TIMSS - the Third International Mathematics and Science Study - is the largest, most compre-hensive and rigorous international comparison of education ever undertaken. A half-million students from 41 countries were tested in 30 different languages at five different grade levels to compare their mathematics and science achievement. An important study for anyone interested in education in the United States, TIMSS is more that just an achievement test that can tell us whether students in the United States scored higher or lower than students in other countries. This third study of math and science achievement conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Education (IEA) can be a diagnostic tool for examining progress toward improving math and science education in the United States.

Conducted in 1995, the study provides more than achievement data. Through assessments, questionnaires, curriculum analyses, videotapes of classroom instruction, and case studies of policy topics, TIMSS describes intended curriculum, instructional practice, and classroom activities. This information and the student achievement data allow us to ask important questions about how different policies and practices affect what students learn.

Pursuing Excellence

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education has issued the first of many studies of the TIMSS data - Pursuing Excellence: A study of U.S. Eighth-Grade Mathematics and Science Teaching, Learning, Curriculum, and Achievement in International Context. The following is a partial list of key findings excerpted from the report's Executive Summary.

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Achievement

  • Of the 41 TIMSS countries, U.S. eighth- graders score below the international average in mathematics and above the international average in science. Our students' scores are not significantly different from those of England and Germany in mathematics. In science our students' scores are not significantly different from those of Canada, England, and Germany.

  • In mathematics, our eighth-grade students' standing is at about the international average in Algebra; Fractions; and Data Representa-tion, Analysis, and Probability. We do less well in Geometry; Measurement; and Proportionality.

  • In science, our eighth-graders' standing is above the international average in Earth Science, Life Science, and Environmental Issues. Our students score about average in Chemistry and Physics.

    • Curriculum

  • The content taught in U.S. eighth-grade mathematics classrooms is at a seventh-grade level in comparison to other countries.

  • Topic coverage in U.S. eighth-grade mathe-matics classes is not as focused as in Germany and Japan.

  • In science, the degree of topic focus in the U.S. eighth-grade curriculum may be similar to that of other countries.

  • U.S. eighth-graders spend more hours per year in math and science classes than German and Japanese students.

    • Teaching

  • U.S. mathematics classes require students to engage in less high-level mathematical thought than classes in Germany and Japan.



    • continued

  • U.S. mathematics teachers' typical goal is to teach students how to do something, while Japanese teachers' goal is to help them understand mathematical concepts.

  • Japanese teachers widely practice what the U.S. mathematics reform recommends, while U.S. teachers do so infrequently.

  • Although most U.S. math teachers report familiarity with reform recommendations, only a few apply the key points in their classrooms.

    Teachers' Lives

  • Unlike new U.S. teachers, new Japanese and German teachers undergo long-term struc-tured apprenticeships in their profession.

  • U.S. teachers have more college education than their colleagues in all but a few TIMSS countries.

  • Japanese teachers have more opportunities to discuss teaching-related issues than do U.S. teachers.

  • Student diversity and poor discipline are challenges not only for U.S. teachers, but for German teachers as well.

    • Students' Lives

  • Eighth-grade students of different abilities are typically divided into different class-rooms in the U.S. and into different schools in Germany. In Japan, no ability grouping is practiced at this grade level.

  • In mathematics, U.S. students in higher ability-level classes study different material than students in lower-level classes. In Germany and Japan, all students study basically the same material, although in Germany the depth and rigor of study depends on whether the school is for students of higher or lower ability levels.

  • Japanese eighth-graders are preparing for a high-stakes examination to enter high school at the end of ninth grade.

  • U.S. teachers assign more homework and spend more class time discussing it than teachers in Germany and Japan. U.S. stu-dents report about the same amount of out-of-school math and science study as their Japanese and German counterparts.

  • Heavy TV watching is as common among U.S. eighth graders as it is among their Japanese counterparts.

    • The conclusion of the executive summary cautions that TIMSS should not be viewed as an answer book, but rather "a mirror through which we can see our own education system in international perspective."

    The TIMSS study was funded by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Depart-ment of Education, the National Science Foundation, and the Canadian Government, and TIMSS activities are coordinated at the TIMSS Inter- national Study Center at Boston College.

    Pursuing Excellence, U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics, NCES 97-198, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1996. This document can be accessed through the Regional Alliance Hub http://ra.terc.edu/. See Hubbub page 7.