Three components of this project include convening policy forums for education policy makers, augmenting TIMSS by the collection of many additional national-level variables, and completing a considerable number of secondary analysis of augmented TIMSS data. The purpose of the analysis is to discover why American 8th and 12th graders performed poorly in international comparisons on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. The expanded research base provided by the results of this project should make a substantial contribution to achieving national goals. The project will capitalize on the comprehensive data about mathematics and science education including student achievement scores, curriculum standards, curriculum content taught, instructional methods used, tracking and testing practices, qualifications and working conditions of teachers, student and family background factors, cultural context, and characteristics of the educational systems and policies. The project will build statistical models of causal relationships.
