The present paper aims to investigate the net impact of lower secondary education on the level of literacy in mathematics, using the international assessment of educational systems provided by TIMSS in 2007 and PISA in 2012, across OECD countries and partners. We apply a pseudo–panel approach, linking PISA achievements of 15-year-old students in 2012 with those of the same cohort in the
2007 edition of TIMSS, since the same generation of students is taken into account. From this perspective, we are able to assess the cumulative effects of education of students at 4th grade in 2007 on performance at 9th grade in 2012.
