The Middle School Years

Full results are available in the complete International Report. For information on ordering or downloading this report, go to the Publications page. The Highlights of Results from TIMSS document is available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Click on the Adobe PDF icon below to view the full Highlights.

Highlights of Results fromTIMSS (Middle School Years)

The following are the main results in HTML format:

Key Findings

• Singapore was the top-performing country in mathematics and science at both the eighth and seventh grades. Korea, Japan, and the Czech Republic also performed very well in both subjects. Hong Kong and the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium also were among the top countries in mathematics. (See pages 2 and 3 for a full listing of the results.)
  
  
• For most countries, even though gender differences were minimal in mathematics, they were pervasive in science. Boys outperformed girls, particularly in physics, chemistry, and earth science.
  
  
• Home factors were strongly related to mathematics and science achievement in every TIMSS country (i.e., educational resources, books in the home, and parents' education).
  
  
• In almost every country, the majority of students agreed that they did well in mathematics and science. Interestingly, some of the countries with the highest achievement also were those whose students had the most negative perceptions of success -- Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong.

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Achievement in Mathematics

	Eighth Grade*			Seventh Grade*
	Country	Average Achievement		Country	Average Achievement
	Singapore	643		Singapore	601
	Korea	607		Korea	577
	Japan	605		Japan	571
	Hong Kong	588		Hong Kong	564
	Belgium (Fl)	565		Belgium (Fl)	558
	Czech Republic	564		Czech Republic	523
	Slovak Republic	547		Netherlands	516
	Switzerland	545		Bulgaria	514
	Netherlands	541		Austria	509
	Slovenia	541		Slovak Republic	508
	Bulgaria	540		Belgium (Fr)	507
	Austria	539		Switzerland	506
	France	538		Hungary	502
	Hungary	537		Russian Federation	501
	Russian Federation	535		Ireland	500
	Australia	530		Slovenia	498
	Ireland	527		Australia	498
	Canada	527		Thailand	495
	Belgium (Fr)	526		Canada	494
	Thailand	522		France	492
	Israel	522		Germany	484
	Sweden	519		Sweden	477
	Germany	509		England	476
	New Zealand	508		United States	476
	England	506		New Zealand	472
	Norway	503		Denmark	465
	Denmark	502		Scotland	463
	United States	500		Latvia (LSS)	462
	Scotland	498		Norway	461
	Latvia (LSS)	493		Iceland	459
	Spain	487		Romania	454
	Iceland	487		Spain	448
	Greece	484		Cyprus	446
	Romania	482		Greece	440
	Lithuania	477		Lithuania	428
	Cyprus	474		Portugal	423
	Portugal	454		Iran, Islamic Rep.	401
	Iran, Islamic Rep.	428		Colombia	369
	Kuwait	392		South Africa	348
	Colombia	385
	South Africa	354
	*Eighth and seventh grades in most countries. Latvia is annotated LSS for Latvian Speaking Schools only. Countries shown in italics did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates, age/grade specifications, or classroom sampling procedures. SOURCE: IEA Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1994-95.

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Achievement in Science

	Eighth Grade*			Seventh Grade*
	Country	Average Achievement		Country	Average Achievement
	Singapore	607		Singapore	545
	Czech Republic	574		Korea	535
	Japan	571		Czech Republic	533
	Korea	565		Japan	531
	Bulgaria	565		Bulgaria	531
	Netherlands	560		Slovenia	530
	Slovenia	560		Belgium (Fl)	529
	Austria	558		Austria	519
	Hungary	554		Hungary	519
	England	552		Netherlands	517
	Belgium (Fl)	550		England	512
	Australia	545		Slovak Republic	510
	Slovak Republic	544		United States	508
	Russian Federation	538		Australia	504
	Ireland	538		Germany	499
	Sweden	535		Canada	499
	United States	534		Hong Kong	495
	Germany	531		Ireland	495
	Canada	531		Thailand	493
	Norway	527		Sweden	488
	New Zealand	525		Russian Federation	484
	Thailand	525		Switzerland	484
	Israel	524		Norway	483
	Hong Kong	522		New Zealand	481
	Switzerland	522		Spain	477
	Scotland	517		Scotland	468
	Spain	517		Iceland	462
	France	498		Romania	452
	Greece	497		France	451
	Iceland	494		Greece	449
	Romania	486		Belgium (Fr)	442
	Latvia (LSS)	485		Denmark	439
	Portugal	480		Iran, Islamic Rep.	436
	Denmark	478		Latvia (LSS)	435
	Lithuania	476		Portugal	428
	Belgium (Fr)	471		Cyprus	420
	Iran, Islamic Rep.	470		Lithuania	403
	Cyprus	463		Colombia	387
	Kuwait	430		South Africa	317
	Colombia	411
	South Africa	326
	*Eighth and seventh grades in most countries. Latvia is annotated LSS for Latvian Speaking Schools only. Countries shown in italics did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates, age/grade specifications, or classroom sampling procedures. SOURCE: IEA Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1994-95.

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TIMSS Results About Teaching and Learning

• Most countries reported that four years of post-secondary education, practice in teaching, and some form of examination were required for teacher certification.
  
  
• In many countries, students generally were in mathematics and science classes of fewer than 30 students. Korea was a notable exception, with most students in classes of 40 or more.
  
  
• Mathematics teachers in many countries reported a high frequency of calculator use in their classes, often for checking answers, routine computation, and solving complex problems. Again, Korea was the exception, where it was reported that calculators were seldom used.
  
  
• Teacher demonstrations of experiments were common in science classes regardless of whether eighth graders were taught science as a single subject or as separate science subjects, as is done in much of Europe.
  
  
• Notwithstanding a considerable range in student reports, eighth graders in about half the countries reported doing an average of 2 or 3 hours of homework each day. Most typically, students reported studying mathematics for roughly an hour each day, and science for somewhat less than that.
  
  
• Eighth graders in most countries reported spending as much out-of-school time each day in non-academic activities as they did in academic activities. Most frequently, students reported watching 1 or 2 hours of television each day as well as spending several hours playing or talking with friends, and nearly 2 hours playing sports. (Of course, for teenagers, these activities often occur simultaneously, such as watching television and talking with friends on the phone.)

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