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Science for Grades 4 and 8: Gender

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Figure 12. Average science scores of 8th-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 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population.

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

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

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

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

7 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.

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

Hungary 535 3.6 519 3.9 17 * 3.2
Chile 460 lower 4.1 448 lower 3.6 12 * 4.8
Hong Kong-CHN 551 higher 4.9 540 higher 4.2 10 * 4.6
Italy2 504 lower 2.6 494 lower 3.0 10 * 2.7
United States3 533 3.0 527 3.1 5 * 2.0
Australia 515 lower 3.0 510 lower 3.4 5 3.4
Canada3, 4 529 2.7 524 2.2 5 2.3
Russian Federation 546 higher 4.3 542 higher 4.6 4 3.0
Norway (9)5 511 lower 3.2 507 lower 3.1 4 2.9
Korea, Republic of 557 higher 2.8 554 higher 2.2 3 2.7
Chinese Taipei-CHN 571 higher 2.6 568 higher 2.3 3 2.6
Singapore2 597 higher 4.0 596 higher 3.3 1 3.7
Sweden 522 lower 3.5 523 4.2 -1 3.4
Georgia2, 4 443 lower 3.9 444 lower 3.3 -1 3.7
New Zealand3 512 lower 4.3 513 lower 3.2 -1 4.2
Lithuania2 519 lower 3.4 520 3.3 -1 3.7
Japan 570 higher 2.5 571 higher 2.2 -1 3.1
England-GBR 536 4.5 537 4.7 -1 5.2
Ireland 529 3.9 531 2.8 -2 3.7
Slovenia 549 higher 2.7 553 higher 2.8 -4 2.7
Iran, Islamic Republic of 454 lower 6.6 459 lower 4.4 -5 8.0
Israel6 504 lower 4.7 510 lower 4.1 -6 4.1
Kazakhstan 530 4.5 536 5.2 -6 3.9
Morocco 390 lower 3.4 397 lower 2.3 -7 * 3.0
Malta 477 lower 2.2 485 lower 2.2 -8 * 3.1
Malaysia 466 lower 4.8 476 lower 4.0 -10 * 3.5
Lebanon 393 lower 6.7 403 lower 4.9 -10 * 4.7
Egypt 364 lower 5.4 377 lower 5.9 -13 7.6
Turkey 484 lower 4.5 503 lower 4.1 -19 * 3.1
Thailand 445 lower 5.2 465 lower 4.4 -20 * 4.8
Qatar 441 lower 5.2 471 lower 3.6 -30 * 6.0
United Arab Emirates 461 lower 4.4 492 lower 3.5 -31 * 6.7
Jordan 405 lower 5.3 447 lower 4.0 -41 * 6.7
Oman 433 lower 3.6 478 lower 2.9 -45 * 4.4
Kuwait 387 lower 8.2 434 lower 5.1 -47 * 8.7
Bahrain 442 lower 3.4 492 lower 3.2 -50 * 5.0
Saudi Arabia 368 lower 8.0 423 lower 4.9 -55 * 9.5
Benchmarking participants
Quebec-CAN7 537 5.5 523 4.4 13 * 4.8
Florida-USA4 510 lower 6.4 507 lower 6.8 3 5.5
Ontario-CAN 524 3.0 523 2.8 1 3.1
Buenos Aires-ARG3 386 lower 6.2 386 lower 4.8 #
Dubai-UAE 520 lower 4.7 529 3.6 -9 7.4
Abu Dhabi-UAE 428 lower 8.2 481 lower 6.6 -52 * 11.5