The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

My question today is: How competitive in the areas of math and science is the United States in comparison to other countries? Are we educating the next generation of scientists, engineers, and mathematicians at levels high enough to provide the global economy with a steady flow of professionals in these areas?

One way to assess the foundation of student preparation for these careers is The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). This study is a comparison of mathematics and science achievement carried out by the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (IEA) international organization of national research institutions and governmental research agencies. According the website www.nces.ed.gov/timss/ more than 20,000 students in more than 1,000 schools across the United States will took the assessment in spring 2011, joining almost 500,000 other students around the world taking part in TIMSS.

What exactly does this study assess?

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) TIMSS can be used to track changes in achievement over time by the participating countries in the subject areas of mathematics and science for students in fourth grade and eighth grade across 46 countries, including the United States of America, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong (SAR), Iran, South Africa, Ghana, Singapore, Japan, and others.

First conducted in 1995, TIMSS reports every four years on the achievement of fourth and eighth grade students. A number of countries participating in TIMSS 2011 will have trend data across assessments from 1995 to 2011.

Why should you care about the results of this assessment?

The US economy is still suffering from a recession and we need to address an issue we seem to be afraid to discuss. Just because some jobs have moved to foreign countries due to cheaper labor costs does not mean we can't compete. The skills of our workforce have to change and improve. Jobs in engineering, science, and mathematics are high paying and students from other countries are coming to American Colleges and Universities to prepare for careers in these fields.  

See the statistics below from NCES.



SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 1996 (based on IPEDS/HEGIS surveys of degrees conferred). 

• In 1994, 31 percent of all science and engineering master's degrees and 41 percent of all science and engineering doctor's degrees were conferred to foreign students.
• Foreign students earned close to 50 percent of the doctor's degrees conferred in mathematics and engineering.
• Foreign students also earned a substantial number of graduate degrees in business and management. In 1994, 14 percent of master's and 29 percent of doctor's degrees in business and management were conferred to foreign students.
• When examining the fields of study that U.S. and foreign graduate students choose, foreign graduate students were more likely to earn degrees in science and engineering than U.S. graduate students. For example, in the 1993–94 academic year, 37 percent of all foreign master's degree recipients earned a degree in science and engineering, compared to 11 percent of U.S. recipients.
• At the doctoral level, 61 percent of all foreign recipients earned degrees in science and engineering, compared to 32 percent of all U.S. doctoral recipients. 

The implications from the results of the 2007 TIMSS are that US students are simply not prepared to compete at the same levels as students from other countries.

Here are the Top 5 Performing Countries in Mathematics based on the 2007 TIMSS:

1) Taiwan (Score 598)
2) South Korea (Score 597)
3) Singapore (Score 593)
4) Hong Kong (Score 592)
5) Japan (Score 570)

The United States came in 9th place (Score 508)

Note that all of the top performing countries are located in Asia

Here are the Top 5  Performing Countries in Science (TIMSS 2007)


1) Singapore (Score 567)
2) Taiwan (Score 561)
3) Japan (Score 554)
4) South Korea (Score 553)
5) England and Wales (Score 542)

Again, its interesting to note that four out of five of the top performing countries in science are located in Asia.
Another statistic that clearly highlights the US Achievement gap is the fact that US Asians, as a subgroup, scored comparably to sample Asian nations (Average score 549) whereas the the average US 8th grade students score on the 2007 TIMSS was only 520.

Overall, the United States scored higher than the TIMSS scale average, but when you are competing primarily with Asian nations for the top honors, and ultimately for jobs, slightly better than scale average is not good enough.

We cannot out compete our high performing international peers unless we invest in our youth.

Most recently, President Obama directed $250 million for science and math education to increase the number and quality of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers. I think this a step in the right direction,  but what we really need to do is improve our math and science curriculum and continue to expose our students to careers in mathematics and science to spark an interest at a young age.