Large-scale assessment programs, such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), employ item response theory (IRT) and marginal estimation methods to estimate student proficiency in specific subjects such as mathematics, science, or reading. Each of these…

Surveys like the recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) enable educators, policy makers and the wider community to compare Australian students with each other, as well as their counterparts across the world. An essential part of a positive school climate…

South Africa participated in TIMSS from 1995 to 2015. Over these two decades, some positive changes have been reported on the aggregated mathematics performance patterns of South African learners. This paper focuses on the achievement patterns of South Africa's high-performing Grade 9 learners (n = 3378) in comparison with similar subsamples of…

The results of international assessments such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are often reported as rankings of nations. Focusing solely on national rank can result in invalid inferences about the relative quality of educational systems that can, in turn, lead to negative consequences for teachers and students.…

This study examined the individual, class, and school level variability of the students' science achievement. It was hypothesized that there are school or teacher effects which contribute toward explaining achievement differences, besides the student level differences. Owing to the nested structure of the data in Trends in International…

This paper provides an overview of the various data sets pertaining to education in South Africa that are informing or could inform policy making in education. The paper serves as an inventory for anyone interested in understanding what data is available, how it may be accessed, what the quality of the data is, and in what formats it may be…

In its analysis of data it collected in 2006, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) survey by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) used a variety of statistical methods to arrive at the 'key findings' that school autonomy, school competition and the public posting of student achievement data were…

We analyzed the effect of grade span configurations (i.e., 6-8 versus K-8) on reading and math performance in Texas public schools for the last 5 school years. Participants in this study were 628 Texas schools (i.e., 314 middle schools and 314 K-8 schools) distributed across the 5 school years examined. Schools configured as K-8 schools were…

Cross-cultural changes were accompanied by the sovereignty transition of Hong Kong during the TIMSS data collection, which triggered migration of intellectual families between Hong Kong and other places. To enhance comparability of the urban setting, this investigation focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong for having similar Chinese majority and…

Cross-cultural changes were accompanied by the sovereignty transition of Hong Kong during the TIMSS data collection, which triggered migration of intellectual families between Hong Kong and other places. To enhance comparability of the urban setting, this investigation focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong for having similar Chinese majority and…

TIMSS measures trends in mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades in participating countries around the world, while also monitoring curricular implementation and identifying promising instructional practices. Conducted on a regular 4-year cycle, TIMSS has assessed mathematics and science in 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and…

Analyzes a classroom videotape of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) with a view toward current and future teaching practices. (Author)

This book contains a compilation of papers presented at the International Conference on Education and New Developments (END 2017), organized by the World Institute for Advanced Research and Science (W.I.A.R.S.). Education, in our contemporary world, is a right since we are born. Every experience has a formative effect on the constitution of the…

In 1999 Ministers responsible for school education agreed to the new set of "National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century," with the aim of providing high quality schooling in Australia which would secure for students the necessary knowledge, understanding, skills and values for a productive and rewarding life. As a…

To ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data, which are necessary to monitor the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report presents 59 indicators of important developments and trends…