Preliminary-Blueprint-Eng

Malaysia’s performance in the 2003 cycle showed some improvement
in achievement. The score for Mathematics fell slightly to 508,
although the country remained above the international average and its
ranking actually rose to 10th out of 45 countries. Its performance in
Science improved by 18 points to 510, well above the international
average and ranked 20th out of 45 countries.
The 2007 results, however, saw a marked downturn with both
Mathematics and Science scores falling below the international
average. The Mathematics score fell 34 points to 474 (20th position
out of 48 countries). The Science score fell to 471 (21st out of 48
countries).
Up to 20% of students in Malaysia did not meet the minimum
benchmarks in Mathematics and Science in 2007, a two- to fourfold
increase since 2003 (Exhibit 3-9). These students were shown to
understand basic Mathematics and Science concepts but generally
struggled to apply this knowledge.
EXHIBIT 3-9
Comparison of Malaysia’s internal performance on TIMSS (1999-2007)
TIMSS Mathematics scores, 1999-2007
Percent of students
Advanced 1
Intermediate
Below
Minimum 2
10
83
7
1999
6
87
7
2003
SOURCE: TIMSS 1999, 2003, and 2007
2
80
18
2007
TIMSS Science scores, 1999-2007
Percent of students
Advanced 1
Intermediate
Below
Minimum 2
1 Advanced: Students can organise information, make generalisations, solve non-routine problems and draw and justify
conclusions from data
2 Below minimum: Students have little to no subject knowledge
NOTE: The language used in 1999 and 2003 was Bahasa Malaysia. In 2007, it was in both English and Bahasa Malaysia
A breakdown of student performance in the most recent TIMSS 2007
results in comparison to other systems shows that relatively few of
Malaysia’s students are excelling. Only 2-3% of Malaysian students
perform at the highest benchmark level, such as complex problemsolving;
in comparison, more than 30% of students in Singapore scored
at the advanced level in Mathematics and Science (Exhibit 3-10).
5
82
13
1999
4
91
5
2003
3
77
20
2007
EXHIBIT 3-10
Comparison of Malaysia’s 2007 TIMSS performance against
other countries
% of students by performance level in
TIMSS Mathematics
40
40
58 57
2
South
Korea
Singapore 3
31
63
79
17
Romania
63
34
Thailand
1 Advanced benchmark: able to organize information, make generalisations, solve non-routine problems
and draw and justify conclusions from data
Note: Countries arranged by proportion of students in advanced level in descending order
SOURCE: TIMSS 2007 for 8th Grade
Hong Kong 6
4
3
2
80
18
Malaysia
2
73
25
Int’l
average
0
48
52
Indonesia
32
61
7
Singapore
17
80
3
South
Korea
10
82
Hong Kong 8
Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025
Chapter 3 Current Performance
3
3
3
77 77 75 75
20
Malaysia
20
Thailand
22
Int’l
average
Romania
Advanced
Intermediate
Below minimum
1
% of students by performance level in
TIMSS Science
Delving into the TIMSS data provides further insights about the
performance of the education system in terms of Mathematics and
Science. TIMSS assesses student proficiency across three different
types of cognitive skills: knowledge recall, the application of knowledge
in solving problems, and the ability to reason in working through
problems. Malaysian students did not perform well with regards to any
of these three dimensions (Exhibit 3-11).
EXHIBIT 3-11
Comparison of TIMSS 2007 student performance along the
dimensions of knowledge, application and reasoning
Scores in TIMSS Mathematics
TIMSS 2007 score
Indonesia
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Singapore
South Korea
300 400 500 600
397
398
405
477
478
468
SOURCE: TIMSS 2007 for 8th Grade
574
569
557
581
593
579
596
595
579
Scores in TIMSS Science
TIMSS 2007 score
600
500
425
426
438
458
473
487
532
522
533
543
547
558
554
567
564
400
2
23
Indonesia
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Singapore
0
65
35
Indonesia
Knowledge
Applying
South Korea
Reasoning
3-8