On November 9, 2016, the American Institutes for Research hosted a presentation and discussion on the analysis of large-scale international assessment data.

Analyses often focus on average student performance; in particular, how a country’s average performance compares to that of other countries and how it has changed over time. However, such a focus provides little insight into a country’s success in educating its low-and high-performing students.

Published reports from large-scale international assessments have included tables with percentiles of achievement that show how scores at the 10th and 90th percentiles compare across countries. However, prior research has not systematically examined and statistically tested these gaps in achievement between low- and high-performing students and whether these achievement gaps have narrowed or widened over time.

In this webinar, the results of these analyses using mathematics data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) were presented.

An Average Is Just an Average: What About Countries’ Low- and High-Performing Students? from American Institutes for Research on Vimeo. 

Panelists

Presenter: David C. Miller, Principal Researcher, American Institutes for Research

Discussant: Stephen Provasnik, TIMSS U.S. National Research Coordinator, National Center for Education Statistics

Moderator: Sarah Sparks, Assistant Editor/Research Reporter, Inside School Research, Education Week

About the RISE Webinar Series

The Research on International Studies in Education (RISE) Webinar Series showcases research using data from international studies and promotes sharing and discussion about how data-based evidence can be used for improving educational outcomes. The RISE Webinar Series is organized by AIR. To receive emails about RISE and invitations to upcoming webinars, please email RISE@air.org.