TIMSS 2011 Science Assessment Results: A Review of Ghana’s Performance

Abstract

This paper reviews Ghana’s performance in the TIMSS 2011 survey in comparison with other African and some highperforming countries which participated in the TIMSS assessment. Students’ achievement in the science contentareas assessed were summarized and teacher preparation constructs of teachers of the students who took part in theassessment explored with the aim of finding any possible linkage between teacher preparation and studentsachievement. Two set of reviews were done. First, results on the eighth grade (JHS 2) science content achievement inbiology, chemistry, physics, and earth science for Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia were compared. The second reviewcompared how Ghana prepares her teachers to Finland and Singapore who were among the first five performingcountries on the TIMSS 2011 assessment. Some mismatch was identified in terms of teacher preparation andstudents’ achievement in the case of Ghana. Ghanaian teachers scored relatively high on most of the constructs thatwere measured by the TIMSS report under teacher preparation but these were not reflected in the students’achievement. In view of this, it is recommended that other indicators such as classroom instruction, resources forteaching science, and school climate are investigated with the aim of finding any other underlying factors that couldaccount for the mismatch between Ghanaian students’ achievement on the TIMSS science assessment and teachers’preparation.