Description:
This data set (Learner achievement tests - BSA) contains the responses of students in the eighth grade, to mathematics and science assessment items conducted in 2011. The TIMSS data had a blocked design and different blocks were spread across 14 test booklets. This means that learners did not complete all items in all the blocks.
Of the 298 sampled schools, 285 schools were included in the 2011 round of TIMSS and the tests were administered to 11969 learners. The data set has 581 variables.
Abstract:
TIMSS is a cross-national assessment of mathematics and science knowledge of fourth and eighth grades. It is conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) every four years since 1995. South Africa took part in four cycles of TIMSS namely; in 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2011 with fieldwork being conducted in September of 2011. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) conducted the study in 285 schools and assessed 11969 learners across South Africa. To prevent a cluster of scores at the lower end of the scale and to ensure sufficient variance in the data for robust analyses; TIMSS was administered to grade 9 learners in South Africa. As part of the TIMSS study mathematics and science tests and background questionnaires are administered to an intact grade 9 class within a sampled school. TIMSS uses the results from the tests and questionnaires which are administered to learners, teachers and principals to determine the achievement scores as well as the factors associated with academic success.
More specifically, the database includes the following for each country for which internationally comparable data are available:
Students' responses to each of the mathematics and science items administered in the study
Student achievement scores in mathematics and science
Students' responses to the student questionnaires
Teachers' responses to the teacher questionnaires
Principals' responses to the school questionnaires
Self-completion
Department of Basic Education Master list of schools
Department of Basic Education Master list of schools database served as the sampling frame. 298 schools sampled and 285 schools realised providing a realisation of 95.6%.
The TIMSS sampling design is a two-stage stratified cluster design:
Selecting a sample of schools from all eligible schools;
Randomly selecting a mathematics and science intact class from each sampled school;
The sample was explicitly stratified by:
province;
the language of teaching and learning (English, Afrikaans and dual medium);
school type (Public Dinaledi and Independent); and
Implicitly stratified by:
quintile (school poverty index); and
location (urban or rural).
