Next Steps for TIMSS: Directions for Secondary Analysis by Board on International Comparative Studies in Education

Author:Board on International Comparative Studies in Education
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Education : Policy, Reviews and Evaluations
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 1999-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

RECOMMENDATION: EXPLORE WAYS TO RELATE THE TIMSS DATA TO OTHER SOURCESOF DATA

Each country that participated in TIMSS has now received its own national data, and all have access to the international data. Anecdotal reports indicate that secondary research is already well under way in a number of countries, and it is likely that both direct collaboration with non-U.S. scholars as well as research that builds on existing work could considerably enhance the value to be gained from TIMSS. Data from other sources within the United States, such as the National Educational Longitudinal Study and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), as well as other international data might also provide possibilities for interesting follow-up analyses. As is discussed elsewhere in this report, more detailed portraits of the education systems and contexts for learning in other countries could be of great value as researchers attempt to explore puzzles in the data and pursue specific comparisons between individual countries. Germany and Japan are obvious targets for future research because of the three-country studies that were part of TIMSS, but high-achieving countries such as Singapore, and others that stand out for various reasons, may be producing research that follows up on their own national data.

As secondary analysis moves forward, it will also be important for the TIMSS research community to find ways to take note of findings that confirm, complement, or contradict one another. Such findings can obviously prevent unnecessary duplication of effort; they can also strengthen policy conclusions and generate promising leads. Finally, it will be important for researchers to determine the extent to which the TIMSS data confirm or contradict existing sources of data that bear on mathematics and science learning at the three target age levels. Work has been done to establish statistical links between TIMSS and NAEP (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1998). Because there are many differences between the two assessment systems, only limited formal links have been established, but the possibilities inherent in such links, and in looser connections with other sources of data, need to be explored. On a broader scale, the TIMSS results should be evaluated in light of findings from the considerable existing literature on mathematics and science learning.

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