Equity in Mathematics Education: What Did TIMSS and PISA Tell Us in the Last Two Decades?

Abstract

Equity in education has been a concern of almost all countries, whether developed, transitional, or in the progress of developing. It is believed that unequal education implies that human potential is being wasted. The present study focused on students with different characteristics as aggregate groups in an examination of similarities and differences in mathematics learning. The information analyzed here was mainly based on data from TIMSS and PISA databases. This investigation aims to paint an overall picture about gender equity, socioeconomic status, and indigenity equity in mathematics education over the last twenty years. It is hoped that the study can provide useful insights to individual education systems and further help them to identify more promising practices to narrow or even eliminate the existing between-system as well as within-system gaps.