TIMSS Advanced 2008

Last week, the results from the TIMSS Advanced 2008 were released. The TIMSS assessment is probably well known to most, and the TIMSS video studies might also be familiar to some, but what exactly is TIMSS Advanced? The following description from the official website might explain some of the confusion:

TIMSS Advanced 2008 assesses student achievement in advanced mathematics and physics in the final year of secondary school—the twelfth grade in many countries. TIMSS Advanced is part of IEA’s series of TIMSS international assessments designed to provide comparative information about educational achievement across countries. Because TIMSS Advanced assesses students in their last year of secondary school who have studied advanced mathematics or physics to prepare them for further study of mathematics and science at the tertiary level, the results are of particular importance for educational decision making. (Source: http://timss.bc.edu/timss_advanced/index.html)

If you want to take a closer look at the full report from this study, you can check out this link (this is a direct link to a 33MB pdf file!). In case you want to dig even deeper into all the details and documentation of this study, you might want to take a look at The TIMSS Advanced 2008 Technical Report (14MB).

References
Arora, A., Foy, P., Martin, M.O., & Mullis, I.V.S. (Eds.). (2009). TIMSS Advanced 2008 Technical Report. Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College.

Mullis, I.V.S., Martin, M.O., Robitaille, D.F., & Foy, P. (2009). TIMSS Advanced 2008 International Report: Findings from IEA's Study of Achievement in Advanced Mathematics and Physics in the Final Year of Secondary School. Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College.