Übersicht

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provides reliable and timely data on the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. students compared to that of students in other countries. TIMSS data have been collected from students at grades 4 and 8 since 1995, generally every 4 years; the United States has participated in every administration of TIMSS. In addition to the mathematics and science assessments, questionnaires are given to students, their teachers, and school principals to gather information about the background contexts for learning. TIMSS is sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and conducted in the United States by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

In 1995, 2008, and 2015, TIMSS Advanced, an extension of TIMSS, was conducted to measure advanced mathematics and physics achievement in the final year of secondary school across countries. The United States participated in TIMSS Advanced in 1995 and 2015.

The most recent TIMSS data collection was in 2019 and included students in grades 4 and 8; the U.S. highlights web report for this administration of TIMSS is available on the NCES TIMSS 2019 results web page. The previous results, including results for TIMSS Advanced, are also available on the results page by clicking on the banner that indicates how to access the previous TIMSS results.

Explore more about TIMSS and U.S. participation in TIMSS by viewing the resources provided on the NCES TIMSS website. Related international resources, including the TIMSS International reports, TIMSS assessment frameworks, TIMSS Methods & Procedures, and international data files, are available at the TIMSS International site.

Transition to Digital Assessment

TIMSS 2019 marked the beginning of the transition to a computer-based assessment by introducing a computerized version of TIMSS called eTIMSS. About half of the participating education systems, including the United States, chose to administer eTIMSS. A bridge study was conducted to form a link between eTIMSS countries’ computer-based data in 2019 and their paper-based data in 2015 as well as to the paper-based TIMSS countries in 2019. The bridge study enabled the eTIMSS and paperTIMSS achievement results to be reported on the same achievement scale in each grade and subject. Thus, in addition to international comparisons across TIMSS 2019 participating countries, trend scores are reported across the seven TIMSS assessment cycles for countries that have comparable data from previous TIMSS assessments. For more information on the bridge study, refer to the TIMSS International Methods and Procedures.

The eighth assessment cycle of TIMSS, which will be conducted in 2023, will provide 28 years of trend data and complete the transition to eTIMSS. For more information on TIMSS 2023, refer to the TIMSS 2023 brochure.