Every country strives for its students to have advanced achievement in some way, shape, or form. But too often, competence is a higher policy priority than excellence, and shrinking minimum competency gaps is a higher priority than closing excellence gaps. In this brief, educational excellence is defined as the percent of students who meet or exceed the advanced benchmark on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The brief draws from multiple years of TIMSS data to examine country-level differences in excellence, including disparities in advanced achievement within countries among subgroups of students (also known as excellence gaps). The brief concludes with policy implications and recommendations for further research.