The implementation of ICT (information and communication technology) in teaching and learning has always been accompanied by an ongoing discussion about its potential to enhance students’ learning and learning outcomes (Cox et al., 2013). A review of literature and research shows that the integration of new technologies into educational practice proves to be rather challenging (Voogt et al., 2013). Research on the relevance of the use of ICT for learning and for competence acquisition reveals no or only small effects on students’ learning and a lack of research focusing on the conditions related to ICT use for enhancing the learning process as well as the assessment of learning outcomes (Erstad, 2008). At that, the relevance of ICT to enhance learning with regard to a focused, strategic and subject-specific usage of ICT constitutes a key factor in fostering teaching and learning in mathematics especially (Dick & Hollebrands, 2011). With particular regards to teaching and learning mathematics at school, it is well known that simply having access to technology is not sufficient (NCTM, 2011). Moreover, it becomes obvious that not only technology-related factors and conditions on the level of the individual – such as teachers’ attitudes or technological pedagogical content knowledge (Koehler et al., 2011) – but also determinants on the school level play an essential role in integrating digital media into teaching and learning (Eickelmann, 2011). Against this background, the present paper examines determinants on the school level for using new technologies in teaching mathematics as well as relations between the use of ICT and student mathematics achievement.

The following two research questions will constitute the focus of the presented research:

1. What effects do school level determinants (such as school leadership, teachers’ attitudes and IT equipment) have on students’ use of computers in mathematics instruction in primary school in different educational systems in a context of international comparison?
2. What is the relation between the conditions identified as most relevant for the use of computers in mathematics instruction in primary school and students’ mathematical performance?

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