 7 * 2.7
Spain3 521 lower 2.9 515 lower 2.9 6 * 2.7
Ireland 531 lower 2.9 526 lower 2.9 5 3.4
Japan 571 higher 2.3 567 higher 2.0 4 2.4
Denmark2, 3 529 lower 2.6 525 lower 2.5 4 2.8
United States2, 3 548 2.5 544 2.4 4 * 2.0
Croatia 534 lower 2.2 532 lower 2.7 2 2.8
Germany 529 lower 2.6 527 lower 2.7 2 2.3
Chile 478 lower 3.4 477 lower 3.0 1 3.3
Cyprus 481 lower 2.9 481 lower 2.8 #
Northern Ireland-GBR4 520 lower 2.8 520 lower 3.0 #
France 487 lower 2.9 487 lower 3.1 #
Russian Federation 567 higher 3.7 567 higher 3.1 #
Singapore3 590 higher 4.2 591 higher 3.7 #
Norway (5)5 537 lower 3.1 538 3.1 -1 3.2
England-GBR 536 lower 2.6 536 lower 3.0 -1 2.8
Australia 523 lower 3.4 524 lower 3.3 -1 3.4
Netherlands2 517 lower 3.0 517 lower 2.8 -1 2.4
Turkey 483 lower 4.0 484 lower 3.3 -1 3.1
Poland 546 3.0 548 2.5 -1 2.8
Belgium (Flemish)-BEL2 511 lower 2.6 512 lower 2.6 -2 2.4
Canada2, 3, 6 524 lower 3.0 526 lower 2.8 -2 2.2
Serbia7 523 lower 4.9 526 lower 3.6 -3 4.6
Lithuania3 526 lower 3.1 529 lower 2.9 -3 3.4
New Zealand 504 lower 3.0 507 lower 3.2 -3 3.1
Georgia6 449 lower 4.6 453 lower 3.9 -4 4.1
Kazakhstan 547 4.7 552 4.5 -5 * 2.7
Indonesia 393 lower 5.3 401 lower 5.2 -8 4.2
Sweden3 536 lower 3.5 544 4.1 -8 * 2.7
Bulgaria 532 lower 5.9 540 6.3 -8 * 2.9
Morocco8 347 lower 5.7 358 lower 4.7 -10 * 4.9
Iran, Islamic Republic of 415 lower 5.6 427 lower 5.2 -11 7.4
Finland 548 2.9 560 higher 2.3 -12 * 2.5
United Arab Emirates 444 lower 4.0 459 lower 4.4 -14 * 6.4
Qatar 424 lower 6.0 448 lower 4.7 -24 * 7.2
Kuwait8 322 lower 7.6 352 lower 7.6 -30 * 9.1
Oman 415 lower 3.6 447 lower 3.4 -32 * 3.1
Bahrain3 439 lower 3.5 478 lower 3.0 -39 * 4.0
Saudi Arabia 352 lower 7.6 431 lower 5.3 -79 * 9.0
Benchmarking participants
Quebec-CAN9 524 lower 5.3 525 lower 3.6 -1 4.0
Buenos Aires-ARG 416 lower 4.8 420 lower 5.7 -4 4.9
Ontario-CAN 528 lower 3.1 533 lower 2.9 -5 3.2
Florida-USA6 545 5.4 552 5.1 -7 4.4
Dubai-UAE 512 lower 3.4 524 lower 3.4 -12 * 6.0
Abu Dhabi-UAE3 408 lower 8.3 423 lower 9.0 -15 13.2