The TIMSS 2015 international assessment of student achievement at the fourth and eighth grades each include a large number of mathematics and science items (about 350 to 450) together with sets of questionnaires that gather information on the educational and social contexts for achievement. Central to TIMSS’ mission is the measurement of student achievement in mathematics and science in a way that does justice to the breadth and richness of these subjects as they are taught in the participating countries and that monitors countries’ improvement or decline by tracking trends in student performance from one assessment cycle to the next. This requires an assessment that is wide ranging in its coverage of mathematics and science and innovative in its measurement approach. Conducted on a four-year cycle, with each assessment linked to the one that preceded it, TIMSS provides regular and timely data for educators and policy makers on trends in students’ mathematics and science achievement. In addition to measuring trends in achievement at the fourth and eighth grades, administering TIMSS at the fourth and eighth grades every four years provides the opportunity to monitor achievement changes within a grade cohort, as the fourth grade students in one TIMSS cycle become the eighth grade students in the next cycle. The sixth in the TIMSS series of assessments, TIMSS 2015 is the first TIMSS assessment since 1995 to be accompanied by TIMSS Advanced, an international assessment of advanced mathematics and physics at the end of secondary schooling for students with advanced preparation in these subjects (Mullis & Martin, 2013). Participating in TIMSS Advanced 2015 as well as in TIMSS 2015 at the fourth and eighth grades provides data on student achievement in mathematics and science spanning the entire primary and secondary education system. Further, the TIMSS fourth grade mathematics and science assessment data complement PIRLS, IEA’s Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which assesses reading comprehension at the fourth grade every five years.

TIMSS 2015 Assessment Design (CHAPTER 4)

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