New international assessment results show widening gaps between top- and bottom-performing U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Score gaps between the top- and bottom-performing U.S. students have widened since 2011, in both mathematics and science at both fourth and eighth grade, according to the latest results from the 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). These widening score gaps are largely due to declines among bottom-performing students before the pandemic.

"We notice the same pattern in the TIMSS international assessment results that we have observed in the results of our own national assessment: our low-performing students are falling behind," said Peggy G. Carr, Associate Commissioner at NCES. "Scores for bottom-performing fourth- and eighth-graders in the United States in 2019 declined in both mathematics and science from the last two administrations of TIMSS in 2011 and 2015."

"In addition to declines among the bottom performers, at the eighth grade we're also seeing improvements among the top-performers," said NCES Commissioner Lynn Woodworth. "These changes result in widening gaps across both grades and subjects. And TIMSS also tells us that this gap between high- and low-performing students in the U.S. is consistently wider than in many other education systems—including most of the systems that outperform the U.S. on average."

Between 2011 and 2019, scores of the bottom-performing fourth-graders (those at the 10th percentile) declined 20 points in mathematics and 14 points in science. Scores for top-performers (those at the 90th percentile) have not changed since 2011 in either subject.

Between 2011 and 2019, bottom-performing U.S. eighth-graders' scores declined 24 points in mathematics and 27 points in science. However, there have been gains for U.S. students at the 90th percentile over the same time period, with scores for top-performing eighth-graders improving by 35 points in mathematics and 17 points in science since 2011.

On average, mathematics scores for both fourth- and eighth-graders in the United States have improved since the first TIMSS administration in 1995, while science scores over that time period have not changed.

"Fourth- and eighth-grade students in a handful of education systems—mostly in Asia—continue to score higher, on average, than U.S. students, and some systems that underperformed the U.S. two decades ago, such as England, Singapore, and Lithuania, have surpassed the U.S.," Carr said. "While U.S. students in fourth and eighth grade have made considerable progress in TIMSS mathematics since the mid-1990s, mirroring long-term improvement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in recent years their average scores have been flat."

Mathematics scores for both U.S. fourth- and eighth-graders and eighth-grade science scores did not change since the last TIMSS assessment in 2015. However, average fourth-grade U.S. science scores were lower in 2019 compared to 2015.

In the United States, boys outperformed girls in both subjects at fourth grade, as in past years, but at eighth grade there were no gender gaps in either subject. This was the first time that there was no gender gap for U.S. eighth-graders in science.

"There hasn't been a gender gap in eighth-grade math since that gap closed in 2007, but 2019 was the first year there was no gender gap in science," Carr explained. "Although this may seem like great news, the gap closing appears to be related to an emerging decline in boys' performance. While eighth-grade boys' science scores are not measurably different from 2015, the 2019 scores have returned to 1995 levels. Future results for eighth-grade boys in particular will be worth watching."

Other key findings from the assessment are as follows:

FOURTH-GRADE MATHEMATICS

• Among 64 education systems, average scores in 14 systems were higher than the U.S. average, 7 education systems were not measurably different from the U.S. average, and average scores in 42 systems were lower than the U.S. average for fourth-grade mathematics.
• Singapore, Hong Kong (China), the Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Moscow City (Russian Federation), the Russian Federation, Northern Ireland (Great Britain), England (Great Britain), Ireland, Latvia, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Norway, and Lithuania had average mathematics scores higher than the U.S. average at fourth grade.
• Austria, Netherlands, the Czech Republic, the Flemish region of Belgium, Quebec (Canada), Cyprus, and Finland had average mathematics scores not measurably different from the U.S. average at fourth grade.

EIGHTH-GRADE MATHEMATICS

• Among 46 education systems, average scores in 10 systems were higher than the U.S. average, 7 education systems were not measurably different from the U.S. average, and average scores in 28 systems were lower than the U.S. average for eighth-grade mathematics.
• Singapore, Chinese Taipei, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Hong Kong (China), Moscow City (Russian Federation), the Russian Federation, Quebec (Canada), Dubai (United Arab Emirates), and Ontario (Canada) had average mathematics scores higher than the U.S. average at eighth grade.
• Ireland, Lithuania, Israel, Australia, Hungary, England (Great Britain), and Finland had average mathematics scores not measurably different from the U.S. average at eighth grade.

FOURTH-GRADE SCIENCE

• Among 64 education systems, average scores in 7 systems were higher than the U.S. average, 9 education systems were not measurably different from the U.S. average, and average scores in 47 systems were lower than the U.S. average for fourth-grade science.
• Moscow City (Russian Federation), Singapore, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Japan, Chinese Taipei, and Finland had average science scores higher than the U.S. average at fourth grade.
• Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Latvia, Norway, Lithuania, Sweden, England (Great Britain), the Czech Republic, Australia, and Hong Kong (China) had average science scores not measurably different from the U.S. average at fourth grade.

EIGHTH-GRADE SCIENCE

• Among 46 education systems, average scores in 10 systems were higher than the U.S. average, 9 education systems were not measurably different from the U.S. average, and average scores in 26 systems were lower than the U.S. average for eighth-grade science.
• Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Moscow City (Russian Federation), the Republic of Korea, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), the Russian Federation, Finland, Quebec (Canada), and Lithuania had average science scores higher than the U.S. average at eighth grade.
• Hungary, Australia, Ireland, Ontario (Canada), Sweden, Portugal, England (Great Britain), Turkey, and Israel had average science scores not measurably different from the U.S. average at eighth grade.

The full report is available at https://nces.ed.gov/timss/.

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, is the statistical center of the U.S. Department of Education and the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. A part of the Institute of Education Sciences, NCES fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally.

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an international comparative study of student achievement. TIMSS 2019 represents the seventh such study since TIMSS was first conducted in 1995. TIMSS assesses the mathematics and science knowledge and skills of fourth- and eighth-graders and is designed to align broadly with mathematics and science curricula in the participating education systems.

TIMSS is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and managed in the United States by NCES.

CONTACT: James Elias, (202) 355-4417, [email protected]

SOURCE National Center for Education Statistics

Related Links

https://nces.ed.gov