U.S. States in a Global Context: Results from the NAEP-TIMSS Linking Study

With this new study, conducted in 2011, U.S. states can compare performance of their own students’ with those of various international educational entities. The linking study, an effort of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), projects scores for the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) for each state, using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

The NAEP-TIMSS Linking study provides a comparative picture of mathematics and science performance of students in all U.S. states against the students educated in about 50 countries. Results are presented by average scores and percentages of students performing at the four international benchmarks used in TIMSS.

NCES initiated this special study in an effort to link the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) scale to the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scale so that states could compare the performance of their students with that of students in other countries. The study was conducted in 2011 with eighth-grade students in all 52 states/jurisdictions that participated in the NAEP mathematics and science assessments​. Thirty-six states scored higher than the international average in mathematics. Ten states had scores that were not significantly different from the average and 6 states had lower scores.

Compare your U.S. State to countries around the world.