TIMSS — Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study is the largest scale comparative study of educational achievement in the world.  It is conducted under the auspices of IEA — International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement, an independent, international cooperative of national research institutions and governmental research agencies.

First conducted in 1995, TIMSS reports every four years on the achievement of fourth and eighth grade students, based on samples drawn randomly from all schools in participating countries.  By testing the students with multiple-choice and open-ended questions on mathematics and science, together with questionnaires for students, teachers of related subjects and schools, differences in national educational systems can be measured and interpreted in order to help improve the teaching and learning of mathematics and science worldwide and in the local context.

A globally cooperative enterprise, TIMSS is a state-of-the-art assessment of student achievement supported with extensive data about country, school, and classroom learning environments.  There is enormous diversity among the TIMSS countries — in terms of economic development, geographical location, and population size.  Fundamental to IEA’s vision is the notion that the diversity of educational philosophies, models, and approaches that characterize the world’s education systems constitute a natural laboratory in which each country can learn from the experiences of others.  TIMSS participants share the conviction that comparing education systems in terms of their organization, curricula, and instructional practices in relation to their corresponding student achievement provides information crucial for effective education policy-making.

In Hong Kong, TIMSS has monitored mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth grades every four years since 1995.  To know more about previous TIMSS results in Hong Kong, click on the study year.