The object of study is the international knowledge assessments and attention is given to the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) and the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). As a way to explain the content in the international knowledge assessments an historical exposition about the IEA and OECD is written. International knowledge assessment is studied in relation to the national and international perspective, but also in relation to educational governing. By doing this concepts of globalisation and internationalisation are discussed as communication patterns. It is then possible to understand organisations like the IEA and OECD as institutionalised communication channels. If this is done it is possible to discuss globalisation and internationalisation as something else than an inevitable endpoint. Through institutionalised communication channels international knowledge assessments appear in national contexts and some observations can be made. The first one is that international knowledge assessments reformulate relationships. In this the educational actors on national levels are observed. These actors are involved in a struggle for power over definition in what should be seen as educational problems and solutions. In this the actors and the educational system they represent tries to strive and communicate modernity, strong international competitiveness and development. Secondly the actors when reformulating the international ideologies into national contexts transform extern priorities to internal priorities. Thirdly an international ideology might be understood as isomorphic ideology. When the isomorphic ideology impacts national contexts it has to be mediated. The mediation is driven by the fact that it is constituted by the national context, but also by the different roles the actors take or are given. The notion about isomorphic ideology is investigated more properly in Appendix I, in relation to UNESCO, and it is declared that international cooperations are part of nations urge to make their educational institutions more effective. In relation to the conclusion from Appendix I international knowledge assessments are interpreted as a technological/instrumental method for making the production process more effective. When the international knowledge assessments come down in national contexts some empirical reactions can be discussed. This is analysed from examples taken from the Swedish context, but these results are also in relation to the contexts in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. In the study examples are given on how international knowledge assessments are given meaning by political, administrative and media actors. It is primarily three results that can be uplifted. International knowledge assessments are used as an arena for communication in which arguments can be fetched and discussions can be made. International knowledge assessments are also used as present point descriptions, and point of departure for descriptions of educational vision of the future. And finally they are used for legitimising or repudiating politics of education.

Undersökningens syftet har varit att studera hur politiker uttalar i den politiska debatt om elever som går ur grundskolan utan att nå målen i matematik. Om det är så att allt fler eleverna går ur grundskolan utan att nå målen i matematik: Vad beror det i så fall på? Vad har politikerna i så fall för åtgärder emot detta? Hur står sig svenska elevers kunskaper i jämförelse med elever i andra länder? Studien är utformad som en kvalitativt inriktad textanalys med hermeneutiska inslag. Det empiriska materialet utgörs av riksdagens protokoll från sex debatter som innehåller 147 sidor debatter och interpellationer mellan åren 2000 till 2008. Diagrammen i detta arbete visar elever som inte uppnått målen dvs. erhållit betyget IG i matematik mellan åren 2003 till 2007. Då resultaten från diagram 3 visar att den största andelen elever som går ur grundskolan utan att nå målen dvs. erhåller betyget IG i matematik är elever med utländsk bakgrund tolkar jag att det är av stor vikt att politiker diskuterar om dessa elever. Endas en av 15 politiker som analyserades i detta arbete gjorde försök till att skapa en debatt om elever med utländsk bakgrund som inte uppnått målen men fick inte något gensvar bland de andra politikerna i debatten. Det var vänsterpartisten Dinamarca försökte få i gång en debatt om elever med utländsk bakgrund men fick inte någon respons från någon av de andra politikerna. Dinamarca tar upp några bakomliggande orsaker till varför elever går ur grundskolan utan att nå målen i matematik. I sitt anförande hänvisar hon till Skolverket som presenterat ”resultaten från 2006 års nationella ämnesprov”. Dinamarca markerar att det framkom i Skolverkets rapport att elever till högutbildade föräldrar klarar kunskapsproven i betydligt högre grad än de elever vars föräldrar har lågutbildning och detta visar sig redan i årskurs 5 menar hon. Faktorer som ”slår igenom ” på elevernas resultat påpekade Dinamarca var: föräldrarnas utbildningsnivå vilket visas redan i årskurs 5 och elever med utländsk bakgrund erhåller betyget IG i matematik i större utsträckning än elever med svensk bakgrund, vilket även mitt diagram 3 visar. Det som ”slår igenom mest” på elevernas resultat är mammans utbildningsnivå, betonar hon. Jag ställer mig frågande till varför inte politikerna i debatten debatterade om den största andelen elever som inte når målen dvs. erhållit betyget IG i matematik. Resultatet i detta arbete visar att läsförståelsen utgör en viktig del för elever om de ska kunna tillgodogöra sig matematik. Analysen visade ytterligare att då politiker uttalar sig om hur svenska elevers kunskaper står sig i jämförelse med elever i andra länder att det varken startas nya debatter eller att det kommer fram något nytt i debatterna.

Enligt internationella studier har svenska elevers matematikkunskaper försämrats under de senaste åren, och det pågår en livlig debatt om den svenska skolans kvalitet och vilka brister som finns i undervisningen. Syftet med denna studie var därför att undersöka vilka didaktiska faktorer som kan ligga bakom svenska elevers försämrade resultat, samt vad vi lärare kan göra åt det. Genom kvalitativa intervjuer med tre lärarutbildare inom matematik, samt fyra lärare med inriktning mot ämnet, undersöktes informanternas uppfattningar om bakomliggande faktorer samt insatser som behövs för att vända trenden. Undersökningen visar att den största didaktiska faktorn bakom problemet är lärares låga ämneskunskaper. Även den starka läromedelstraditionen i Sverige, samt försummande av resonerande och problemlösande matematik har bidragit. Fokus i den svenska matematikundervisningen ligger på mekaniskt räknande, vilket ofta leder till att eleverna inte lär sig att tänka matematiskt, och förståelsen för ämnet uteblir. För att komma till rätta med problemet behöver alla lärares ämneskunskaper öka, och kontinuerlig fortbildning borde vara en naturlig del av yrket. Det undersökningen tydligt pekat på är hur nära sammankopplat lärares ämneskunskaper är med lärarutbildningens antagningskrav och kraven inom utbildningen, samt läraryrkets status. Faktorerna påverkar varandra, och ökar vi kraven inom samtliga områden kan det ha mycket positiva följder, både för lärarprofessionen, utbildningskvaliteten, och framförallt elevernas kunskapsnivå.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of mathematics teacher and classroom characteristics on students&rsquo / mathematics achievement across Turkey,European Union countries and the other candidate countries by analysing the data collected from student and teacher background questionnaire and mathematics achievement test in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS-R). Mathematics teacher characteristics were divided into three groups as teacher&rsquo / s background variables, teacher&rsquo / s instructional practices and class characteristics. Except Cyprus, in all the other countries, there was sufficient amount of between-class variance to build explanatory models. After home educational resources (HER) of students was taken as a control variable, explanatory models were built by using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). The amount of variance explained by the full model ranged from 26 % in Romania to 74 % in Netherlands. There were substantial differences among the countries, especially in the teacher&rsquo / s instructional practices. It was found that mean of HER had high effect on student mathematics achievement in all the countries except Romania. It is recommended that the factors that were found to have significant effects on student learning should be explored in experimental settings.

The purpose of the study is to investigate how well the mathematics achievement is explained by the students and school related factors. Also, to what extent students and school related factors components are accounted for students&rsquo / mathematics achievement in answering reasoning level questions and basic mathematical knowledge questions will be investigated. This study will basically combine students&rsquo / questionnaires items with their mathematics achievement scores obtained from mathematics achievement tests items. According to content and cognitive domains three achievement tests were prepared from TIMSS-2003 released mathematic items. Student questionnaire consist of combination of items from TIMSS-2003 and TMSS-1999 student questionnaires. The seventy six items selected from the students questionnaires were analyzed using principle component factor analysis and ten interpretable dimensions were found. Based on the result of the factor analysis, variables were generated by selecting the observed variables with highest loadings. These variables were: socioeconomic status, perception of success, teacher centered activities, students centered activities, out of school activities, out of school activities II, school climate, reason for being successful in mathematics, homework and computer. The data which is used in the study gathered from four socially and economically different schools in Ankara and the final sample of the study consisted of 426 elementary school students. This data was analyzed by using regression analysis. Regression analysis results indicated that socio-economic status was the strongest factor explaining mathematics achievement. Other important variables were the perception of success, use of computers and homework activities. Socioeconomic status and perception of success have positive relationships with mathematics achievement, while homework and computer have negative relationships. These four variables account for the 30.1 % of the variance in mathematics achievement. Other variables did not significantly contribute to mathematics achievement in the regression model. Students&rsquo / achievement in basic mathematical knowledge was explained by the same variables which were socioeconomic status, perception of success, homework and computer in the same way. However, achievement in reasoning level explained by socio- economic status, perception of success and homework. The use of computer factor did not contribute the achievement in reasoning level.

The present study aimed to (1) Investigate the comparability of PISA 2006 and TIMSS 2007 (2) Analyze the similarities and differences of frameworks of PISA 2006 and TIMSS 2007. In accordance with the purpose of the study, content analysis was done. Content analyses showed that content of two international studies were similar to each other in some extent. The competencies and cognitive skills were also similar on surface whereas the base of the competencies and cognitive skills were different. In order to find similarities and differences, the items assessing the similar cognitive skills were selected for PISA and TIMSS. The analysis of the items in terms of the percentage of Turkish students&rsquo / correct answers demonstrated that while identifying scientific issues in PISA and knowing in TIMSS were not similar, explaining phenomena scientifically in PISA and applying in TIMSS and using scientific evidence in PISA and reasoning in TIMSS were similar.

The purpose of this study is to investigate teacher background indices and their relation to mathematics achievement. For this purpose, the data collected from 146 Turkish mathematics teachers and 4498 8th grade Turkish students with the instruments - mathematics teacher background questionnaire and mathematics achievement test in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2007) were analyzed by using the Pearson&rsquo / s Product Moment Correlation. The teacher background indices, constructed by TIMSS, were The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Reports on Teaching Mathematics Classes with Few or No Limitations, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Emphasis on Mathematics Homework, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Perception of School Climate, The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Adequate Working Conditions and The Index of Teachers&rsquo / Perception of Safety in School. The results of the correlation analysis yielded significant relationships except for the emphasis on homework. Students whose teachers characterized their school climate positive and their working conditions adequate got significantly higher scores. Moreover, for limitation to teach index variable, students having teachers who commented the related factors do not limit their instruction were found to be more successful than the other students. However, it is concluded that teachers in this study considered their school climate and working conditions as negative and thought there were lots of limitations to teach. On the other hand, although majority of the teachers reported that they feel safe in their schools, there were teachers who disagreed with the idea. This study includes some suggestions for further researchers to investigate the results of this study in detail and some implications to develop teachers&rsquo / perceptions positively.

<p>Denna studie utgår från ett sociokulturellt perspektiv på lärande. Syftet med studien är att beskriva och förklara muntliga naturvetenskapliga prestationer mot bakgrunden av provsituationens kommunikativa karaktär samt jämföra dessa prestationer med de som framkommer i en skriftlig provsituation, TIMSS. För att uppfylla dessa syften har jag intervjuat en liten grupp elever. Intervjuerna har byggt på skriftliga frågor från TIMSS, men har kompletterats med artefakter och en samarbetsorienterad samtalspartner. De flesta av de intervjuade eleverna lyckades prestera, utifrån TIMSS, rätt svar i tre av de fyra situationerna som presenterades. Detta trots att de inte visade sig besitta de naturvetenskapliga kunskaper som förväntades. Dessutom använde eleverna främst ett vardagligt språk i sina förklaringar och motiveringar, inte ett naturvetenskapligt. Utan tillgång till en aktiv samtalspartner hade de intervjuade elevernas möjlighet att svara rätt på frågorna minskat avsevärt.</p>

International mathematics assessments have established students in East Asia as among the best in the world and their U.S. counterparts as mediocre. What is not clear is why this “achievement gap” exists. The last major study to address this question, Stevenson and Stigler’s (1992) The Learning Gap, was published prior to empirical and methodological advances in international comparative research on education. Prevailing wisdom points to unverified differences in cultural beliefs, which often leads to defeatist conclusions. This dissertation offers a fresh perspective by applying sociological theory and methods to the issue. Specifically, I rely on underutilized data from the 2003 and 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of fourth graders to compare educational systems across three major factors that influence math achievement: curriculum, teachers and parents. My main empirical findings are that there is greater uniformity of math instruction across classrooms in the participating East Asian nations of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan than in the U.S. and that, among all participating educational systems, average achievement tends to be higher in those with greater uniformity of instruction. The implication is that the institutional arrangements that allow for less uniformity of instruction across classrooms in the U.S. might be partially responsible for the gap. Cross-regional differences in teacher effectiveness might also account for part of the gap, as three-level, hierarchical linear models of achievement in each nation indicate that U.S. math teachers are less effective than their East Asian counterparts—even after the quantity of instruction provided is taken into account. The main theoretical contribution is an alternative explanation for the apparent cross-regional disparity in the proportion of involved parents, which highlights how schools can make a difference in whether or not parents become involved. Such an approach promises a way out of the dead-end reached by previous theorists. However, this dissertation also draws attention to the limitations of the existing data. At present, there is not enough information available to substantiate the policy recommendations made in previous studies. As such, a central aim of this dissertation is to put research onto sounder methodological footing. / Sociology

The purpose of this study has two phases. In the first phase, a model that explains students&rsquo / mathematics achievement in TIMSS-R will be proposed. In the second phase, the proposed model will be evaluated to interpret the similarities and differences across three culturally and linguistically different countries / Turkey, the Netherlands, and Italy. This study will basically combine students&rsquo / answers on TIMSS-R Students Questionnaire items with their mathematics achievement scores obtained from TIMSS-R Mathematics Achievement Test. In order to achieve this, items in the student questionnaire will be grouped under latent variables and then the related models will be established. Thirty-seven items selected from the TIMSS-R Student Questionnaire were analyzed using principle component factor analysis for each country. The results indicated seven interpretable dimensions. Based on the results&rsquo / of factor analysis of Turkey, the latent variables were generated by selecting the observed variables with highest loadings. These latent variables were / out-of-school activities, socioeconomic status, importance given to math, math classroom iv climate, perception of failure, teacher-centered and student-centered activities. The proposed mathematics achievement model was tested by structural equation modeling for each country separately with the sample of 4772, 2728, and 2781 eighth grade students in Turkey, the Netherlands, and Italy, respectively. In all of the countries perception of failure was the strongest factor explaining the mathematics achievement of the eighth grade students. The other two important factors explaining mathematics achievement were socioeconomic status and student-centered activities for Turkey and Italy / out-of-school activities and importance given to math for the Netherlands. The results indicated that Turkey and Italy have more similar results when compared with the Netherlands. Different than the other countries in Turkey instructional activities formed two separate dimensions such as / teacher-centered and student-centered instructional activities. Since this finding emphasized the important role of teacher in the Turkish education system, it was suggested that more importance should be given to the teacher education.