Educational Data Mining (EDM) is an important tool in the field of classification of educational data that helps researchers and education planners analyse and model available educational data for specific needs such as developing educational strategies. Trends International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which is a notable study in…

This article is a response to an article written by Wang and Ma "An Examination of Plausible Score Correlation from the Trend in Mathematics and Science Study", published in the Athens Journal of Education. The purpose of this paper is to address issues with Wang's and Ma's suggestion to use analysis method for correlating plausible…

The purpose of the study is to analyze the affective traits that affect mathematics achievement through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) as a traditional regression model and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), as one of the data mining methods. Structural Equation Modeling, one of the regression-based methods, is quite popular for…

Large-scale assessments (LSAs) use Mislevy's "plausible value" (PV) approach to relate student proficiency to noncognitive variables administered in a background questionnaire. This method requires background variables to be completely observed, a requirement that is seldom fulfilled. In this article, we evaluate and compare the…

The OECD's PISA exercise has by now been widely critiqued. Whilst we agree with most concerns, we begin with the assumption that PISA will remain an enduring and powerful feature of the global educational landscape. Even if the PISA test itself were discontinued, a similar large-scale quantitative assessment exercise would soon arise to take its…

International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have been used to draw comparisons among countries on a variety of topics in education and, more broadly, for example, in adolescent development. These assessments can inform the public about influential factors on the micro and macro levels, foster interdisciplinary and international collaboration,…

Purpose: Studies in the literature have generally demonstrated that the causes of differential item functioning (DIF) are complex and not directly related to defined groups. The purpose of this study is to determine the DIF according to the mixture item response theory (MixIRT) model, based on the latent group approach, as well as the…

Purpose: This policy brief, the third in the AERI-NEPC eBrief series "Understanding validity issues around the world", discusses validity issues surrounding International Large Scale Assessment (ILSA) programs. ILSA programs, such as the well-known Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International…

There are four sources of large-scale self-report survey data on victim rates, cross-nationally. These are EU Kids Online, Global School Health Survey, Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, and Health Behaviour of School-aged Children. There are some differences in methodology between these surveys, but all use pupil self-report…

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 paper examines how international, large-scale skills assessments (ILSAs) engage with the broader societies they seek to serve and improve. It looks particularly at the discursive work that is done by different interest groups and the media through which the findings become part of public conversations and are translated into usable form in…

Class size reduction has been viewed as one school mechanism that can improve student achievement. Nonetheless, the literature has reported mixed findings about class size effects. We used 4th- and 8th-grade data from TIMSS 2003 and 2007 to examine the association between class size and mathematics achievement in public schools in Cyprus. We…

The aim of this study is to examine preservice science teachers' skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables. The research has a phenomenological research design. The data was gathered qualitatively. In this study, preservice science teachers were first given two scenarios (Scenario-1 & Scenario-2) containing two different…

The purpose of this article is to identify the order of significance of the variables that affect science and mathematics achievement in middle school students. For this aim, the study deals with the relationship between science and math in terms of different angles using the perspectives of multiple causes-single effect and of multiple…