Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALSThe quality of educationCross-country inequalitiesand achievement deficitsWhile significant gaps remain, more and morecountries are participating in global and regionalassessment exercises that make it possible tomeasure disparities between countries in termsof the skills students attain after a given periodof learning.The fourth cycle of Trends in InternationalMathematics and Science Study (TIMSS),conducted in 2007 among eighth grade students,shows large gaps in learning achievement betweencountries (Figure 2.36). One way of looking at thesegaps is to consider the range of results. Averagetest scores for students in the Republic of Korea,the top-performing country, were almost twiceas high as for students in Ghana, at the bottomof the league. Viewed from a different vantagepoint, the average student in El Salvador, Ghana,Indonesia and Morocco figures alongside orbelow the poorest-performing 10% of studentsin higher-performing countries.Few of the poorest developing countriesparticipated in TIMSS 2007. Researchers haveattempted to address this limitation byreconfiguring scores from wider test exercises.The results confirm that low-income countries lagfar behind others in learning achievement (Altinok,2008; Hanushek and Woessmann, 2009). Oneassessment in India, conducted in the states ofOrissa and Rajasthan during 2005, used questionsfrom TIMSS to see how students in these statescompared with those in countries participating inthe original TIMSS survey (Das and Zajonc, 2008).The results showed that ninth grade students inOrissa and Rajasthan ranked alongside studentsfrom the poorest-performing TIMSS countries.Learning assessments allow for more thanrelative measurement. TIMSS establishes a seriesof performance thresholds aimed at measuringstudent capabilities. At the low end (scores of400 or less), students have only the most basicknowledge of whole numbers, decimals and basicgraphs. At the upper end (over 550), students canapply their understanding and knowledge in avariety of complex situations. In eighteen of thecountries covered, including Botswana, Egypt andSaudi Arabia, the average student performs belowthe low threshold (Figure 2.36). This points toThere are largegaps in learningachievementbetween countriesFigure 2.36: There are large gaps in learning achievement across countriesDistribution of TIMSS mathematics scale score for eighth grade students in 2007800700OECD Other high income Middle and low incomeAbove theTIMSS highinternationalbenchmark600TIMSS mathematics scale score50040030095th90th50th percentile20010th5th1000Rep. of KoreaJapanHungaryEngland (U. K.)United StatesCzech Rep.AustraliaSwedenScotland (U. K.)ItalyNorwaySingaporeSloveniaMaltaCyprusIsraelBahrainOmanKuwaitSaudi ArabiaQatarRussian Fed.LithuaniaArmeniaSerbiaMalaysiaBulgariaUkraineRomaniaBosnia/Herzeg.LebanonThailandJordanTurkeyTunisiaGeorgiaIran, Isl. Rep.IndonesiaSyrian A. R.EgyptAlgeriaColombiaMoroccoPalestinian A. T.BotswanaEl SalvadorGhanaBelow theTIMSS lowinternationalbenchmarkNotes: The markers show the scale score of the indicated percentile. The fiftieth percentile is the median score for the country. This represents the middle of the distribution,with 50% of students scoring above and below the median. Low benchmark – students have some knowledge of whole numbers and decimals, operations and basic graphs.High benchmark – students can organise and draw conclusions from information, make generalizations and solve non-routine problems.Source: Mullis et al. (2008).105