This report is incorporated into "Attaining Excellence: A TIMSS Resource Kit." Released in Fall 1997, the TIMSS resource kit was developed for educators and those interested in using TIMSS data to improve teaching, curricula, and student achievement in state and local communities. This module presents information about the grade 8 mathematics assessments conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The first section of the mathematics assessment module compares the frameworks underlying the NAEP and TIMSS grade 8 mathematics assessments and the distributions of test questions across content areas, focusing on the areas of geometry and algebra. The second and third sections of the module describe the geometry and algebra portions of the assessments in detail using actual test questions (often called "items") from the NAEP and TIMSS assessments to illustrate how areas of the frameworks became operationalized into test questions. Assessment results are provided for the geometry and algebra questions to give some perspective on U.S. performance in these two mathematics content areas. (Contains 14 references.) (ASK)