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Science for Grades 4 and 8: Percentiles

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Table 30. Cut scores of 8th-grade students at the 10th, 25th, 75th, and 90th percentiles in science, 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 National Defined Population covers 90 to 95 percent of the National Target Population.

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

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

6 Did not satisfy guidelines for sample participation rates.

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 403 lower 4.2 459 lower 4.1 569 lower 2.3 614 lower 2.9
Bahrain 325 lower 3.7 394 lower 4.3 541 lower 2.2 597 lower 4.0
Canada1, 2 434 higher 4.2 481 2.9 575 lower 2.2 613 lower 2.6
Chile 348 lower 4.2 398 lower 4.5 511 lower 3.6 558 lower 3.0
Chinese Taipei-CHN 456 higher 3.4 519 higher 3.2 629 higher 2.6 668 higher 3.4
Egypt 218 lower 5.4 291 lower 5.5 455 lower 5.0 517 lower 4.4
England-GBR 428 5.9 480 5.3 595 4.6 640 4.6
Georgia1, 3 328 lower 6.5 386 lower 4.5 505 lower 4.2 550 lower 3.9
Hong Kong-CHN 454 higher 6.8 504 higher 4.3 593 3.3 631 4.7
Hungary 416 7.1 473 4.5 588 3.9 633 4.2
Iran, Islamic Republic of 341 lower 4.6 395 lower 4.2 519 lower 5.2 570 lower 6.9
Ireland 424 6.3 482 3.7 585 2.5 627 2.9
Israel4 363 lower 7.9 440 lower 6.2 582 4.1 634 3.6
Italy3 397 lower 6.4 450 lower 3.6 552 lower 2.5 593 lower 3.5
Japan 472 higher 4.1 523 higher 3.1 624 higher 2.2 663 higher 2.5
Jordan 292 lower 6.6 361 lower 4.3 499 lower 3.0 547 lower 2.9
Kazakhstan 418 6.5 473 5.1 593 4.8 647 higher 7.0
Korea, Republic of 453 higher 3.1 505 higher 2.3 609 higher 2.6 653 higher 3.4
Kuwait 264 lower 8.1 336 lower 7.8 488 lower 5.4 550 lower 8.8
Lebanon 263 lower 8.3 326 lower 7.1 471 lower 5.6 530 lower 5.2
Lithuania3 416 5.0 467 4.2 574 lower 3.1 616 lower 4.3
Malaysia 341 lower 9.0 409 lower 7.5 539 lower 3.2 586 lower 2.8
Malta 331 lower 5.5 415 lower 2.8 557 lower 2.4 610 lower 3.2
Morocco 284 lower 3.5 334 lower 3.5 452 lower 2.7 504 lower 3.4
New Zealand2 392 lower 5.0 453 lower 4.2 576 lower 3.3 625 3.9
Norway (9)5 407 lower 4.9 458 lower 4.1 562 lower 3.0 605 lower 3.3
Oman 322 lower 5.4 390 lower 4.3 526 lower 3.1 576 lower 2.7
Qatar 307 lower 4.6 379 lower 5.1 538 lower 3.8 598 lower 4.9
Russian Federation 442 higher 6.2 494 higher 6.5 596 3.9 640 5.0
Saudi Arabia 269 lower 6.1 330 lower 5.3 466 lower 4.7 521 lower 8.2
Singapore3 475 higher 8.7 547 higher 5.4 657 higher 2.5 696 higher 2.3
Slovenia 451 higher 3.8 500 higher 3.3 605 higher 2.7 647 higher 3.1
Sweden 411 7.1 471 4.7 582 4.0 626 3.9
Thailand 352 lower 5.1 399 lower 4.5 511 lower 5.5 559 lower 5.6
Turkey 366 lower 4.7 431 lower 4.6 560 lower 4.5 614 lower 5.2
United Arab Emirates 333 lower 4.7 405 lower 3.8 554 lower 3.0 608 lower 2.5
United States2 421 4.2 475 3.5 588 3.1 631 2.9
Benchmarking participants
Abu Dhabi-UAE 308 lower 7.8 378 lower 7.4 533 lower 6.7 591 lower 7.0
Buenos Aires-ARG2 256 lower 7.8 317 lower 5.6 458 lower 5.1 511 lower 4.6
Dubai-UAE 394 lower 4.7 465 lower 2.7 592 3.8 639 3.9
Florida-USA1 385 lower 7.7 448 lower 8.5 573 6.9 621 6.5
Ontario-CAN 430 3.9 479 3.8 573 lower 2.9 612 lower 3.1
Quebec-CAN6 441 higher 7.6 485 6.0 576 lower 3.6 615 lower 4.6