TIMSS is a series of assessments held by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) since 1995 every four years with more than 60 countries participating.
The goal of the study is to assess the quality of elementary and middle school students’ educational achievements in mathematics and sciences. Study participants are 4th and 8th grade students, school administration, teachers of mathematics and sciences and fourth graders’ parents. Students participate in testing and surveying, while parents, school administration and teachers complete surveys. The assessments format was paper basedФ (1995 – 2015гг.). Starting from 2023 TIMSS will be conducted using digital assessment format.
The uniqness of the study is that the same group of students take part in the assessment. In a lot of countries fourth grade is the concluding stage of elementary education. In four years time fourth graders become eighth grade students, allowing to assess the progress made while transitioning from elementary (4th grade) to middle school (8th grade).
Participating in TIMSS allows to collect objective data that can be used in international comparative analysis and identify strenghts and weaknesses of kazakhstani educational system. Moreover assessment results provide access to national database to analyze findings and identify factors contributing to students’ achievements and design effective education policy recomendations.
STUDIES IN KAZAKHSTAN
So far Kazakhstan participated in four TIMSS cycles (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019). 3990 kazakhstani fourth graders from 141 schools participated in TIMSS-2007, 8775 students including 4385 fourth graders and 4390 eighth graders from 154 schools participated in TIMSS 2011, 9579 students, including 4710 fourth graders and 4869 eighth graders from 179 schools participated in TIMSS 2015. 9244 students, including 4791 fourth graders and 4453 eighth graders from 176 schools participated in TIMSS 2019.
In 2021 Kazakhstan is preparing to participate in the next TIMSS-2023 assessment cycle, where digital assessment format will be administered.