Bright sign for tech in Mass.

Science, math pupils near top internationally

Science class yesterday at Bradley Elementary in East Boston. About 3,600 Massachusetts students were tested. (Globe Staff Photo / David L. Ryan)

Massachusetts students significantly outperformed their peers nationwide on a prestigious math and science exam, putting the state on an elite international tier, according to results released yesterday.

In many cases, the state's impressive showing on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (conducted by Boston College) puts Massachusetts in the same league with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore - academic heavyweights that have long made US policy-makers fearful of losing an economic competitive edge.

It also bodes well for the state as it tries to develop a more sophisticated workforce in the sciences and emerging technologies.

"This is a tribute to the work of the Commonwealth's students, teachers, and administrators," state Education Commissioner Mitchell Chester said in a telephone interview. "This is a validation of the educational reforms undertaken in the last decade-plus and the financial investment that was made."

Massachusetts performed best on the Grade 4 science exam, coming in second just behind Singapore and ahead of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan. By contrast, the United States as a whole placed 11th with a score that researchers characterized as significantly lower than that of Massachusetts.

Richard Stutman, president of the Boston Teachers Union, said the results reaffirm what many teachers, parents, and other stake-holders already know: "The teaching and learning in our schools are top-notch."

The test, more commonly known as TIMSS, was developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement in Amsterdam and is considered the largest assessment of international student performance in math and science. Some 425,000 fourth- and eighth-graders in more than four dozen countries took the exam last year. It has been given every four years since 1995.

The results mirror the state's strong showing on national standardized tests in math and science. But at home, students have struggled at times on the state's own standardized tests, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System exams, which are noted nationally for their high expectations. The inability of some students to pass the MCAS has caused about half of the state's schools to miss performance targets established under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which judges both schools and subsets of students based on standardized test results in their states.

The TIMSS study does not evaluate individual school performance or that of subsets of students at a school. The study doesn't even collectively track the performance of students based on race or ethnicity because demographics vary so much from one country to another.

The TIMSS exam is administered nationally but individual regions can take it separately, though the latter requires the testing of more students. The decision to go separately cost Massachusetts $600,000, instead of having the federal government foot the bill.

Massachusetts and Minnesota were the only states to participate as independent entities. Minnesota consistently trailed Massachusetts but did better than the US average.

Massachusetts had not participated as its own "nation" since 1999, when only the state's eighth-graders took the exam. Massachusetts businesses pushed state education leaders two years ago to test both grade levels, seeking evidence that the state remains competitive in a global economy. In Massachusetts, about 95 randomly selected public schools administered exams to 3,600 fourth- and eighth-graders.

"I knew when we jumped into this that we would find some good news," said Christopher Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and a former chairman of the state Board of Education who advocated for rejoining the TIMSS study. "This is a very good metric to have. Whether good or troubling, it can lead us to identify areas we need to invest more heavily in."

The state - long recognized as a national leader in overhaul efforts - showed remarkable gains in its scores, greatly outpacing the incremental improvements nationwide.

In eighth-grade math, the state's score rose 34 points to 547 from eight years ago, compared with a 7-point increase for the United States, which averaged 508 last year. In eighth-grade science, the state's score rose 23 points to 556, compared with a 5-point gain for the United States, which scored 520 last year. The top possible score on each exam was 800.

The study reflects a continued achievement edge for male students in math and science in Massachusetts and across the nation, although it is shrinking. In many cases around the globe, female performance is now meeting or exceeding that of male students, but researchers still are concerned about female students in those subject areas.

"Even though girls are catching up with boys, they still have less confidence than boys in doing math and science," said Ina V.S. Mullis, executive director at the TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center at Boston College.

One remedy being explored in Massachusetts is teaching girls separately from boys in math and science, which some research suggests helps female students to be more comfortable in class. However, groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union caution against gender segregation, believing it could lead to an inferior education.

While state education leaders and education advocates praised the results, they stressed the need for more academic improvement and continued investment in education, even as the state grapples with a weak economy and declining revenue. They pointed out that some nations still greatly exceed the state's performance on the TIMSS and that those nations continue to ramp up academic rigor.

For instance, even though the state's fourth-graders ranked fourth in math with a score of 572, Hong Kong topped the list with a score 35 points higher - a difference researchers considered statistically significant.

In other cases, a significantly larger number of students from Asian countries scored in the top tier of the test than those from Massachusetts.

"In order for us to maintain a healthy economic infrastructure, we need to make sure more students score in the top category," Chester said.

A study by the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy that will be released on Friday recommends that the state invest more money in low-performing schools to boost science achievement, by lengthening school days or providing financial incentives for more qualified teachers to teach here. The study looked at several top-performing and low-performing schools in science.

"While we might do well in overall student performance, we have work to do in bridging the disparity between schools that serve higher-income students and those that serve lower-income students," said Jill Norton, the center's executive director. "When celebrating successes, we still need to pay attention to the work that still needs to be done."

The scores drew praise from state leaders.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy said: "I applaud Massachusetts for its strong results on the TIMSS across grades and subject areas, which place it among the highest-performing nations. These results show that the hard work of education reform that Massachusetts began years ago . . . continues to pay off."

Governor Deval Patrick called the achievement "the result of the commitment to high standards of teachers and students in classrooms across the Commonwealth. We cannot and will not let up until all students are performing at their very best."