Skip Navigation
Skip Navigation

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

International Benchmarks

Excel File Excel Download

Table 35a. Change in percentage of 4th-grade students reaching the TIMSS international benchmarks in science 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 percentage is larger than U.S. percentage at the .05 level of statistical significance.

lower icon Average percentage is smaller than U.S. percentage at the .05 level of statistical significance.

― Not available.

# Rounds to zero.

*p<.05. Change in percentages is significant at the .05 level of statistical significance.

1 The change in 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 2105.

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

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

5 Nearly satisfied guidelines for sample participation rates after replacement schools were included 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 science 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. 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. Jordan did not participate in the science assessment at 4th grade.

  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 Morocco in 2011, 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 35b available at http://nces.ed.gov/timss/timss2015/timss2015_table35b.asp.

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

Singapore2 14 lower 42 lower 71 lower 89 lower 33 higher 68 higher 89 higher 97 higher 37 higher 71 higher 90 higher 97 higher 22 * 30 * 19 * 8 * 3 4 1 1
Korea, Republic of 22 higher 67 higher 93 higher 99 higher 29 higher 73 higher 95 higher 99 higher 29 higher 75 higher 96 higher 100 higher 7 * 8 * 2 * 1 * 1 2 # #
Russian Federation 16 52 86 higher 98 higher 20 higher 62 higher 91 higher 99 higher 4 * 10 * 5 * 1
Japan 15 lower 54 87 higher 97 higher 14 58 higher 90 higher 99 higher 19 higher 63 higher 93 higher 99 higher 4 * 10 * 6 * 2 * 5 * 6 * 2 * #
Kazakhstan higher 7 lower 28 lower 58 lower 84 lower 19 49 81 96 11 * 21 * 23 * 12 *
Hong Kong-CHN3 5 lower 30 lower 69 lower 91 9 lower 45 lower 82 96 16 55 higher 88 higher 98 higher 11 * 25 * 18 * 7 * 7 * 11 * 6 * 3 *
United States2, 3 19 50 78 92 15 49 81 96 16 51 81 95 -3 1 4 * 3 * 1 1 # #
Chinese Taipei-CHN 15 53 higher 85 higher 97 higher 14 56 higher 88 higher 98 higher -1 2 3 * 1 *
Hungary 7 lower 32 lower 67 lower 90 lower 13 46 78 lower 93 lower 14 50 81 94 7 * 19 * 13 * 4 * 1 4 3 2
Finland 20 higher 65 higher 92 higher 99 higher 13 lower 54 89 higher 99 higher -8 * -10 * -3 * #
Sweden2 10 lower 44 lower 79 95 11 lower 47 82 96 1 4 3 1
Slovenia 2 lower 14 lower 45 lower 79 lower 7 lower 36 lower 74 lower 93 lower 11 lower 49 84 97 higher 9 * 34 * 39 * 18 * 4 * 12 * 10 * 3 *
England-GBR 15 lower 42 lower 72 lower 90 11 lower 42 lower 76 lower 93 lower 10 lower 43 lower 81 97 higher -5 * # 9 * 7 * -1 # 6 * 4 *
Slovak Republic 10 lower 44 lower 79 94 9 lower 40 lower 74 lower 91 lower -1 -5 * -5 * -3 *
Czech Republic 12 lower 42 lower 77 95 higher 10 lower 44 lower 81 97 9 lower 43 lower 81 96 -3 * 1 4 * 2 * -1 -1 # #
Serbia4 8 lower 35 lower 72 lower 91 lower 8 lower 40 lower 77 lower 93 lower 1 6 * 5 * 2
Australia 13 lower 40 lower 72 lower 89 lower 7 lower 35 lower 72 lower 91 lower 8 lower 39 lower 75 lower 94 -5 * -1 4 4 * # 4 4 * 3 *
Germany 7 lower 39 lower 78 lower 96 8 lower 40 lower 78 96 # # # #
Ireland 8 lower 36 lower 70 lower 91 7 lower 35 lower 72 lower 92 lower 7 lower 40 lower 79 96 -1 5 9 * 5 * # 5 * 8 * 3 *
Denmark2,3 8 lower 39 lower 78 lower 95 7 lower 39 lower 78 lower 96 -1 -1 # 1
New Zealand 11 lower 35 lower 66 lower 85 lower 5 lower 28 lower 63 lower 86 lower 6 lower 32 lower 67 lower 88 lower -4 * -3 1 3 1 4 * 4 * 2
United Arab Emirates 3 lower 14 lower 36 lower 61 lower 6 lower 22 lower 46 lower 67 lower 3 * 8 * 10 * 6 *
Croatia 3 lower 30 lower 75 lower 96 6 lower 41 lower 83 98 higher 3 * 11 * 8 * 1 *
Northern Ireland-GBR5 5 lower 33 lower 74 lower 94 lower 5 lower 34 lower 76 lower 95 # 1 1 1
Spain2 4 lower 28 lower 67 lower 92 lower 5 lower 34 lower 74 lower 95 1 6 * 7 * 3 *
Oman 1 lower 7 lower 23 lower 45 lower 4 lower 16 lower 38 lower 61 lower 3 * 9 * 15 * 16 *
Bahrain2 4 lower 17 lower 43 lower 70 lower 4 lower 19 lower 47 lower 72 lower 1 3 4 * 2
Turkey 3 lower 18 lower 48 lower 76 lower 4 lower 24 lower 58 lower 82 lower 1 6 * 10 * 7 *
Italy2 8 lower 37 lower 76 lower 95 4 lower 32 lower 75 lower 95 -4 * -5 * -1 #
Qatar 2 lower 11 lower 29 lower 50 lower 3 lower 15 lower 39 lower 64 lower 1 5 * 11 * 14 *
Netherlands3 6 lower 38 lower 82 higher 98 higher 3 lower 37 lower 86 higher 99 higher 3 lower 30 lower 76 lower 97 -3 * -8 * -6 * -1 # -7 * -10 * -2 *
Belgium (Flemish)-BEL3 2 lower 24 lower 73 lower 96 3 lower 27 lower 73 lower 96 1 3 1 -1
Portugal2 2 lower 13 lower 43 lower 73 lower 7 lower 35 lower 75 lower 95 2 lower 25 lower 72 lower 96 # 11 * 29 * 23 * -5 * -11 * -4 1
Cyprus 1 lower 11 lower 39 lower 74 lower 2 lower 18 lower 56 lower 86 lower 1 * 8 * 17 * 12 *
Norway (4)6 8 lower 32 lower 65 lower 88 lower 1 lower 19 lower 64 lower 92 lower 2 lower 21 lower 63 lower 90 lower -6 * -11 * -2 2 1 2 -1 -2
Chile 2 lower 19 lower 54 lower 85 lower 2 lower 16 lower 53 lower 85 lower -1 -3 -1 1
Georgia7 1 lower 13 lower 44 lower 75 lower 1 lower 12 lower 41 lower 74 lower # -1 -3 -1
Saudi Arabia 3 lower 12 lower 35 lower 63 lower 1 lower 8 lower 25 lower 48 lower -1 -4 * -10 * -14 *
Iran, Islamic Republic of # lower 3 lower 15 lower 42 lower 3 lower 16 lower 44 lower 72 lower 1 lower 9 lower 33 lower 61 lower 1 * 6 * 18 * 19 * -2 * -7 * -11 * -11 *
Morocco8 # lower 1 lower 6 lower 16 lower 1 lower 5 lower 17 lower 35 lower 1 4 * 11 * 19 *
Benchmarking participants
Florida-USA7 14 48 82 97 higher 16 51 83 96 2 3 1 -1
Dubai-UAE 6 lower 23 lower 48 lower 72 lower 14 42 lower 70 lower 86 lower 8 * 19 * 21 * 14 *
Ontario-CAN 10 lower 37 lower 71 lower 90 lower 9 lower 40 lower 77 lower 94 9 lower 41 lower 79 96 -1 5 * 8 * 5 * -1 1 2 1
Quebec-CAN9 9 lower 40 lower 77 94 3 lower 29 lower 76 lower 97 higher 6 lower 35 lower 78 97 higher -4 * -5 1 3 * 3 * 7 * 1 #
Abu Dhabi-UAE2 2 lower 10 lower 30 lower 55 lower 4 lower 15 lower 35 lower 55 lower 2 * 5 * 4 -1