Beyond benchmarks: what twenty years of TIMSS data tell us about South African education

South Africa has participated in a number of local and international educational achievement studies over the past 20 years. Their main purpose has been to monitor and evaluate the quality of schooling in specific areas of the curriculum at given points in time. Typically, these projects have involved collection information from learners and school representatives that describe the learning environment in different parts of the country. The purpose of this report is to provide a measured assessments of what has been achieved over the past 20 years. Based on the evidence provided by TIMSS, to redefine what "good" progress means in the light of South Africa's developmental pathway and to recommend what evidence-based interventions can be considered as the next realistic steps in South Africa's educational development.