National Academies Press: OpenBook
« Previous: Recommendations for Making the Most of TIMSS
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 1999. Next Steps for TIMSS: Directions for Secondary Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6433.
×

Summary

BICSE has identified three distinct reasons why the data from TIMSS are valuable. First, teachers, administrators, and others directly involved in schooling can benefit not only from any definitive empirical findings about teaching methods, teacher development, curriculum structure, and many other issues, but also from simply seeing examples of the many alternative approaches to teaching, curriculum design, and the like, that their counterparts around the world have devised. Second, on a somewhat broader scale, policy makers are clearly in search of generalizable empirical findings that can assist them in making difficult decisions and addressing problems. Finally, the pursuit of knowledge about the structure, theory, and practice of education will have benefits in both the short and long term, not only by satisfying the curiosity of scholars—and generating new questions for them to ponder—but by providing the basis for the empirical findings and innovations that fuel progress in education reform.

But, as this report was designed to demonstrate, the work of TIMSS is not complete. The possible benefits of TIMSS will not accrue automatically. TIMSS is complex for important reasons, and consequently easy to misunderstand. Because of its multidisciplinary design, it offers the possibility of comparative insights deeply rooted in the differing contexts that affect student learning. If the tantalizing links among its components can be realized, it offers the possibility of moving comparative research methodology forward in significant ways. These goals can be reached only through further analyses of the data, and such research costs money. The board is surprised that funds have not already been earmarked for secondary research; the examples of many other countries in which secondary research is already well under way only reinforce the point that the United States lags behind. The research is needed not only to obtain further benefits from TIMSS, but also to keep it from being used in ways that are misleading. TIMSS was a vast, collaborative effort; further collaboration is needed to reap its full benefits.

This report has described the approaches to follow-up research based on TIMSS that BICSE believes have the most potential value, and has provided examples of possible specific directions that such research might take. The premises underlying the specific recommendations can be summarized in three simple points:

  • Further research is needed in order both to rigorously evaluate existing knowledge claims and to generate and evaluate other hypotheses.

  • Further research is needed to explore in detail the possibilities for links among the different studies that make up TIMSS.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 1999. Next Steps for TIMSS: Directions for Secondary Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6433.
×
  • Further funding is needed to make the realization of the goals described in the first two recommendations possible. This funding should be directed toward two targets. First, it should facilitate the release of TIMSS datasets in easily accessible formats to encourage secondary data analysis. Second, it should support centers or teams of investigators committed to undertaking research that follows up on the data from TIMSS.

The board is eager to see the TIMSS data continue to benefit both the research and policy communities and hopes, through these recommendations, to contribute to this process.

Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 1999. Next Steps for TIMSS: Directions for Secondary Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6433.
×
Page 28
Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Research Council. 1999. Next Steps for TIMSS: Directions for Secondary Analysis. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/6433.
×
Page 29
Next: References »
Next Steps for TIMSS: Directions for Secondary Analysis Get This Book
×
Buy Paperback | $47.00 Buy Ebook | $37.99
MyNAP members save 10% online.
Login or Register to save!
Download Free PDF

Now that the initial results of The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) have been released, the Board on International Comparative Studies in Education (BICSE) has turned its attention to what happens next. The TIMSS data are potentially useful to researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and others interested in evidence regarding factors that influence student learning. But although the study has produced a remarkable volume of intriguing data, it is by no means complete. Scholarly review of the initial data, evaluations of claims based on the data, and follow-up secondary analysis based on the primary findings are all integral parts of a study of this magnitude, but the bulk of this very important work has not yet begun. Because of the board's serious concern that this necessary work has not been undertaken, or funded, it held a workshop on June 17 and 18, 1998, to explore different perspectives on possible next steps.

The workshop was an invaluable opportunity for the board to explore issues and questions it has addressed over the years and to solidify its thinking about many of them. Because the board is convinced of the importance of moving forward with the TIMSS data, it presents in this report both recommendations as to what ought to be done and many of the innovative specific ideas that emerged from the workshop. These recommendations reflect the board's conviction, based on its many years of involvement with and deliberations about TIMSS, that this study is an extremely rich resource for the policy, scholarly, and practice communities, and that all of these groups have a responsibility to take full advantage of it. The recommendations and discussion in this report are intended to assist both researchers and funders who are considering further work with TIMSS, and a broader audience of researchers, policy makers, practitioners, and others who have followed the TIMSS results and are eager to use them. This report is, in a sense, the culmination of many years of effort for the board.

  1. ×

    Welcome to OpenBook!

    You're looking at OpenBook, NAP.edu's online reading room since 1999. Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website.

    Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features?

    No Thanks Take a Tour »
  2. ×

    Show this book's table of contents, where you can jump to any chapter by name.

    « Back Next »
  3. ×

    ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one.

    « Back Next »
  4. ×

    Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Also, you can type in a page number and press Enter to go directly to that page in the book.

    « Back Next »
  5. ×

    Switch between the Original Pages, where you can read the report as it appeared in print, and Text Pages for the web version, where you can highlight and search the text.

    « Back Next »
  6. ×

    To search the entire text of this book, type in your search term here and press Enter.

    « Back Next »
  7. ×

    Share a link to this book page on your preferred social network or via email.

    « Back Next »
  8. ×

    View our suggested citation for this chapter.

    « Back Next »
  9. ×

    Ready to take your reading offline? Click here to buy this book in print or download it as a free PDF, if available.

    « Back Next »
Stay Connected!