Continuing from previous TIMSS assessments, TIMSS 2019 asked school principals for their perceptions about the extent that discipline, disorder, and bullying behaviors are problems in their school. As described in Exhibit 8.1, fourth grade students were assigned scores on the School Discipline scale according to their principals’ characterizations of 10 discipline and safety problems (see About the Scale). The eighth grade scale included one additional problem more suited to older students—“physical injury to teachers or staff.” Since TIMSS first reported results on the School Discipline scale in 2011, data have shown that attending schools with fewer discipline and safety problems was associated with higher average achievement in mathematics and science.

Exhibit 8.2 presents the results for the School Discipline scale at the fourth grade in relation to mathematics achievement. Countries are ordered according to the percentage of students in schools where principals reported “hardly any problems” with discipline and safety. On average, the majority of fourth grade students (60%) attended schools with “hardly any problems,” and 32 percent attended schools with “minor problems.” Only 8 percent of students, on average, attended schools for which principals reported “moderate to severe problems” with discipline and safety. Consistent with previous TIMSS results, average mathematics achievement was higher for students in schools with “hardly any problems” than for students in schools with “minor problems” (508 vs. 494). At 466 points, on average, mathematics achievement for students in schools with “moderate to severe problems” with school discipline and safety was substantially lower (42 points) than for students in schools with “hardly any problems.”

Exhibit 8.3 presents the same percentages of fourth grade students in the three categories of the scale, but in relation to science achievement. Similar to the results for mathematics, fewer discipline problems were related to higher average science achievement. Students in schools with “hardly any problems” with discipline and safety had the highest average science achievement (498), followed by students in schools with “minor problems” (483) and “moderate to severe problems” (457).

Exhibits 8.4 and 8.5 present the School Discipline results for eighth grade students in relation to mathematics achievement and science achievement, respectively. Compared with the fourth grade, fewer eighth grade students attended schools with “hardly any problems” (45% vs. 60%) and more eighth grade students attended schools with “minor problems” (43% vs. 32%). Similar to fourth grade results, the 11 percent of eighth grade students in the “moderate to severe problems” category had the lowest average achievement (448 and 452 in mathematics and science, respectively). However, eighth grade results showed a greater difference in average achievement between students in schools with “hardly any problems” and those in schools with “moderate to severe problems.” There was a 55-point gap in average mathematics achievement between the two categories (503 vs. 448) and a 52-point gap in average science achievement (504 vs. 452).