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Mathematics for Grades 4 and 8: Trends Over Three Time Points

International Benchmarks

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Table 13a. Change in percentage of 4th-grade students reaching the TIMSS international benchmarks in mathematics, by education system: 1995-2015 and 2011-2015
Education system Percentage of students reaching each international benchmark Change in percentage reaching each international benchmark1
1995 2011 2015 Percentage point difference: 1995 to 2015 Percentage point difference: 2011 to 2015
Advanced (625) High (550) Intermediate (475) Low (400) Advanced (625) High (550) Intermediate (475) Low (400) Advanced (625) High (550) Intermediate (475) Low (400) Advanced (625) High (550) Intermediate (475) Low (400) Advanced (625) High (550) Intermediate (475) Low (400)

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 available.

# Rounds to zero.

*p<.05. Percentage is significantly different from the U.S. percentage at the .05 level of statistical significance.

1 The change in average percentage is calculated by subtracting the 1995 or 2011 estimate, respectively, from the 2015 estimate using unrounded numbers.

2 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population in 2015.

3 Met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included in 2015.

4 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included in 2015.

5 National Defined Population covers less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent) in 2015.

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

7 National Target Population does not include all of the International Target Population in 2015.

8 Reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeds 15 percent but does not exceed 25 percent in 2015.

9 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates in 2015.

NOTE: Education systems are ordered by the percentage of students reaching the Advanced international benchmark in 2015. 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. For cross-education system trend tables, data are shown for the first available and most recent year; 1995 is the first year for the overall mathematics scale and benchmark data and 2007 is the first year for the content and cognitive subscales. Participants that only participated in one of the three time points are also excluded. Lithuania and Kuwait also are excluded because full trend data are not available. U.S. state data are based on public school students only. 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.

  For 1995, Ireland, the Republic of Korea, Portugal, and Ontario-CAN had a National Defined Population that covered 90-95 percent of the National Target Population; England-GBR had a National Defined Population that covered less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent) and met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included; and Australia and the Netherlands did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

  For 2011, Georgia and Florida-USA had a National Target Population that did not include all of the International Target Population; Croatia, Denmark, Hong Kong-CHN, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Serbia, Singapore, and the United States had a National Defined Population that covered 90-95 percent of the National Target Population; Florida-USA had a National Defined Population that covered less than 90 percent of the National Target Population (but at least 77 percent); the Netherlands and Northern Ireland-GBR met guidelines for sample participation rates only after replacement schools were included; and Norway (4) nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included. In Oman in 2011, there were reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeded 15 percent but did not exceed 25 percent; in Morocco there were reservations about reliability because the percentage of students with achievement too low for estimation exceeded 25 percent.

  The standard errors for the estimates shown in this table are in table 13b available at http://nces.ed.gov/timss/timss2015/timss2015_table13b.asp.

SOURCE: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1995, 2011, and 2015.

Singapore2 38 higher 70 higher 89 higher 96 higher 43 higher 78 higher 94 higher 99 higher 50 higher 80 higher 93 higher 99 higher 13 * 10 * 5 * 3 * 7 * 2 # #
Hong Kong-CHN3 17 higher 56 higher 87 higher 97 higher 37 higher 80 higher 96 higher 99 higher 45 higher 84 higher 98 higher 100 higher 27 * 28 * 11 * 3 * 7 * 4 2 1
Korea, Republic of 25 higher 70 higher 94 higher 99 higher 39 higher 80 higher 97 higher 100 higher 41 higher 81 higher 97 higher 100 higher 16 * 11 * 3 * # * 2 1 # #
Chinese Taipei-CHN 34 higher 74 higher 93 higher 99 higher 35 higher 76 higher 95 higher 100 higher 2 2 2 * 1
Japan 22 higher 61 higher 89 higher 98 higher 30 higher 70 higher 93 higher 99 higher 32 higher 74 higher 95 higher 99 higher 10 * 13 * 6 * 2 * 3 4 * 2 * #
Northern Ireland-GBR4 24 higher 59 higher 85 higher 96 27 higher 61 higher 86 higher 97 higher 4 * 3 1 1
Russian Federation 13 47 82 97 20 higher 59 higher 89 higher 98 higher 7 * 12 * 7 * 1 *
England-GBR 7 24 lower 54 lower 82 lower 18 higher 49 78 lower 93 lower 17 49 80 96 10 * 25 * 26 * 14 * -1 -1 2 2 *
Kazakhstan 7 lower 29 lower 62 lower 88 lower 16 47 80 96 higher 9 * 18 * 18 * 8 *
United States2, 3 9 37 71 92 13 47 81 96 14 47 79 95 6 * 9 * 7 * 3 * 1 # -2 -1 *
Ireland 10 40 73 91 9 lower 41 lower 77 lower 94 lower 14 51 higher 84 higher 97 higher 4 * 11 * 11 * 6 * 5 * 10 * 7 * 3 *
Hungary 11 38 72 91 10 lower 37 lower 70 lower 90 lower 13 44 75 lower 92 lower 2 6 * 3 # 3 * 7 * 5 * 2
Portugal2 1 lower 11 lower 37 lower 70 lower 8 lower 40 lower 80 97 12 46 82 higher 97 higher 11 * 35 * 44 * 27 * 4 * 6 * 1 #
Denmark2, 3 10 lower 44 82 97 12 46 80 96 2 2 -2 -1
Serbia5 9 lower 36 lower 70 lower 90 lower 10 lower 37 lower 72 lower 91 lower # 1 2 #
Belgium (Flemish)-BEL3 10 lower 50 89 higher 99 higher 10 lower 47 88 higher 99 higher # -3 -1 #
Cyprus 5 lower 21 lower 52 lower 79 lower 10 lower 39 lower 74 lower 93 lower 5 * 18 * 22 * 14 *
Australia 6 lower 27 lower 61 lower 86 lower 10 lower 35 lower 70 lower 90 lower 9 lower 36 lower 70 lower 91 lower 3 * 9 * 9 * 6 * -1 1 # 1
Finland 12 49 85 higher 98 higher 8 lower 43 lower 82 higher 97 higher -4 * -7 * -2 -1
Czech Republic 16 higher 46 higher 79 higher 95 higher 4 lower 30 lower 72 lower 93 lower 8 lower 38 lower 78 96 -8 * -8 * # 1 4 * 9 * 7 * 3 *
New Zealand 4 lower 19 lower 51 lower 78 lower 4 lower 23 lower 58 lower 85 lower 6 lower 26 lower 59 lower 84 lower 2 * 7 * 7 * 6 * 2 * 3 * 1 -1
Slovenia 2 lower 14 lower 45 lower 77 lower 4 lower 31 lower 72 lower 94 lower 6 lower 34 lower 75 lower 95 4 * 21 * 31 * 18 * 2 * 4 3 1
Germany 5 lower 37 lower 81 97 5 lower 34 lower 77 96 higher # -3 -4 * -1
Sweden2 3 lower 25 lower 69 lower 93 lower 5 lower 34 lower 75 lower 95 2 * 9 * 6 * 2
United Arab Emirates 2 lower 12 lower 35 lower 64 lower 5 lower 18 lower 42 lower 68 lower 2 * 6 * 7 * 4 *
Turkey 4 lower 21 lower 51 lower 77 lower 5 lower 25 lower 57 lower 81 lower 1 4 * 6 * 4 *
Italy2 5 lower 28 lower 69 lower 93 lower 4 lower 28 lower 69 lower 93 lower # # # #
Slovak Republic 5 lower 30 lower 69 lower 90 lower 4 lower 26 lower 65 lower 88 lower -1 -4 * -4 -2
Netherlands3 12 higher 50 higher 87 higher 99 higher 5 lower 44 88 higher 99 higher 4 lower 37 lower 83 higher 99 higher -8 * -13 * -4 * # -1 -7 * -5 * -1
Spain2 1 lower 17 lower 56 lower 87 lower 3 lower 27 lower 67 lower 93 2 * 10 * 11 * 6 *
Norway (4)6 2 lower 16 lower 53 lower 84 lower 2 lower 21 lower 63 lower 91 lower 3 lower 21 lower 62 lower 90 lower 1 5 * 8 * 6 * # # -1 -1
Croatia 2 lower 19 lower 60 lower 90 lower 3 lower 24 lower 67 lower 93 1 * 6 * 7 * 3 *
Qatar 2 lower 10 lower 29 lower 55 lower 3 lower 13 lower 36 lower 65 lower 1 3 * 8 * 10 *
Georgia7 2 lower 12 lower 41 lower 72 lower 2 lower 15 lower 47 lower 78 lower # 3 6 * 5 *
Oman 1 lower 5 lower 20 lower 46 lower 2 lower 11 lower 32 lower 60 lower 1 * 6 * 12 * 14 *
Bahrain2 1 lower 10 lower 34 lower 67 lower 2 lower 13 lower 41 lower 72 lower # 3 * 7 * 6 *
Iran, Islamic Republic of # lower 3 lower 15 lower 44 lower 1 lower 9 lower 33 lower 64 lower 1 lower 11 lower 36 lower 65 lower 1 * 8 * 21 * 21 * # 2 3 1
Chile 2 lower 14 lower 44 lower 77 lower 1 lower 10 lower 42 lower 78 lower -1 -3 * -2 1
Saudi Arabia8 2 lower 7 lower 24 lower 55 lower # lower 3 lower 16 lower 43 lower -1 -4 * -8 * -12 *
Morocco # lower 2 lower 10 lower 26 lower # lower 3 lower 17 lower 41 lower # 1 7 * 15 *
Benchmarking participants
Florida-USA7 14 47 83 97 higher 16 49 82 96 2 2 -1 -1
Dubai-UAE 5 lower 22 lower 50 lower 75 lower 11 lower 35 lower 66 lower 87 lower 6 * 14 * 17 * 12 *
Quebec-CAN9 13 higher 50 higher 87 higher 98 higher 6 lower 40 lower 83 99 higher 9 lower 42 82 98 higher -5 * -8 -5 * -1 3 2 -1 -1
Ontario-CAN 4 lower 22 lower 59 lower 86 lower 7 lower 34 lower 73 lower 94 lower 6 lower 31 lower 70 lower 93 2 * 9 * 12 * 7 * -1 -3 -3 -1
Abu Dhabi-UAE2, 8 1 lower 8 lower 29 lower 58 lower 3 lower 12 lower 32 lower 56 lower 2 * 4 * 3 -2