Differences in teacher quality are commonly cited as a key determinant of the huge international student performance gaps. However, convincing evidence on this relationship is still lacking, in part because it is unclear how to measure teacher quality consistently across countries. We use unique international assessment data to investigate the…

The "TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics" summarizes fourth and eighth grade student achievement in each of the 63 countries and 14 benchmarking entities which participated in TIMSS 2011. The report includes trends in mathematics achievement over time for participants in the previous TIMSS 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007…

Presents an investigation into associations between students' (n=3215) perceptions of their interactions with teachers, the cultural background of students, and their attitudinal and cognitive achievement outcomes. Finds that students' attitude scores were higher in classrooms in which students perceived greater leadership, helping/friendly, and…

For more than 50 years, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has been conducting comparative studies of educational achievement in a number of curriculum areas, including mathematics and science. TIMSS 2011 represents the fifth cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS),…

The engagement of young Australians with school and individual and school-level influences on student engagement (defined as participation in extracurricular activities) were examined by analyzing data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth. Being female, being from a higher socioeconomic background, and having professional parents were…