Minnesota's STEM Achievement Gap:
Insights from TIMSS and a High School Classroom Teacher

Presentations by Dr. William H Schmidt & Natalie Rasmussen

The TIMSS international assessment focuses on mathematics and science at grades 4 and 8, and takes place every four years. Minnesota participated in TIMSS as a “mini-nation” in 1995 and again in 2007. Mini-nation participation allows us to determine our international ranking on these critical topics and sheds light on the extent to which MN students are prepared to compete in a global market.

Minnesota demonstrated remarkable improvement in math over the 12 years between TIMSS participations and maintained our high performance in Science. But significant achievement gaps still exist. What are the underlying causes and how do we reduce the gap? The event on February 11 will feature Dr. William H Schmidt’s analysis of a deeper look at TIMSS Science results regarding what may be causing the gap. Natalie Rasmussen will follow up with personal experiences on how the gap can be approached.

SciMathMN is pleased to invite you to the following event:

4th Annual TIMSS Policymaker Briefing

Featured Speakers: Dr. William H. Schmidt
Distinguished Professor and Internationally Recognized Education Researcher
And Natalie Rasmussen, Minneapolis North Community High School

• 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM, Thursday, February 11, 2010
• Discovery Hall of the Science Museum of Minnesota
  120 Kellogg Blvd West in Downtown St. Paul MN (directions)
• Registration starts at 3:30 PM; Hors d’oeuvres at 4:00
• The presentations start at 4:30
• Fee parking is available in the Science Museum parking ramp (approximately $6)
• Cost for the event: $25 payable at the dinner in cash or check to SciMathMN. Please contact Colleen Sauter at colleen.sauter@yahoo.com to request a P.O. if needed.
• Please RSVP by February 4 by going here.

SciMathMN would like to recognize 3M as the primary sponsor of this event.

Note: The presentation slides and final report from the Oct. 21 event are available from our publications page.

Calculated Success DVD's Available

Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) has partnered with SciMathMN to produce a 30 minute documentary program about the importance of STEM (Science, Technology Education, Engineering and Mathematics) education in Minnesota and the role that the TIMSS international math and science test has played in documenting our progress in STEM.

The program, titled Calculated Success, features interviews of science and math experts discussing the importance of STEM education and includes discussion of the TIMSS testing analysis that Dr. William Schmidt and the research team at Michigan State University performed. Local experts include Dr. Alex Cirillo (Vice President of Community Affairs for 3M), Brad Meeks (Superintendent of Farmington Public Schools), Nancy Nutting (former Executive Director of SciMathMN), Troy Vincent (Farnsworth Aerospace Elementary Principal), Karen Klinzing (Assistant Commissioner, MN Dept. of Ed.) and others. Calculated Success DVD’s are free to Friends of SciMathMN or are available for a cost of $10 and may be obtained by contacting: info@scimathmn.org

Major funding of this project was provided by 3M with additional funding from Cargill and ADC.

SciMathMN Releases Preliminary 2007 MN TIMSS Analysis

Minnesota students are performing very well in math and science compared to students from other nations.  Minnesota students were near the top in all 4th-and 8th-grade math and science and had higher scores than United States students.

Click here to see review results of the 2007 testing of Minnesota students at grades 4 and 8.  View Dr. William Schmidt's presentation from December 2008 here. Links to other current TIMSS information, as well as reports on the 1995 test results can be found here.

SciMathMN gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the following foundations to enable SciMathMN to develop and maintain its website and create stronger public awareness of STEM education and workforce issues: