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TITLE:
Mathematics Achievement in the Primary School Years. IEA's Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

AUTHOR(S):
Ina V. S. Mullis

DOCUMENT TYPE: Report

Link to Document: Mathematics Achievement in the Primary School Years. IEA's Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

ABSTRACT:
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest and most ambitious international comparative study designed to provide policy makers, educators, researchers, and practitioners with information about educational achievement and learning contexts. Data were collected from 45 countries in more than 30 different languages. Five grade levels were tested in the two subject areas, totaling more than half a million students tested around the world. The six content dimensions covered in the TIMSS mathematics tests given to the primary school students include: whole numbers; fractions and proportionality; measurement, estimation, and number sense; data representation, analysis, and probability; geometry; and patterns, relations, and functions. The results in this report describe students' mathematics achievement at both the third and fourth grade levels. About one quarter of the questions were in the free-response format requiring students to generate and write their answers. Chapters include: (1) "International Student Achievement in Mathematics"; (2) "Average Achievement in the Mathematics Content Areas"; (3) Performance on Items within Each Mathematics Content Area"; (4) "Students' Backgrounds and Attitudes towards Mathematics"; (5) "Teachers and Instruction". Appendices contain an overview of TIMSS procedures, the test-curriculum matching analysis, and percentiles and standard deviations of mathematics achievement. (JRH)