Title: School Mathematics in the United States: Report from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
Speaker: William Schmidt, Michigan State University

This presentation will provide the principal author of the U.S. national report and the first published international reports for the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) a chance to present them to the AMS community. The TIMSS is a study of mathematics and science education in approximately fifty nations, involving more than 12,650 schools, 25,300 teachers and 655,000 students was conducted under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Its purpose was the comprehensive and integrated study of national goals, teaching, and achievement in mathematics and science education. The U.S. has participated in this study since its inception and has provided, through the U.S. National Research Center, leadership in the design of new techniques for the study of textbooks and curricula, teacher survey instruments and content and cognitive specifications for the achievement test. A major innovation in the TIMSS is the possibility of integrative analyses directly relating national goals, textbooks, teachers' instructional practices, and student achievement. Descriptions of these analyses, and the discussion of the implications of findings from these for U.S. policy for mathematics education will constitute the central, unifying theme of this presentation.