Growth in Reading Comprehension and Mathematics Achievement in Primary School: A Bivariate Transition Multilevel Growth Curve Model Approach

Abstract

The measurement and explanation of school effects on both students’ reading comprehension and mathematics achievement in primary school children has seldom been studied. Some studies have focused on mathematics achievement as a predictor of reading comprehension or reading as a predictor of mathematics performance. These studies make the key assumption of deciding in advance which of the outcomes is dependent on the other. A few multivariate studies have nonetheless been done to investigate the possibility of a relationship between overall reading ability and mathematics, by looking at the common characteristics responsible for high performance in mathematics and reading (e.g. De Maeyer et al.,) The current study goes further, because it investigates growth in reading comprehension and mathematics without any assumption on their functional dependence. The call for the use of multivariate methods to investigate the strength of a relationship between outcomes has been an invaluable problem in educational research as a whole.