The Final Year of Secondary School
Full results are available in the complete International Report. For information on ordering or downloading this report, go to the Achievement Results page. For Press Release information, go to the TIMSS News page. The TIMSS HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE FINAL YEAR OF SECONDARY SCHOOL document is available in PDF format. Click on the Adobe PDF icon below to receive this document.
TIMSS Highlights from the Final Year of Secondary School
The following are the main results in HTML format:
Mathematics and Science Literacy
The Netherlands and Sweden were the top-performing countries in mathematics and science literacy. Iceland, Norway, Switzerland Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, and Austria also performed above the international average of the 21 countries.
Countries performing below the international average were: Hungary, the Russian Federation, Italy, the United States, Lithuania, Cyprus, and South Africa.
Mathematics and Science Literacy Country Mean Achievement Netherlands 559 Sweden 555 Iceland 541 Norway 536 Switzerland 531 Denmark 528 Canada 526 New Zealand 525 Austria 519 Australia 525 Slovenia 514 France 505 Germany 496 Czech Republic 476 Hungary 477 Russian Federation 476 Italy 475 United States 471 Lithuania 465 Cyprus 447 South Africa 352 International Average 500 Countries not shown in bold did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates or classroom sampling procedures. SOURCE: IEA Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1995-96.
Countries in blue boxes scored significantly higher than the International Average Countries in white boxes did not score significantly different from the International Average Countries in pink boxes scored significantly lower than the International Average
When the results were looked at separately for mathematics and science, the top-performers in mathematics literacy were the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Switzerland. The top-performers in science literacy were Sweden, the Netherlands, Iceland, and Norway.
Countries that had higher achievement in mathematics literacy than in science literacy were Denmark, France, Hungary, Lithuania, and Switzerland. Those with higher achievement in science literacy were Canada, the Czech Republic, Iceland, Norway, the Russian Federation, Sweden, and the United States.
Males had significantly higher average achievement than
females in mathematics and science literacy in all countries except South
Africa. This also was true for science literacy. In mathematics literacy,
there were no significant gender differences in performance in Hungary, the
United States, and South Africa.
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| Country | Mean Achievement |
Country | Mean Achievement |
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| Netherlands | 560 | Sweden | 559 | ||||
| Sweden | 552 | Netherlands | 558 | ||||
| Denmark | 547 | Iceland | 549 | ||||
| Switzerland | 540 | Norway | 544 | ||||
| Iceland | 534 | Canada | 532 | ||||
| Norway | 528 | New Zealand | 529 | ||||
| France | 523 | Switzerland | 523 | ||||
| New Zealand | 522 | Austria | 520 | ||||
| Canada | 519 | Australia | 527 | ||||
| Austria | 518 | Slovenia | 517 | ||||
| Australia | 522 | Denmark | 509 | ||||
| Slovenia | 512 | Germany | 497 | ||||
| Germany | 495 | Czech Republic | 487 | ||||
| Czech Republic | 466 | France | 487 | ||||
| Hungary | 483 | Russian Federation | 481 | ||||
| Italy | 476 | United States | 480 | ||||
| Russian Federation | 471 | Italy | 475 | ||||
| Lithuania | 469 | Hungary | 471 | ||||
| United States | 461 | Lithuania | 461 | ||||
| Cyprus | 446 | Cyprus | 448 | ||||
| South Africa | 356 | South Africa | 349 | ||||
| International Average | 500 | International Average | 500 | ||||
Countries not shown in bold did not satisfy
one or more guidelines for sample participation rates or classroom sampling
procedures.
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Advanced Mathematics
Led by France, the countries performing above the international average in advanced mathematics also included the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Denmark, Cyprus, and Lithuania.
The countries performing below the international average were the Czech Republic, Germany, the United States, and Austria.
Significant gender differences favoring males were found in all countries except Greece, Cyprus, Australia, Italy, and Slovenia. In some countries, many more males than females have taken advanced mathematics courses, but this varied across countries.
Classroom indicators associated with high achievement included frequently solving equations, doing reasoning tasks, and using calculators.
Advanced Mathematics Country Mean Achievement France 557 Russian Federation 542 Switzerland 533 Denmark 522 Cyprus 518 Lithuania 516 Australia 525 Greece 513 Sweden 512 Canada 509 Slovenia 475 Italy 474 Czech Republic 469 Germany 465 United States 442 Austria 436 International Average 501 Countries not shown in bold did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates or classroom sampling procedures. SOURCE: IEA Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1995-96.
Countries in blue boxes scored significantly higher than the International Average Countries in white boxes did not score significantly different from the International Average Countries in pink boxes scored significantly lower than the International Average
PHYSICS
Norway and Sweden had average physics achievement similar to each other, and significantly higher than other participating countries. The Russian Federation and Denmark also performed above the international average.
Six countries performed below the international average. The United States had significantly lower achievement than every country except Austria.
Males had significantly higher achievement than females in physics. Although the proportions of males and females having taken physics were about equal in Canada, Latvia (LSS), the Russian Federation, Switzerland, and the United States, in several countries, males outnumbered females by two or three to one.
Most final-year students having taken advanced mathematics or physics plan to attend university. Popular choices for future study include engineering, business, and health sciences.
Physics Country Mean Achievement Norway 581 Sweden 573 Russian Federation 545 Denmark 534 Slovenia 523 Germany 522 Australia 518 Cyprus 494 Latvia (LSS)* 488 Greece 486 Switzerland 488 Canada 485 France 466 Czech Republic 451 Austria 435 United States 423 International Average 501 Countries not shown in bold did not satisfy one or more guidelines for sample participation rates or classroom sampling procedures. *Because population coverage falls below 65%, Latvia is annotated LSS for Latvian Speaking Schools only.
SOURCE: IEA Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), 1995-96.
Countries in blue boxes scored significantly higher than the International Average Countries in white boxes did not score significantly different from the International Average Countries in pink boxes scored significantly lower than the International Average
