Media reports about the performance of U.S. students on international tests can be attention-getting, but keep in mind that TIMSS and PISA, like anything else, can be interpreted however anyone, including well-intended reporters, pleases. (An example of a TIMSS rankings table is below.)
The importance to PISA and TIMSS to HSe4Metrics. Assuming that PISA and TIMSS are generally reasonable in what they do and are consistent over the years in how they do it, the importance to HSe4Metrics is their use as longitudinal yardsticks—and the more such yardsticks the better.)
Moreover, whether or not a particular yardstick is perfect, next comes the interpretation of results. Keep in mind that to decide for yourself whether someone’s representation and interpretation of international results is reasonable, there may not be enough information along with the interpretation. For example, a news article on PISA results might be based on scores for mathematics, science, or reading (the primary PISA “domains”), one of all, or perhaps on an average of those (an “overall” score). If the article’s message is that the U.S.’s PISA rank rose in reading, is that because the U.S.’s reading score rose, or is it because the reading scores of countries ranking above the U.S. decreased? (That is, did the US. reading score actually decrease as well, but not as much as the countries on the list above it?)
By the way, PISA itself does not combine scores and does not endorse it.
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)
The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provides reliable and timely trend data on the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. students compared to that of students in other countries. TIMSS data have been collected from students at grades 4 and 8 every 4 years since 1995, with the United States participating in every administration of TIMSS. TIMSS Advanced studies the achievement in advanced mathematics and physics of students in their final year of secondary school. It has been conducted in 1995, 2008, and 2015, with the United States participating in 1995 and 2015. TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced are sponsored by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and conducted in the United States by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
(Source: https://nces.ed.gov/timss/)
Program for International Student Assessment (PISA)
The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment that measures 15-year-old students’ reading, mathematics, and science literacy. The PISA 2022 results represent outcomes from the 8th cycle of PISA since its inception in 2000. PISA has been conducted every 3 years except for a 1-year delay in the current cycle (from 2021 to 2022) due to the pandemic. After the 2025 data collection, PISA will change to a 4-year data collection cycle. The major domain of study rotates between mathematics, science, and reading in each cycle. PISA also offers optional domains such as financial literacy and includes measures of general or cross-curricular competencies, such as collaborative problem solving. By design, PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling. PISA is coordinated by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, and is conducted in the United States by NCES.
(Source: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/)
A snapshot of international TIMSS rankings
