"Solve for x." While many people first encountered this enigmatic instruction in high school, the last 20 years have seen a strong push to get students to take algebra in eighth grade or even before. Today, concerns about the economy highlight a familiar worry: American eighth-graders trailed their peers in five Asian countries on the…

These excerpts from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards support the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) Resource Kit by offering some context for discussing the teaching of algebra and geometry seen in the videotapes that are also part of the kit. The Standards describe the mathematics content…

According to the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) which compared student performance in mathematics and science in 41 countries in 1995, fourth grade students in the United States perform only slightly above the international average in mathematics. The study showed that most U.S. students are mastering basic arithmetic;…

This report examines performance differences between Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White students in Delaware on the mathematics portion of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat (TIMSS-R). Data analyses show that the mathematics performance gap across ethnic groups is significant. The lowest 100 Black and White performers were…