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Complete guide: Timss

Updated: October 26, 2026 What changed?
Full country matrices with standard errors and U.S. comparison status, difference charts, and percentile-gap summaries were added.
U.S. Assessment Data

U.S. TIMSS 2023 International Comparison

U.S. fourth- and eighth-grade students scored above the TIMSS 2023 international average in mathematics and science. The country matrices below add the published mean, standard error, difference from the U.S. mean, and statistical comparison for every education system reported by NCES.

Assessment: TIMSS Cycle: 2023 Subjects: Mathematics and Science Population: Grade 4 and Grade 8 Source: NCES / IEA

U.S. TIMSS 2023 Score Snapshot

Grade 4 Mathematics
517
14 points above the international average of 503
Grade 8 Mathematics
488
10 points above the international average of 478
Grade 4 Science
532
38 points above the international average of 494
Grade 8 Science
513
35 points above the international average of 478

U.S. Scores Compared With TIMSS 2023 International Averages

Average achievement scores by grade and subject.

TIMSS international averages give equal weight to each non-benchmarking education system. The 500 scale centerpoint is a separate historical reference.

Source: NCES TIMSS 2023 U.S. Results.

United States Across the Four Grade-Subject Comparisons

International Comparison
Grade 4 Mathematics517503+14Above international average211328
Grade 8 Mathematics488478+10Above international average19718
Grade 4 Science532494+38Above international average111239
Grade 8 Science513478+35Above international average11627
Science Had the Wider U.S. Margin Over the International Average
  • The U.S. margin over the international average was larger in science than in mathematics at both grades, but an above-average result did not place the United States above most systems in every comparison.
  • Mathematics had more systems with measurably higher mean scores than the United States: 21 at Grade 4 and 19 at Grade 8. The corresponding science count was 11 at each grade.
  • Grade 4 and Grade 8 remain separate populations, and mathematics and science are separate achievement scales. The four results should not be combined into a single international rank.
Country Comparison Matrix

TIMSS 2023 Scores, Standard Errors and U.S. Comparisons

Choose a grade and subject to view every education system included in the corresponding NCES U.S. comparison. Benchmarking participants are identified separately and are not included in the TIMSS international average.

Grade 4 Mathematics: Difference From the U.S. Mean

Positive values indicate a higher published mean than the United States; negative values indicate a lower mean.

The chart displays rounded score differences. The statistical comparison in the table uses the published standard errors and the NCES p < .05 comparison rule.

Source: NCES TIMSS 2023 U.S. Results and IEA TIMSS 2023 International Results.

U.S. Comparison
SingaporeCountry / education system6152.9+98Higher than U.S.
Chinese TaipeiCountry / education system6071.7+90Higher than U.S.
Hong Kong SARCountry / education system5944.0+77Higher than U.S.
Korea, Rep. ofCountry / education system5942.6+77Higher than U.S.
JapanCountry / education system5912.3+74Higher than U.S.
Macao SARCountry / education system5821.0+65Higher than U.S.
LithuaniaCountry / education system5612.9+44Higher than U.S.
Dubai, UAEBenchmarking participant5571.6+40Higher than U.S.
Türkiye (5)Country / education system5534.1+36Higher than U.S.
EnglandCountry / education system5522.7+35Higher than U.S.
IrelandCountry / education system5462.9+29Higher than U.S.
PolandCountry / education system5462.0+29Higher than U.S.
RomaniaCountry / education system5424.8+25Higher than U.S.
NetherlandsCountry / education system5372.0+20Higher than U.S.
LatviaCountry / education system5342.8+17Higher than U.S.
Norway (5)Country / education system5312.0+14Higher than U.S.
BulgariaCountry / education system5303.6+13Higher than U.S.
Czech RepublicCountry / education system5302.2+13Higher than U.S.
SwedenCountry / education system5302.8+13Higher than U.S.
FinlandCountry / education system5292.5+12Higher than U.S.
AustraliaCountry / education system5252.6+8Higher than U.S.
DenmarkCountry / education system5242.1+7Not measurably different
GermanyCountry / education system5242.1+7Not measurably different
SerbiaCountry / education system5233.3+6Not measurably different
Belgium (Flemish)Country / education system5212.4+4Not measurably different
HungaryCountry / education system5203.6+3Not measurably different
PortugalCountry / education system5172.80Not measurably different
United StatesCountry / education system5173.10United States reference
CyprusCountry / education system5162.5−1Not measurably different
Quebec, CanadaBenchmarking participant5152.7−2Not measurably different
Slovak RepublicCountry / education system5153.1−2Not measurably different
SloveniaCountry / education system5141.8−3Not measurably different
ArmeniaCountry / education system5132.8−4Not measurably different
ItalyCountry / education system5132.8−4Not measurably different
AlbaniaCountry / education system5124.9−5Not measurably different
CanadaCountry / education system5042.0−13Lower than U.S.
Sharjah, UAEBenchmarking participant5043.3−13Lower than U.S.
Ontario, CanadaBenchmarking participant5033.4−14Lower than U.S.
GeorgiaCountry / education system4983.1−19Lower than U.S.
SpainCountry / education system4982.1−19Lower than U.S.
United Arab EmiratesCountry / education system4981.2−19Lower than U.S.
AzerbaijanCountry / education system4943.5−23Lower than U.S.
New ZealandCountry / education system4902.6−27Lower than U.S.
Belgium (French)Country / education system4892.4−28Lower than U.S.
KazakhstanCountry / education system4873.6−30Lower than U.S.
FranceCountry / education system4842.9−33Lower than U.S.
MontenegroCountry / education system4772.1−40Lower than U.S.
North MacedoniaCountry / education system4743.6−43Lower than U.S.
QatarCountry / education system4643.5−53Lower than U.S.
BahrainCountry / education system4624.1−55Lower than U.S.
Abu Dhabi, UAEBenchmarking participant4591.9−58Lower than U.S.
KosovoCountry / education system4513.4−66Lower than U.S.
Bosnia & HerzegovinaCountry / education system4473.2−70Lower than U.S.
ChileCountry / education system4442.8−73Lower than U.S.
UzbekistanCountry / education system4433.2−74Lower than U.S.
JordanCountry / education system4275.3−90Lower than U.S.
OmanCountry / education system4214.0−96Lower than U.S.
Iran, Islamic Rep. ofCountry / education system4204.2−97Lower than U.S.
Saudi ArabiaCountry / education system4204.2−97Lower than U.S.
BrazilCountry / education system4003.4−117Lower than U.S.
MoroccoCountry / education system3934.6−124Lower than U.S.
KuwaitCountry / education system3824.4−135Lower than U.S.
South Africa (5)Country / education system3623.5−155Lower than U.S.

SE is the published standard error of the mean. “Higher than U.S.” and “Lower than U.S.” identify p < .05 pairwise differences; nearby rounded scores can remain not measurably different. Grade 8 matrices follow the NCES reporting universe and therefore exclude New Zealand and Côte d’Ivoire from these U.S. comparison tables.

Mean Score Order and Statistical Comparison Are Not the Same
  • Sorting by mean score creates a descriptive order, while the U.S. comparison also uses the uncertainty attached to both estimates. Systems with different displayed means can therefore remain in the “Not measurably different” group.
  • Benchmarking participants are retained because NCES includes them in the peer-system comparisons, but TIMSS excludes them when calculating the cycle international average.
  • The standard-error column makes the uncertainty visible rather than reducing the comparison to an ordinal rank.

Score Distribution and International Benchmarks

NCES reports percentile distributions and benchmark attainment separately from the mean-score comparison. These measures describe different parts of the achievement distribution.

Grade 4 Mathematics
254
U.S. 90th–10th percentile score gap; 90th: 637, 10th: 384
Grade 8 Mathematics
246
U.S. 90th–10th percentile score gap; 90th: 612, 10th: 366
Grade 4 Science
241
U.S. 90th–10th percentile score gap; 90th: 645, 10th: 404
Grade 8 Science
249
U.S. 90th–10th percentile score gap; 90th: 634, 10th: 385

10th–90th Percentile Tables

The NCES TIMSS 2023 report provides the 10th percentile, mean, 90th percentile and score gap for every reported education system in separate mathematics and science figures.

NCES TIMSS 2023 percentile distributions

International Benchmark Attainment

Separate NCES tables report cumulative percentages reaching the Advanced, High, Intermediate and Low TIMSS international benchmarks for each education system.

NCES TIMSS 2023 benchmark tables

Movement Since TIMSS 2019

The four-year comparison separates the mathematics decline from the more stable science results.

NCES Comparison
4Mathematics535517−18Lower in 2023
8Mathematics515488−27Lower in 2023
4Science539532−7Not measurably different
8Science522513−9Not measurably different
Mathematics Declined While Science Was More Stable
  • Grade 8 mathematics recorded the larger 2019–2023 decline, falling 27 points, while Grade 4 mathematics fell 18 points.
  • The seven-point Grade 4 science difference and nine-point Grade 8 science difference were not measurably different from the corresponding 2019 scores under the NCES comparison rule.

Data Sources, Measurement and Comparability

Primary U.S. Source

NCES reports the TIMSS 2023 U.S. international comparisons, percentile distributions, international benchmarks and statistical comparison results.

NCES TIMSS 2023 U.S. Results

Standard Errors

NCES states that standard errors for reported TIMSS 2023 estimates are provided in the downloadable data tables accompanying the figures. The comparison matrices retain those uncertainty estimates beside each mean.

NCES TIMSS 2023 Methodology and Technical Notes

International Source

The IEA international results report publishes country and benchmarking-participant achievement estimates for Grade 4 and Grade 8 mathematics and science.

IEA TIMSS 2023 International Results in Mathematics and Science

Reporting Universe

The NCES U.S. report includes 63 education systems at Grade 4 and 45 at Grade 8. Five Grade 4 systems and three Grade 8 systems are benchmarking participants. They are included in peer-system comparisons but excluded from the TIMSS international average.

Statistical Comparison

NCES uses a p < .05 decision rule. Mean-score order alone does not establish whether one system is measurably higher or lower than another, and the comparison labels should be read together with the standard errors.

Scale and Population

TIMSS achievement is reported on a 0–1,000 scale with a historical centerpoint of 500 and a scale standard deviation of 100. Grade 4 and Grade 8 are separate student populations, and mathematics and science remain separate achievement domains.

U.S. Grade 4 participation met the applicable international requirement after replacement schools were included. At Grade 8, the U.S. sample met the TIMSS Category 3 participation requirement and remained in the international tables and international-average calculations with the applicable reporting notation.

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