Lebanon has been participating in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) since 2003 – an international assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of fourth grade and eighth grade students around the world. Lebanon however has been participating on the 8th grade level only (not sure why) with TIMSS choosing 8 random schools in the country (private and public) for the assessments that take place every four years. The 2011 results have been released but it appears that Lebanese students are falling behind.
The tests are scored on a scale from 0 to 1000, with 500 representing the average.
Here are the 2011 mathematics results with their scores.
Mathematics
- South Korea – 613
- Singapore – 611
- Taiwan – 609
- Hong Kong – 586
- Japan – 570
- Russia – 539
- Israel – 516
- Finland – 514
- United States – 509
- Great Britain – 507
- Hungary / Australia / Slovenia – 505
- Lithuania – 502
- Italy – 498
- New Zealand – 488
- Kazakhstan – 487
- Sweden – 484
- Ukraine – 479
- Norway – 475
- Armenia – 467
- Romania – 458
- United Arab Emirates – 456
- Turkey – 452
- Lebanon – 449
- Malaysia – 440
- Georgia – 431
- Thailand – 427
- Macedonia – 426
- Tunisia – 425
- Chile – 416
- Iran – 415
- Qatar – 410
- Bahrain – 409
- Jordan – 406
- Palestine – 404
- Saudi Arabia – 394
- Indonesia – 386
- Syria – 380
- Morocco – 371
- Oman – 366
- Ghana – 331
Lebanon ranks second among the Arab countries with the UAE in the lead and Tunisia in third place. However, the Arab countries are below the 500-mark average set by TIMSS. Lebanon has improved from 2003 when it scored 433 but remains unchanged from its 2007 results. When looking at the science results, things look far worse.
Science
- Singapore – 590
- Taiwan – 564
- South Korea – 560
- Japan – 558
- Finland – 552
- Slovenia – 543
- Russia – 542
- Hong Kong – 535
- Great Britain – 533
- United States – 525
- Hungary – 522
- Australia – 519
- Israel – 516
- Lithuania – 514
- New Zealand – 512
- Sweden – 509
- Italy / Ukraine – 501
- Norway – 494
- Kazakhstan – 490
- Turkey – 483
- Iran – 474
- Romania – 465
- United Arab Emirates – 465
- Chile – 461
- Bahrain – 452
- Thailand – 451
- Jordan – 449
- Tunisia – 439
- Armenia – 437
- Saudi Arabia – 436
- Malaysia / Syria – 426
- Palestine / Georgia / Oman – 420
- Qatar – 419
- Macedonia – 407
- Lebanon / Indonesia – 406
- Morocco – 376
- Ghana – 306
In science, Lebanon ranks at the bottom of the Arab countries (10 out of 11); its a drop from the 2007 results when Lebanon scored 414 but still higher than the 2003 score of 393. However in 2007, Lebanese students was ahead of Egypt, Algeria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It seems that students in these countries have improved their science knowledge, leaving their Lebanese counterparts behind.