The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States; conduct and publish reports and specialized analyses of the meaning and significance of such statistics; assist state and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems; and review and report on education activities in foreign countries. We strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a variety of audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating information effectively. If you have any comments or suggestions about this or any other NCES product or report, we would like to hear from you. Please direct your comments to: ii iii Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank the students, teachers, and school officials who participated in TIMSS 2003. Their time and effort have provided invaluable data to the nation. The authors also wish to thank all of those who contributed to the design, writing, production, and review of this report for their thoughtful critique, insightful suggestions, and creativity. In particular, the authors acknowledge the contributions of

portion of the TIMSS 1999 Video Study included Australia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. In this article, we focus on the mathematics lessons; the science results will be available at a later date. Stimulated by a summary article that appeared in the Kappan and by other reports, interest in the TIMSS 1995 Video Study focused on its novel methodology and the striking differences in teaching found in the participating countries. In particular, the sample of eighth-grade Understanding and Improving Mathematics Teaching: Highlights from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States; conduct and publish reports and specialized analyses of the meaning and significance of such statistics; assist state and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems; and review and report on education activities in foreign countries. NCES activities are designed to address high priority education data needs; provide consistent, reliable, complete, and accurate indicators of education status and trends; and report timely, useful, and high quality data to the U.S. Department of Education, the Congress, the states, other education policymakers, practitioners, data users, and the general public. We strive to make our products available in a variety of formats and in language that is appropriate to a variety of audiences. You, as our customer, are the best judge of our success in communicating information effectively. If you have any comments or suggestions about this or any other NCES product or report, we would like to hear from you. Please direct your comments to: National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education Sciences U.S. Department of Education 1990 K Street, NW Washington, DC 20006 September 2003 The NCES World Wide Web Home Page is