Dive Brief:
- Average math scores among U.S. 4th and 8th graders fell steeply between 2019 and 2023, falling 18 points for the younger group and an even sharper 27 points for the older students, data released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics shows.
- Internationally, this put the U.S. at 22nd of 63 education systems for 4th grade math and 20th of 45 education systems for 8th grade math, according to the latest results of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. For science the U.S. ranked higher: 12th of 63 education systems for 4th grade and 12th of 45 education systems for 8th grade.
- Average U.S. math scores for both 4th and 8th graders reverted to performance levels of 1995, the first year the TIMSS assessment was administered, meaning “progress in prior years has been erased,” said NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr in a Tuesday press briefing.
Dive Insight:
The 2023 TIMSS math results are consistent with student performance on other recent assessments, including the 2022 math scores from The Nation’s Report Card and the Program for International Student Assessment, Carr said.
In 2022, the PISA math assessment saw U.S. students’ average math scores decline by 13 points prior to the pandemic and by 18 points from when that assessment was first administered in 2003. Also in 2022, the National Assessment of Educational Progress saw the largest drop in math scores on record.
Carr noted that average math scores on TIMSS were dropping even before the COVID-19 pandemic. Declines began in 2015, though they were more pronounced in 4th grade than in 8th grade, she said.
“I would be more concerned about this steeper decline that we’re seeing in the short term,” Carr said. “I don’t want to make light of the fact that we are back to where we were in 1995, but we haven’t declined past that point.”
TIMSS is coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement. The global assessment, administered every four years, is managed in the U.S. by NCES. About 360,000 4th graders from 65 education systems and 300,000 8th graders from 47 education systems across the world participated in the 2023 TIMSS assessment.
NCES also highlighted that while American 4th graders didn't show a notable short-term drop in science on the exam, their average scores had dropped 9 points between 1995 and 2023.
Additionally, gender gaps reemerged in 2023 across both math and science scores, NCES said. Boys scored significantly higher for the first time since 2003, and they outperformed girls in science for the first time since 2015.
