The Third International Mathematics and Science Study is the largest and most ambitious study ever undertaken by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Forty-five countries collected data in more than 30 languages. Five grade levels were tested in the two subject areas. This report describes the science achievement of seventh and eighth graders, emphasizing the results from the eighth-grade assessment. Results are presented for the 41 countries that completed all the steps necessary to appear in this report. Singapore was the top performing country at both grade levels, with Colombia, Kuwait, and South Africa performing at the lowest levels. Perhaps the most striking finding was the large difference in average achievement between the top-performing and bottom-performing countries. Results provided a chain of overlapping countries, with most countries having an average achievement similar to that of a cluster of others, but with large differences between the top and bottom of the chain. In most countries and internationally, boys outperformed girls at both grade levels. The majority of eighth graders in nearly every country indicated that they liked science, but not all students had positive feelings about the subject. Home factors were strongly related to achievement in every participating country, but relationships between science achievement and instructional practices were less clear within and across countries. Six appendixes present information on study methodology and selected achievement results for some countries. (Contains 61 tables, 23 appendix tables, 19 figures, and 1 appendix figure.) (SLD)

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)

A recently completed landmark study of mathematics and science education in more than 40 countries gathered information that can help address questions as to why students in one country do better in math and science than students in another. This report focuses on the results of the primary school science test of students in 26 countries, from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS). Details of how the study was conducted, the nature of the science test, country characteristics, differences in student achievement, student achievement by science content area, and an analysis of example problems are included. Ideas of intended and implemented curricula are discussed and a number of questions related to these ideas that TIMMS may answer are listed. (DDR)

This book offers a broad view for a varied audience of what the vision expressed in all three National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' Standards documents will look like when aligned with practice and outlines ways in which desired changes can be realized. Six sections and 21 chapters in the book are: Section I--History: (1) "Paths to the Present" (J. Kilpatrick, G. M. A. Stanic); Section II--Students: (2) "How Primary Students Think and Learn" (P. F. Campbell, M. L. Johnson), (3) "What Secondary Mathematics Students Can Do" (R. Borasi), (4) "Empowering All Students to Learn Mathematics" (G. J. Cuevas), (5) "Opportunity to Learn: Can Standards-Based Reform Be Equity-Based Reform?" (J. Oakes), (6) "Mathematics Excellence for Cultural 'Minority' Students: What Is the Problem?" (A. G. Hilliard III), and (7) "Trends in Mathematics Achievement for Young Men and Women" (N. Burton); Section III--Teachers and Teaching: (8) "How Should Mathematics Be Taught?" (G. Lappan, D. Briars), (9) "Teacher Preparation" (J. O. Swafford), (10) "Who Will Teach?" (S. M. McBay), (11) "The Highway to Personal Professional Development" (L. C. Bolster), and (12) "The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards: Making Professional Development 'Professional'" (J. A. Kelly); Section IV--Conent: (13) "Mathematics for Work and Life" (L. A. Steen, S. L. Forman), (14) "Changing the Mathematics We Teach" (C. Seeley), and (15) "Rich Conent" (R. P. Mills); Section V--Context: (16) "Schooling U.S.A." (J. I. Goodlad), (17) "Standards-Based Reform" (W. S. Cody), (18) "Challenges for Education Policy at the Turn of the Century" (S. H. Fuhrman), (19) "The Business and Industry Perspective" (D. Kearns), and (20) "The Public as Constituents" (R. Brown); and Section VI Afterword: (21) "The Workforce" (R. B. Reich). Each chapter contains a bibliography. (MKR)