The Primary 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 TIMSS Highlights from the Primary Grades document is available in PDF format. Click on the Adobe PDF icon below to receive this document.
TIMSS Highlights from the Primary Grades
The following are the main results in HTML format:
High Achieving Countries
- In mathematics, Singapore and Korea were the top-performing
countries at both the fourth and third grades. Japan and Hong Kong also
performed among the best in the world, as did the Netherlands, the Czech
Republic, and Austria.
- Nine of the twelve countries that performed above the
international average in mathematics at the fourth grade also did so at
the eighth grade, including Singapore, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands,
the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, and Hungary. Of the other three,
Ireland and Australia were around the international average at the eighth
grade, while the United States was below it.
- In science, Korea was the top-performing country at both the fourth and
third grades. Japan, the United States, Austria,
and Australia also performed very well at both grades.
- In science, Korea, Japan, Austria, Australia, the Czech Republic, England, Singapore, and Slovenia performed above the international average at both the fourth and eighth grades. The exceptions were Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and the United States, which were above the international average at the fourth grade, but just at the average at the eighth grade.
| Fourth Grade* | Third Grade* | |||||
| Country |
|
Country |
|
|||
| Singapore | 625 | Korea | 561 | |||
| Korea | 611 | Singapore | 552 | |||
| Japan | 597 | Japan | 538 | |||
| Hong Kong | 587 | Hong Kong | 524 | |||
| Netherlands | 577 | Czech Republic | 497 | |||
| Czech Republic | 567 | Netherlands | 493 | |||
| Austria | 559 | Slovenia | 488 | |||
| Slovenia | 552 | Austria | 487 | |||
| Ireland | 550 | Australia | 483 | |||
| Hungary | 548 | United States | 480 | |||
| United States | 545 | Hungary | 476 | |||
| Canada | 532 | Ireland | 476 | |||
| Israel | 531 | Canada | 469 | |||
| Latvia (LSS) | 525 | Latvia (LSS) | 463 | |||
| Scotland | 520 | Scotland | 458 | |||
| England | 513 | England | 456 | |||
| Cyprus | 502 | Thailand | 444 | |||
| Norway | 502 | New Zealand | 440 | |||
| New Zealand | 499 | Cyprus | 430 | |||
| Greece | 492 | Greece | 428 | |||
| Thailand | 490 | Portugal | 425 | |||
| Portugal | 475 | Norway | 421 | |||
| Iceland | 474 | Iceland | 410 | |||
| Iran, Islamic Rep | 429 | Iran, Islamic Rep | 378 | |||
| Kuwait | 400 | |||||
| *Fourth and Third grades
in most countries. Latvia is annotated LSS for Latvian Speaking Schools
only. Countries shown in plain text 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. |
||||||
| Fourth Grade* | Third Grade* | |||||
| Country |
|
Country |
|
|||
| Korea | 597 | Korea | 553 | |||
| Japan | 574 | Japan | 522 | |||
| United States | 565 | United States | 511 | |||
| Austria | 565 | Australia | 510 | |||
| Australia | 562 | Austria | 505 | |||
| Netherlands | 557 | England | 499 | |||
| Czech Republic | 494 | Netherlands | 499 | |||
| England | 551 | Czech Republic | 494 | |||
| Canada | 549 | Canada | 490 | |||
| Singapore | 547 | Singapore | 488 | |||
| Slovenia | 546 | Slovenia | 487 | |||
| Ireland | 539 | Scotland | 484 | |||
| Scotland | 536 | Hong Kong | 482 | |||
| Hong Kong | 533 | Ireland | 479 | |||
| Hungary | 532 | New Zealand | 473 | |||
| New Zealand | 531 | Latvia (LSS) | 465 | |||
| Norway | 530 | Hungary | 464 | |||
| Latvia (LSS) | 512 | Norway | 450 | |||
| Israel | 505 | Greece | 446 | |||
| Iceland | 505 | Iceland | 435 | |||
| Greece | 497 | Thailand | 433 | |||
| Portugal | 480 | Portugal | 423 | |||
| Cyprus | 475 | Cyprus | 415 | |||
| Thailand | 473 | Iran, Islamic Rep. | 356 | |||
| Iran, Islamic Rep. | 416 | |||||
| *Fourth and
third grades in most countries. Latvia is annotated LSS for Latvian
Speaking Schools only. Countries shown in plain type 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. |
||||||
Key Findings
- For most countries, gender differences in mathematics achievement were
small or essentially non-existent. In science, the gender differences at
third and fourth grades were much less pervasive than at the seventh and
eighth grades. However, boys had significantly higher achievement than girls
at both grades in about half the countries, particularly in earth science
and physical science.
- The overwhelming majority of fourth graders in
nearly every country indicated that they liked mathematics and science.
- In most countries, boys and girls were equally positive
about liking each of these subjects.
- Just as at the eighth grade, having educational resources
in the home was strongly related to mathematics and science achievement
in every country (i.e., computer, dictionary, own study desk, and 100 or
more books in the home).
- For normal school days, fourth-grade students in most
countries reported averaging approximately an hour outside of school each
day studying or doing homework in mathematics. They reported spending between
half an hour and an hour studying or doing homework in science.
- Teachers in most countries reported that mathematics
classes typically meet for three or four hours a week, on average. In comparison,
teachers in about half the countries reported that science is taught for
less than two hours a week. In about one-fifth of the countries, science
instruction for most students is integrated with the teaching of other subjects.
- In most countries, the majority of fourth-grade students
were taught mathematics and science by female teachers. Most often, the
two subjects were taught by the same teacher.
- In both mathematics and science, small-group work was
used less frequently than other instructional approaches. Across countries,
teachers reported that working together as a class with the teacher teaching
the whole class, and having students work individually with assistance from
the teacher were the most frequently used instructional approaches.
- In most countries, the challenge of catering to students
of different academic abilities was the factor teachers mentioned most often
as limiting how they teach their mathematics and science classes. Other
limiting factors were a high student/teacher ratio, a shortage of equipment
for use in instruction, and the burden of dealing with disruptive students.
- The textbook was the major written source mathematics teachers used in deciding how to present a topic to their classes. Relatively uniformly, the majority of students were asked both to practice computation and to do some type of reasoning task in most or every lesson.
