Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015 - International

Abstract
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TIMSS is an international assessment of mathematics and science at the fourth and eighth grades that has been conducted every four years since 1995. TIMSS 2015 is the sixth assessment in the TIMSS series monitoring 20 years of trends in educational achievement, together with comprehensive data on students’ contexts for learning mathematics and science. In 2015, 57 countries and 7 benchmarking entities (regional jurisdictions of countries such as states or provinces) participated in TIMSS. In total, more than 580,000 students participated in TIMSS 2015.
New for TIMSS 2015, a home questionnaire was completed by fourth grade students’ parents or caregivers, in addition to the questionnaires routinely given at both fourth and eighth grades to students, teachers, school principals, and curriculum specialists.
TIMSS 2015 also introduced a new, less difficult mathematics assessment at the fourth grade called TIMSS Numeracy intended to assess fundamental mathematical knowledge, procedures, and problem-solving strategies that are prerequisite for success in the TIMSS mathematics assessment at the fourth grade. The fourth grade sample in South Africa was one of the samples that were administered the TIMSS Numeracy Test instead of the standard test.

Geographic coverage
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TIMSS had international coverage overall. The country/grade-specific samples are also nationally representative for students belonging to that grade. Note that the data is not representative at a school, teacher or institution level even though the contextual data contains these information.

Analysis unit
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Individuals and institutions

Universe
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The international target populations for the TIMSS 2015 are fourth and eighth grade of participant countries, defined as the grades that represented 4 and 8 years of formal schooling, respectively, counting from the first year of primary or elementary schooling.

Kind of data
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Sample survey data

Sampling procedure
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TIMSS assesses mathematics and science achievement at two grade levels and so TIMSS has two target populations—all students enrolled at the fourth grade and all students enrolled at the eighth grade.
TIMSS employs a two-stage random sample design, with a sample of schools drawn as a first stage and one or more intact classes of students selected from each of the sampled schools as a second stage. Intact classes of students are sampled rather than individuals from across the grade level or of a certain age because TIMSS pays particular attention to students’ curricular and instructional experiences, and these typically are organized on a classroom basis. Sampling intact classes also has the operational advantage of less disruption to the school’s day-to-day business than individual student sampling.

Mode of data collection
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Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument
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The study used the following questionnaires: Fourth Grade Student Questionnaire, Fourth Grade Teacher Questionnaire, Fourth Grade School Questionnaire, Eighth Grade Student Questionnaire, Eighth Grade Mathematics Teacher Questionnaire, Eighth Grade Science Teacher Questionnaire, and Eighth Grade School Questionnaire. Information on the variables obtained or derived from questions in the survey is available in the TIMSS 2011 user guide for the international database: Data Supplement 3: Variables derived from the Student, Teacher, and School Questionnaire data.

摘要
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TIMSS（国际学生能力与学习成果评估）是一项自1995年以来每四年进行一次的国际性数学与科学能力评估，针对四年级和八年级的学生。TIMSS 2015是该系列评估的第六次评估，旨在监测20年来教育成就的趋势，并收集有关学生学习数学与科学的全面背景数据。2015年，共有57个国家和7个基准实体（如国家内的州或省级行政区）参与了TIMSS。总计超过58万名学生参与了TIMSS 2015。
TIMSS 2015新增了四年级学生的家庭问卷，由四年级学生的家长或监护人填写，此外，还常规地对四年级和八年级的学生、教师、学校校长和课程专家进行了问卷调查。
TIMSS 2015还引入了一项新的、难度较低的数学评估，称为TIMSS 数值能力测试，旨在评估四年级学生成功完成TIMSS数学评估所必需的基本数学知识、程序和问题解决策略。南非的四年级样本是那些接受TIMSS数值能力测试而不是标准测试的样本之一。
地理覆盖范围
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TIMSS总体上具有国际覆盖范围。国家/年级特定样本对该年级的学生具有全国代表性。请注意，尽管背景数据包含这些信息，但数据并不代表学校、教师或机构层面的数据。
分析单元
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个人和机构
总体
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TIMSS 2015的国际目标总体包括参与国家的四年级和八年级学生，分别代表从小学或初等教育第一年开始计算的4年和8年的正规教育阶段。
数据类型
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样本调查数据
抽样程序
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TIMSS评估两个年级的数学和科学成就，因此TIMSS有两个目标总体——所有四年级和八年级注册的学生。TIMSS采用两阶段随机抽样设计，首先抽取学校样本，然后从每个抽样学校中选择一至多个完整的班级作为第二阶段。由于TIMSS特别关注学生的课程和教学经验，而这些通常以课堂为基础组织，因此选择完整的班级进行抽样，而不是从整个年级或特定年龄段的学生中进行抽样。选择完整的班级抽样还具有操作上的优势，即比个别学生抽样对学校日常业务的影响更小。
数据收集方式
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面对面 [f2f]
研究工具
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本研究使用了以下问卷：四年级学生问卷、四年级教师问卷、四年级学校问卷、八年级学生问卷、八年级数学教师问卷、八年级科学教师问卷和八年级学校问卷。调查中获得或从问题中导出的变量信息可在TIMSS 2011国际数据库的用户指南中找到：数据补充3：从学生、教师和学校问卷数据中导出的变量。