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Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Percentiles

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Table 8. Cut scores of 8th-grade students at the 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles in mathematics, by education system: 2015
Education system Percentile
10th 25th 75th 90th
Cut score s.e. Cut score s.e. Cut score s.e. Cut score s.e.

higher icon Percentile cut score is higher than U.S. percentile cut score at the .05 level of statistical significance.

lower icon Percentile cut score is lower than U.S. percentile cut score at the .05 level of statistical significance.

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

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

3 Reservations about reliability because the percent of students with achievement too low to estimate exceeds 15 percent but does not exceed 25 percent.

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

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 percent of students with achievement too low to estimate exceeds 25 percent.

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

8 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation.

NOTE: 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.

Australia 397 5.8 449 lower 4.3 563 lower 3.3 610 lower 4.2
Bahrain 352 lower 2.8 399 lower 2.0 507 lower 2.0 557 lower 3.4
Canada1, 2 434 higher 3.1 482 higher 3.0 576 2.1 613 lower 2.4
Chile3 323 lower 5.1 372 lower 4.3 482 lower 3.3 531 lower 4.4
Chinese Taipei-CHN 459 higher 3.8 539 higher 3.3 669 higher 3.2 714 higher 3.7
Egypt3 265 lower 5.8 322 lower 4.9 463 lower 5.0 521 lower 4.9
England-GBR 414 5.5 460 6.2 577 5.1 624 4.1
Georgia1, 4 331 lower 5.0 390 lower 4.4 520 lower 4.4 570 lower 3.5
Hong Kong-CHN 489 higher 9.3 550 higher 5.1 647 higher 4.6 686 higher 5.0
Hungary 390 lower 6.8 452 4.5 582 4.2 632 5.3
Iran, Islamic Republic of3 316 lower 5.3 369 lower 4.8 501 lower 5.8 560 lower 7.2
Ireland 426 higher 6.0 478 higher 3.4 574 2.6 612 4.0
Israel5 371 lower 5.8 441 lower 5.8 586 4.6 637 higher 3.9
Italy4 397 4.4 445 lower 3.9 547 lower 3.1 588 lower 3.5
Japan 470 higher 4.5 529 higher 3.0 647 higher 3.2 699 higher 3.7
Jordan6 263 lower 4.6 321 lower 4.1 452 lower 3.1 505 lower 3.9
Kazakhstan 404 6.1 463 6.3 593 7.2 645 higher 7.2
Korea, Republic of 491 higher 4.2 551 higher 3.8 665 higher 3.0 711 higher 3.6
Kuwait3 279 lower 5.8 330 lower 4.3 452 lower 5.9 512 lower 10.1
Lebanon 345 lower 4.9 390 lower 5.5 497 lower 3.5 539 lower 3.7
Lithuania4 409 5.3 458 2.8 568 lower 2.8 608 lower 4.1
Malaysia 353 lower 5.2 402 lower 4.8 528 lower 4.0 580 lower 3.3
Malta 370 lower 2.7 436 lower 2.2 558 lower 1.7 601 lower 1.7
Morocco6 284 lower 3.4 329 lower 2.5 438 lower 2.6 492 lower 3.2
New Zealand2 378 lower 5.8 433 lower 4.3 555 lower 3.2 605 lower 4.6
Norway (9)7 420 higher 3.6 465 3.6 560 lower 2.4 600 lower 3.3
Oman3 278 lower 4.2 339 lower 2.7 470 lower 3.1 527 lower 2.9
Qatar3 305 lower 4.5 363 lower 4.0 509 lower 3.4 572 lower 4.7
Russian Federation 429 higher 5.7 483 higher 5.9 594 higher 4.9 641 higher 4.9
Saudi Arabia6 261 lower 7.4 309 lower 5.1 425 lower 5.0 480 lower 6.9
Singapore4 505 higher 7.9 572 higher 5.2 680 higher 2.4 715 higher 2.1
Slovenia 425 higher 5.8 470 2.8 564 lower 2.6 605 lower 3.0
Sweden 406 6.0 452 3.4 553 lower 3.7 590 lower 3.5
Thailand 322 lower 4.5 369 lower 5.1 486 lower 5.9 549 lower 8.7
Turkey 324 lower 6.1 385 lower 5.1 531 lower 5.9 599 lower 7.1
United Arab Emirates 336 lower 3.0 395 lower 2.4 535 lower 2.4 591 lower 3.3
United States2 408 4.5 461 3.4 577 3.6 624 4.4
Benchmarking participants
Abu Dhabi-UAE 315 lower 7.3 370 lower 5.1 512 lower 5.7 571 lower 8.5
Buenos Aires-ARG2, 6 280 lower 5.9 332 lower 6.3 462 lower 5.6 513 lower 4.9
Dubai-UAE 390 lower 3.3 451 lower 2.8 576 4.0 624 3.9
Florida-USA1 376 lower 8.3 431 lower 8.5 557 lower 5.9 608 8.9
Ontario-CAN 428 higher 3.7 475 higher 3.3 572 3.0 610 lower 4.1
Quebec-CAN8 459 higher 7.3 502 higher 5.6 587 3.8 623 3.5