School Mathematics Achievement Research Articles

Understanding Black Male Mathematics High Achievers from the Inside Out: Internal Risk and Protective Factors in High School

The gendered and racialized narrative of Black male adolescents in urban spaces is one often fraught with deficit-based assumptions and presuppositions about their abilities, competencies, and proclivities with regard to schooling in general and mathematics in particular. Yet despite these conventional beliefs, compounded by the dearth of Black male representation in many STEM-related careers, there remain Black male adolescents who, during their high school years, nevertheless achieve a high degree of mathematical success. This study endeavors to unpack the internal, interrelated processes and strategies through which a cohort of 13 high-achieving, Black male high school students develop positive mathematical, social, racial, and gendered identities. Drawing on narrative analysis, we utilized semi-structured interviews to identify and explore how internal protective and risk factors operated in their lives. Results identify not only several coping strategies, beliefs, practices, and habits that foster positive mathematical identity trajectories for our respondents, but also several internal challenges that Black male adolescents must successfully negotiate both in- and out-of-school throughout the attainment process. We also discuss how these findings relate to in-school practices that might promote and sustain Black male achievement in high school mathematics.

Assessing Divergences in Mathematics and Reading Achievement in Italian Primary Schools: A Proposal of Adjusted Indicators of School Effectiveness

This research aims to reach four main objectives by identifying plausible factors influencing Italian fifth grade pupils’ achievement in mathematics and reading: (1) to assess the relationships between pupils’ performances and their socio-cultural characteristics; (2) to suggest value-added measures of the contribution that schools give to pupils’ achievement; (3) to advance a system of indicators in order to detect schools characterized by distinctive performances; (4) to summarize main evidences at different geographical levels. Nationwide pupils’ scores in mathematics and reading tests have been jointly summarized using Item Response Theory models. A Multilevel Bivariate Regression model with heteroscedastic random terms at school-level has been adopted to single out the factors which seem to account for the greatest variability in pupils’ achievement as well as to jointly model the unobserved heterogeneity among geographical areas. A system of school value-added measures is proposed to make comparative assessments at national and at sub-national levels.

The link between middle school mathematics course placement and achievement.

The proportion of eighth graders in United States public schools enrolled in algebra or a more advanced mathematics course doubled between 1990 and 2011. This article uses Early Childhood Longitudinal Study's Kindergarten Cohort data to consider the selection process into advanced middle school mathematics courses and estimate the effects of advanced courses on students' mathematics achievement (n = 6,425; mean age at eighth grade = 13.7). Eighth-grade algebra and geometry course placements are academically selective, but considerable between-school variation exists in students' odds of taking these advanced courses. While analyses indicate that advanced middle school mathematics courses boost student achievement, these effects are most pronounced in content areas closely related to class content and may be contingent on student academic readiness.

Predicting undergraduate students' mathematical thinking about derivative concept: A multilevel analysis of personal and institutional factors

This cross-sectional study examines the determinants of mathematical thinking aspects at two levels: within-classroom level and between-classroom level. We hypothesized that personal factors (gender, socioeconomic status (parents' educational attainment), current cumulative grade point average, prior mathematic achievement (high school mathematics achievement)) and institutional factors (faculty/school affiliation, grade level) have concomitant associations with students' mathematical thinking about the derivative. The sample consisted of 2424 undergraduates from 130 classrooms. Multilevel modeling showed that students' mathematical thinking about the derivative varied primarily as a function of their gender and cumulative grade point average (within-classroom level) and of their faculty affiliation (between-classroom level). Parents' educational attainment and high school mathematics achievement at the within-classroom level, and grade level at the between-classroom level were only moderately associated with different mathematical thinking aspects. Methodological and practical implications of the findings are further discussed.

Affective Determinants of Additional Mathematics Achievement in Malaysian Technical Secondary Schools

The purpose of this study was to identify the affective determinants of additional mathematics achievement in technical secondary schools. In addition, this study also aimed to identify the best predictor of affective variables toward additional mathematics achievement. The respondents of the study were 250 students from three public technical secondary schools in Kedah, Malaysia that were selected us ing random sampling. 40 multiple-choice items were selected to measure and determine their level of additional mathematics achievement. The affective variables were based on attitude, anxiety and habit. Multiple regression were used for tests of significan ce. The findings of the study showed that attitude has a positive relationship whereas anxiety in learning Additional Mathematics has a negative relationship with additional mathematics achievement. Additionally, the findings showed that attitude was the best predictor of additional mathematics achievement. This finding proposed the importance of assessing students’ affective attributes before assessing their cognitive ability in additional mathematics achievement. Therefore, this study suggests that teachers, counsellors and principals could assess students’ affective attributes in identifying students’ cognitive ability in learning additional mathematics.

The Contributions of Domain-General and Numerical Factors to Third-Grade Arithmetic Skills and Mathematical Learning Disability.

Explanations of the marked individual differences in elementary school mathematical achievement and mathematical learning disability (MLD or dyscalculia) have involved domain-general factors (working memory, reasoning, processing speed, and oral language) and numerical factors that include single-digit processing efficiency and multidigit skills such as number system knowledge and estimation. This study of 3rd graders (N = 258) finds both domain-general and numerical factors contribute independently to explaining variation in 3 significant arithmetic skills: basic calculation fluency, written multidigit computation, and arithmetic word problems. Estimation accuracy and number system knowledge show the strongest associations with every skill, and their contributions are independent of both each other and other factors. Different domain-general factors independently account for variation in each skill. Numeral comparison, a single digit processing skill, uniquely accounts for variation in basic calculation. Subsamples of children with MLD (at or below 10th percentile, n = 29) are compared with low achievement (LA, 11th to 25th percentiles, n = 42) and typical achievement (above 25th percentile, n = 187). Examination of these and subsets with persistent difficulties supports a multiple deficits view of number difficulties: Most children with number difficulties exhibit deficits in both domain-general and numerical factors. The only factor deficit common to all persistent MLD children is in multidigit skills. These findings indicate that many factors matter but multidigit skills matter most in 3rd grade mathematical achievement.

The Influence of Poor Handwriting on Students' Score Reliability in Mathematics

This study examined the influence of poor handwriting on students' score reliability in mathematics. The design of the study was survey research. A sample of 200 students and 150 teachers randomly selected from secondary schools in North Central Nigeria was used in this study. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument using Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.94. Four research questions were answered and three hypotheses were tested. The result indicated that when students find it difficult to write legibly, it affects their overall achievement in school mathematics and hence weakens their educational progress. It was revealed that even though many teachers see handwriting as a skill that students should be taught to enable students to do well in school mathematics, nevertheless, teachers' attitudes contribute significantly to student's poor handwriting habits in schools. The paper maintains that home is one of the factors that contribute to the incidence of poor handwriting and not school location as hitherto envisaged. Based on this finding, it is recommended that teachers should teach handwriting and also emphasize its importance in schools. School authority should organize seminars on how to teach handwriting. Moreover, parents need to create time to teach their children good handwriting at home so as to complement the teachers' efforts. Above all, word-processing programs and assistive technology is undeniably boons to students with writing problem in mathematics.

Mathematical anxiety is linked to reduced cognitive reflection: a potential road from discomfort in the mathematics classroom to susceptibility to biases.

BackgroundWhen asked to solve mathematical problems, some people experience anxiety and threat, which can lead to impaired mathematical performance (Curr Dir Psychol Sci 11:181–185, 2002). The present studies investigated the link between mathematical anxiety and performance on the cognitive reflection test (CRT; J Econ Perspect 19:25–42, 2005). The CRT is a measure of a person’s ability to resist intuitive response tendencies, and it correlates strongly with important real-life outcomes, such as time preferences, risk-taking, and rational thinking.MethodsIn Experiments 1 and 2 the relationships between maths anxiety, mathematical knowledge/mathematical achievement, test anxiety and cognitive reflection were analysed using mediation analyses. Experiment 3 included a manipulation of working memory load. The effects of anxiety and working memory load were analysed using ANOVAs.ResultsOur experiments with university students (Experiments 1 and 3) and secondary school students (Experiment 2) demonstrated that mathematical anxiety was a significant predictor of cognitive reflection, even after controlling for the effects of general mathematical knowledge (in Experiment 1), school mathematical achievement (in Experiment 2) and test anxiety (in Experiments 1–3). Furthermore, Experiment 3 showed that mathematical anxiety and burdening working memory resources with a secondary task had similar effects on cognitive reflection.ConclusionsGiven earlier findings that showed a close link between cognitive reflection, unbiased decisions and rationality, our results suggest that mathematical anxiety might be negatively related to individuals’ ability to make advantageous choices and good decisions.

Relationships Between Student, Teacher, and School Characteristics and Mathematics Achievement

A variety of factors contributes to student achievement in mathematics, including but not limited to student behaviors and student, teacher, and school characteristics. The purpose of this study was to explore which of these factors have an impact on student mathematics achievement. The target population for this study was North Carolina Algebra II students. Analyses of variance models were examined for group differences and a Three‐level Hierarchical Linear Modeling method was employed to examine individual predictors of student achievement in mathematics. Statistically, significant differences were found between students of different ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses (SES), and parental education levels. No gender effects were statistically significant. All teacher‐level variables investigated were found to be statistically significant, impacting student achievement in mathematics. School size and SES were not found to significantly contribute to student achievement. More research on the relationships between these factors shown to make statistically significant differences on mathematics achievement is needed to further explain several phenomena that this research reveals.

Effect of Formative Testing with Feedback on Students’ Achievement in Junior Secondary School Mathematics in Ondo State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effect of formative testing with feedback as an instructional strategy on junior secondary school students’ achievement in mathematics in Ondo State. The effects of gender and socio-economic status on this learning outcome were also examined. The sample for the study consisted of 227 junior secondary school two (JSS II) students in intact classes of three co-educational schools purposively selected from Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State. The study employed quasi-experimental design with treatment at three levels namely: Formative Test with Feedback, Formative Test only and Non-Formative Test which served as control. The treatment levels were crossed with students’ socio-economic status (high, medium and low) and gender (male and female). Five research instruments namely: Formative Tests I, II and III, Socio-Economic Status Questionnaire (SESQ) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were constructed, validated and used for the collection of all revelant data. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Scheffe’s Post-Hoc Analysis. Results from the study revealed a significant effect of treatment on students’ achievement in mathematics. However, there were no significant effects of gender and socio-economic status (SES) on achievement in mathematics.

Balancing Career and Technical Education With Academic Coursework

Federal legislation has attempted to move career and technical education (CTE) from a segregated component of the high school curriculum to an integrated element that jointly improves both academic and career readiness. However, concerns remain about the ability of CTE to improve academic learning. Using a nationally representative sample of high school students, we examine the relationship between CTE coursework and mathematics achievement in high school. Accounting for observed and unobserved characteristics of students, we find that CTE courses neither limit overall gains in mathematics learning nor the acquisition of basic and intermediate mathematics skills. Additionally, engineering and technology courses, a subset of CTE courses that incorporate quantitative reasoning, logic, and problem solving, are unrelated with math achievement.

Does it matter who your schoolmates are? An investigation of the association between school composition, school processes and mathematics achievement in the early years of primary education

Although many studies have focused on the importance of school composition for student achievement, there is still no consensus on whether school composition matters to student achievement, and, if so, why. Therefore, the present study investigates the association between school composition and mathematics achievement at the end of second grade in Flanders. International research points to the initial ability level, SES, ethnicity and sex composition of the school as potential variables in explaining differences in student achievement. Moreover, some researchers suggest that schools ‘react’ to their student body and for that reason we investigated the possible association between school composition and school processes. Data from the SiBO Project have been analyzed using multilevel regression and multilevel mediation analysis. The results showed no direct school composition effects with respect to prior achievement, SES, ethnicity and sex on math achievement. We found two small differential effects, indicating that mean school prior achievement seems to positively affect initially high achievers, and the proportion of minority students in school seems to negatively affect students speaking a non‐European language except for Turkish, Arabic or Berber at home. Furthermore, two small indirect effects were found which suggest that schools with a high mean prior achievement or a high mean SES keep in regular contact with their students' parents and this, in turn, appears to enhance students' math achievement. Overall, our results seem to indicate that school composition in the early years of primary education hardly matters.

The Effects of English Language Proficiency and Curricular Pathways: Latina/os’ Mathematics Achievement in Secondary Schools

This study analyzes nationally-representative quantitative data from the first (2002) and second (2004) waves of the Educational Longitudinal Study to examine the relationship between Latina/o secondary school students’ degree of English-language proficiency (ELP), mathematics course-taking measures, and 12th grade mathematics achievement. Employing a Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) analytic strategy to account for students’ clustering in specific schools, this study contributes empirical evidence that course-taking and ELP are influential predictors of 12th grade mathematics achievement. Findings from this study exemplify that maximizing Latina/os’ mathematics achievement requires access to rigorous mathematics coursework and the provision of pedagogical and institutional supports that develop students’ proficiency in both the mathematics register and ELP.

Assessment of Secondary School Teachers’ Professional Development in the Use of Information Communication Technology for Teaching Mathematics in Ejigbo, Nigeria

The study sought information on teacher professional development in the use of Information Communication Technology in teaching Mathematics. The population comprised secondary school teachers and r students in the study area. The sample consisted eight (8) secondary schools (three private and five public schools) using random sampling technique. Ten (10) teachers were purposively sampled from each school, which made up 80 Mathematics teachers while 122 students were randomly selected. The data collected were analyzed using frequency count, percentage and t-test statistics. The results revealed amongst others, that there was awareness among teachers and students on the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching Mathematics at the secondary schools. There was no significant difference between the students mathematics achievement in both private and public secondary schools. Based on the findings, it was recommended that mathematics laboratory should be provided in the secondary schools to enable teachers and students improvise instructional materials that may not be readily available.

An Exploratory Analysis of the Longitudinal Impact of Principal Change on Elementary School Achievement

Recent reform initiatives, such as the Title I School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top, recommended a principal change to jump-start school turnaround. Yet, few educational researchers have examined principal change as way to improve schools in a state of systematic reform; furthermore, no large-scale quantitative study has determined the immediate or longitudinal impact of principal change on school performance. Using 9 years of school performance data, this study examined the impact of principal change on elementary schools’ scholastic achievement in reading and mathematics. Specifically, it examined whether a principal change was associated with initial improvement and longitudinal improvement of school reading and mathematics achievement. Findings suggest that principal changes did not substantially influence initial student achievement or school performance trajectory. Furthermore, these findings suggest that making a principal change does not predispose a school for improving school performance.

Effects of Computer Assisted Instruction in Nupe Language on Pupils’ Achievement in Mathematics in Bida Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria

The study investigated the effects of computer assisted instruction package in Nupe Language on primary school pupils in Bida local government area of Niger State. Two research questions and two hypotheses were formulated for the study. The design adopted for the study was quasi experimental. Two hundred and two (202) primary school pupils from four selected schools in Bida local government area were used as research sample. The experimental group was exposed to computer assisted instruction package in Nupe language while the control group was taught the same topics with conventional method in English Language. A 40 item Primary School Mathematics Achievement Test (PSMAT) with a reliability coefficient of 0.80 was used to collect data for the study. The data were analyzed using Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA). The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed that Pupils taught mathematics with computer assisted instruction package in Nupe language performed better than those taught with conventional teaching method and gender has effect on their mathematics achievement scores. It was recommended that mathematics teachers should continuously use computer packages in teaching mathematics as it guarantees improvement in students' achievement in mathematics.

Effect of Feedback and Remediation on Students’ Achievement in Junior Secondary School Mathematics

The study investigated the effects of feedback and remediation as instructional strategies on junior secondary school students’ achievement in mathematics. The effects of gender and socio economic status on these learning outcomes were also examined. The sample for the study consisted of 240 junior secondary two (JSS II) students in intact classes of three co–educational schools purposively selected from Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State. The study employed quasi–experimental design with treatment at three levels namely: Formative Test with Feedback and Remediation, Formative Test with Feedback only and Formative Test without feedback and remediation which served as control. The treatment levels were crossed with students’ socio economic status (high, medium and low) and gender (male and female). Five research instruments including three Formative Tests I. II and III in Mathematics, Socio Economic Status Questionnaire (SESQ) and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were constructed, validated, and used for the collection of all relevant data. The data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Scheffe’s Post–Hoc Analysis. Results from the study revealed a significant effect of treatment on students’ achievement in mathematics. However, there were no significant effects of gender and socio economic status (SES) on achievement in mathematics.

Early Predictors of High School Mathematics Achievement

Identifying the types of mathematics content knowledge that are most predictive of students’ long-term learning is essential for improving both theories of mathematical development and mathematics education. To identify these types of knowledge, we examined long-term predictors of high school students’ knowledge of algebra and overall mathematics achievement. Analyses of large, nationally representative, longitudinal data sets from the United States and the United Kingdom revealed that elementary school students’ knowledge of fractions and of division uniquely predicts those students’ knowledge of algebra and overall mathematics achievement in high school, 5 or 6 years later, even after statistically controlling for other types of mathematical knowledge, general intellectual ability, working memory, and family income and education. Implications of these findings for understanding and improving mathematics learning are discussed.

A MULTI-INSTITUTIONAL STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE IN INTRODUCTORY COLLEGE STATISTICS

In this study we examined the effects of prior mathematics achievement and completion of a commercially developed, National Science Foundation-funded, or University of Chicago School Mathematics Project high school mathematics curriculum on achievement in students’ first college statistics course. Specifically, we examined the relationship between students’ high school mathematics achievement and high school mathematics curriculum on the difficulty level of students’ first college statistics course, and on the grade earned in that course. In general, students with greater prior mathematics achievement took more difficult statistics courses and earned higher grades in those courses. The high school mathematics curriculum a student completed was unrelated to statistics grades and course-taking. First published May 2012 at Statistics Education Research Journal: Archives

Mathematics teacher preparation examined in an international context: learning from the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) and beyond

This thematic issue contains a collection of papers that resulted from the recent Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M), a study that is the first large-scale international comparative study on mathematics teacher preparation undertaken under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The significance of TEDS-M itself has been well articulated by different authors in this thematic issue. As the importance of teachers and teaching has been commonly acknowledged for the improvement of students’ achievement in school mathematics (e.g., Sowder 2007), it becomes apparent that we need to examine and understand possible influences of system policy and institutional practices on the outcomes of mathematics teacher preparation both within an education system (e.g., Wilson, Floden, and Ferrini-Mundy 2001) and in an international context (e.g., Leung and Li 2010). The contributions of this thematic issue build upon TEDS-M, including several reports of selected findings from that study. Moreover, this thematic issue goes above and beyond direct reporting of TEDS-M, and includes unique contributions with different natures. To make these contributions explicit, I will highlight some of them as follows.