Unsexy Reforms That Stick and Work (Mike Smith)*
Much in the press has been made about how far American students are falling behind their peers in the rest of the world. So here’s a provocative dinner party question: “Where would Massachusetts and Minnesota fall on a results table for the TIMSS international assessments: Are they near the top of the table, the middle, the bottom?”
TIMSS is the acronym for Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. TIMSS mathematics and science assessments are administered to representative samples of 4th and 8th graders at the national or provincial (state) levels.
Every few years since 1995, upwards of 50 countries and a smattering of other jurisdictions have participated in the study. Few people, even of those reading this, know that Massachusetts and Minnesota participated in the