With information from both parents and students, the TIMSS 2019 results add to the already extensive body of research showing a powerful positive relationship between students’ socioeconomic environment and their educational achievement.

The Home Resources for Learning scale combines data reported by fourth grade students and their parents. The parents’ data were collected using the TIMSS 2019 Early Learning Survey (also called the “Home Questionnaire”), which asked parents to provide information about their child’s learning experiences before the child began primary school. As explained in Exhibit 5.1, students provided information about the number of books in their homes and other study supports, while parents provided information about the number of children’s books, the parents’ levels of education, and the parents’ occupations (see About the Scale). As also explained, students were assigned a score on the scale according to the availability of these five home resources for learning.

Exhibit 5.2 presents, for each country, the percentage of students in three categories of the scale, together with average student achievement in mathematics. Countries are ordered by the percentage of students in the “many resources” category, with an average percentage across countries of 17 percent. The majority of students (75%, on average) were assigned to the “some resources” category, with just 8 percent in the “few resources” category. There was a 129-point difference in average mathematics achievement of students in the “many resources” category compared with the “few resources” category (562 vs. 433). Average mathematics achievement for the students in the “some resources” category was in between, at 498 points.

The second panel of Exhibit 5.2 presents a scatterplot showing a modest positive association between countries’ average Home Resources for Learning and average mathematics achievement.

Exhibit 5.3 presents the same Home Resources for Learning data, but this time in conjunction with average science achievement. The overall pattern of results is similar to mathematics, with an average science achievement gap of 143 score points between students in the “many resources” and “few resources” categories (557 vs. 414). Average science achievement for the students in the “some resources” category was again in between, at 488 points. Also similar to mathematics, the scatterplot in the second panel of Exhibit 5.3 shows a modest positive relationship between average Home Resources for Learning scores and average science achievement across countries.