Abstract
The present study aims at identifying the cultural social and economic background that distinguished performance of Saudi students in TIMSS 2007 and pinpointing the most correlated factors to the achievement level in mathematics and science the sample of this study consisted of 4343 male and female 2 ad grade intermediate students who were tested in TIMSS -2007 in 165 schools all over Saudi Arabia the sample was chosen in accordance with the requirements of the IED. results of the study revealed that there was a significant Positive relationship between factors like the availability of the study table and the internet access in addition there was a significant negative relationship between paid work hours and the students of low income families and their achievement in both mats and science thirteen percent of the variance in the students achievement in mats and science was due to the economic background moreover the study found out that there was a relationship between achievement in mats and science in the cultural variables such as the level of the father s education the number of books available at the students houses the availability of calculators and dictionaries and the highest expected degree level of ambition except for the relationship between achievement in math and the level of mother s education also cultural variables are responsible for about thirteen percent of the variance in the students achievement in math and science results also showed that there was a statistically significant relationship between achievement in math and science on one hand and four social variables[ I e students place of birth sex mother s place of birth and the number of population in the area where the school is located on the other hand it was also found out that the social variables are responsible for 8 of variance in achievement in math in contrast for achievement in science finally results concluded that the strongest effects of social cultural and economic variables on math explained 22% of variance in students achievement and explained 23% in science