A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Foreword

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), the most extensive international educational comparison ever done, contains a wealth of information about how U.S. students perform in these two critical areas and how various aspects of our educational system affect their performance. Whether the messages from TIMSS spur genuine education reform will depend in large part on the actions of policymakers and educators at the local, state, and national levels.

To explore the policy implications of TIMSS, the National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policymaking, and Management of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI) in the U.S. Department of Education, and the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE), held a TIMSS Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. on October 6 and 7, 1997. This forum brought together a diverse group of TIMSS researchers, state and local policymakers, teachers, school administrators, mathematics and science specialists, business representatives, university educators, and federal officials. Participants discussed what TIMSS means for systemic education reform and identified several future directions for policy decisions and policy research.

This policy brief synthesizes the presentations and discussions that occurred during the TIMSS Policy Forum. It also draws from the TIMSS reports of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and from papers prepared by researchers involved in TIMSS.

[Title page]

[Executive Summary]