TIMSS assessment a global indicator of education level

TIMSS assessment a global indicator of education level

By Khaled Al-Abdulhadi

KUWAIT: Hundreds of grade 8 and grade 4 students across Kuwait took the TIMSS mathematics and science assessments to measure their performance in the two subjects. The tests, which were conducted by the National Center for Education Development in cooperation with the education ministry, were held in several schools across the country last week, as part of an international study that aims at evaluating the educational level of students in the country.

The 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study is one of the best studies done in Kuwait for this purpose so far, because it evaluates eighth grade students who were included in the same study when they were in the fourth grade during the COVID-19 crisis. Students from 300 schools across the country took the test. “We will see the extent of the impact of the crisis on these students,” said Nasser Al-Mutairi, a member of the media committee at the National Center for Education Development.

Conducted every four years since 1995, TIMSS measures how effective countries are in teaching mathematics and science. It’s administered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), headquartered in the Netherlands. Kuwait was one of the first Arab