How does American children’s achievement in math compare with children in other countries?
A. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) measures math and science knowledge and skills over time across several countries. In the 2007 version of the TIMSS, fourth and eighth grade American students performed at a higher than average level across all countries. While this is good news, students from some countries, particularly those in Asia, and also some in Europe, performed significantly above the level achieved by children in the U.S. What has been more of a concern than absolute rankings is what this level of performance actually means. Access to advanced studies and careers in science and technology require math skills that are at advanced levels. In this respect, only six percent of U.S. eighth graders met or surpassed this level, in contrast to over 40% of eighth graders in Singapore. So one might ask: what is it that differs across countries that do very well and less well on these assessments? There are many contributing factors. Some of these are
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