Download or read book Mathematics Achievement in the Middle School Years written by Albert E. Beaton and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest and most ambitious study undertaken by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. Forty-five countries collected data in more than 30 languages. Five grade levels were tested in the two subject areas, so that more than half a million students were tested around the world. This report addresses middle-school mathematics achievement (grades seven and eight) in six content areas: (1) fractions and number sense; (2) measurement; (3) proportionality; (4) data representation, analysis, and probability; (5) geometry; and (6) algebra. Results cover 41 countries with complete data collection. Singapore was the top-performing country at both grade levels, with Korea, Japan, and Hong Kong also performing very well. There were large differences in average achievement between top performers and bottom performing nations. Gender differences in mathematics achievement were small or nearly nonexistent in most countries, but when they did appear, they favored boys. In nearly every country there was a strong positive relationship between student enjoyment of mathematics and higher achievement. Home factors were strongly related to mathematics achievement in every participating country, but relationships between instructional variables and achievement were less clear. In every country, the pattern was for the eighth grade student whose parents had more education to also have higher achievement in mathematics. The amount of television viewing was negatively associated with mathematics achievement. The document's introduction provides information on each country's characteristics including demographics, public expenditures on education, organization of educational system. Chapters address: (1) International Student Achievement in Mathematics; (2) Average Achievement; (3) Performance on Items within Each Mathematics Content Area; (4) Students Backgrounds and Attitudes towards Mathematics; and (5) Teachers and Instruction. Appendixes include: Overview of TIMSS Procedures; Test-Curriculum Matching Analysis; Selected Mathematics Achievement Eighth-Grade Results for the Philippines, Denmark, Sweden, and German-Speaking Switzerland; and Percentiles and Standard Deviations of Mathematics Achievement. (SLD)