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Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Subscale Scores

Cognitive Subscales

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Table 6. Average mathematics cognitive domain scores of 8th-grade students, by education system: 2015
Education system Cognitive domain
Knowing Applying Reasoning
Average score s.e. Average score s.e. Average score 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.

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

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

3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only 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 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 15 percent but does not exceed 25 percent.

7 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 25 percent.

8 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by 2015 average score in reasoning. 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 scale centerpoint is set at 500 points and represents the mean of the overall achievement distribution in 1995. The TIMSS scale is the same in each administration; thus, a value of 500 in 2015 equals 500 in 1995. 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.

TIMSS scale average 500 lower 0.0 500 lower 0.0 500 lower 0.0
Singapore1 633 higher 3.4 619 higher 3.2 616 higher 3.7
Korea, Republic of 607 higher 2.8 606 higher 2.8 608 higher 2.7
Chinese Taipei-CHN 598 higher 2.9 602 higher 2.5 602 higher 2.5
Hong Kong-CHN 600 higher 5.1 595 higher 4.5 591 higher 5.1
Japan 578 higher 2.6 592 higher 2.3 591 higher 2.6
Canada2, 3 520 2.3 528 higher 2.2 534 higher 2.4
Russian Federation 543 higher 5.6 541 higher 4.6 528 higher 5.0
Kazakhstan 533 6.3 527 higher 5.4 525 5.5
England-GBR 513 lower 4.1 519 4.1 522 4.4
Ireland 527 3.0 520 3.0 521 3.1
Slovenia 518 lower 2.4 514 2.1 516 2.7
Norway (9)4 500 lower 2.3 516 2.3 516 2.5
Hungary 511 lower 3.9 516 3.8 515 3.9
United States3 528 3.5 515 3.2 514 3.1
Australia 504 lower 3.1 502 lower 3.0 512 3.1
Israel5 511 lower 4.2 512 4.0 510 4.4
Sweden 484 lower 2.8 507 2.8 509 3.5
Lithuania1 502 lower 3.1 520 2.6 501 lower 3.0
Italy1 489 lower 2.7 495 lower 2.6 500 lower 2.8
New Zealand3 488 lower 3.4 493 lower 3.3 499 lower 3.5
Malta 499 lower 1.5 493 lower 1.5 484 lower 2.2
Turkey 447 lower 4.9 460 lower 4.3 472 lower 4.8
United Arab Emirates 476 lower 2.2 457 lower 2.1 461 lower 2.2
Malaysia 472 lower 3.8 463 lower 3.6 453 lower 3.7
Bahrain 463 lower 2.3 445 lower 1.7 452 lower 2.2
Georgia1, 2 456 lower 4.1 454 lower 3.6 441 lower 4.5
Iran, Islamic Republic of6 435 lower 4.9 434 lower 4.4 436 lower 4.7
Thailand 425 lower 5.1 431 lower 4.7 435 lower 4.8
Chile6 423 lower 3.4 427 lower 3.3 432 lower 3.3
Qatar6 440 lower 3.1 435 lower 2.9 431 lower 2.8
Lebanon 456 lower 3.8 439 lower 3.9 406 lower 4.5
Oman6 401 lower 3.1 401 lower 2.5 402 lower 3.1
Jordan7 391 lower 3.2 378 lower 3.2 380 lower 3.3
Egypt6 399 lower 4.3 385 lower 3.9 379 lower 4.3
Saudi Arabia7 359 lower 4.9 364 lower 4.2 374 lower 4.0
Morocco7 382 lower 2.4 385 lower 2.2 374 lower 2.8
Kuwait6 398 lower 4.7 389 lower 4.5 374 lower 4.5
Benchmarking participants
Quebec-CAN8 541 higher 4.2 546 higher 4.0 538 higher 4.2
Ontario-CAN 513 lower 3.0 522 2.8 534 higher 3.1
Dubai-UAE 521 2.3 505 lower 2.5 509 2.8
Florida-USA2 501 lower 7.3 488 lower 6.7 491 lower 6.6
Abu Dhabi-UAE 453 lower 4.8 434 lower 4.7 440 lower 4.7
Buenos Aires-ARG3, 7 397 lower 4.4 392 lower 4.8 383 lower 5.4