Student Achievement in Mathematics and Teacher Characteristics. A Cross-national Study on TIMSS Data

Author(s):

Elisa Caponera(submitting)Bruno Losito(presenting)Letizia Giampietro Emanuela Vinci

Conference:

ECER 2012

Network:

09. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Paper

Session Information

09 SES 07 A, Findings from International Comparative Achievement Studies: Relationships in Mathematics, Science and Reading Performance

Parallel Paper Session

Time:

2012-09-19

17:15-18:45

Room:

FCT - Aula 11

Chair:

Sari Sulkunen

Contribution

While many studies suggest that some teachers contribute more to students’ academic outcomes, research has not clearly identified teacher characteristics and classroom practices that are linked to improvement of student learning (Goe, L., & Stickler, L. 2008). The relation between teacher education and academic achievement is quite complex and there is not yet a general agreement in literature.

Different studies have tried to represent the complexity of the teacher work (e.g. Talis-OECD 2009, TEDS-M, Eurydice 2011) and cross national surveys collect (PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS) data that may help to draw the difference between and within the countries.

Several studies indicated that teacher related factors, such as gender, experience, level of education, professional development, teacher conceptions related to subject, readiness to teach, instructional practices, use of calculators have effects with various magnitudes on student achievement in mathematics (e.g. Rivkin et al., 2005; Akyuz & Berberoglu 2010). Akiba (2007), using 2003 TIMSS data, found that teacher variables like education and experience are positively related to student outcomes across 46 countries. Instead, Luschei and Chudgar’s (2011) analysis found limited evidence that the teacher characteristics are related to student achievement . In addition, Dodeen (2012) showed that the teacher quality and practices differences were noted across the countries that were ranked at the extremes on the TIMSS achievement scale. Sturman and Lin found that none of the variable derived from teacher TIMSS questionnaire showed a consistent effect across countries, and many of these showed a significant effect in one country only.

Nonetheless the review of the research results on teacher quality revealed few consistent findings, and suggests that further evidence is needed (Goe, 2007).

In this study we investigate the association between student achievement in mathematics and teacher characteristics, using TIMSS 2007 data.

TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is an important international survey, promoted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) The project, involving more than 60 countries from all around the world, measures trends in mathematics and science achievement at grades four and eight. In order to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science, TIMSS collect also background information about the students’ home contexts, the quality of curricula and instructional practices, and the availability of school resources, the use of technology in teaching and learning activities (Mullis et al. 2009) .

The aim of this study is to examine, the relationship between teachers’ qualifications, practices, and perceptions and the proficiency scores for mathematics achievement across Italy and countries that performed better in TIMSS 2007- Mathematics. We also verified whether these teacher characteristics are differently related to the achievement of students across countries.

Method

Data from TIMSS 2007 are used in the analyses. Results of grade eight Italian students are compared with data from the countries that performed better in TIMSS test both non European (China, Taipei, Republic of Korea and Singapore) and European (England and Hungary) countries. The overall sample consists of 25,738 students grouped in 2,523 schools. In the present study, cases with missing values in one or more explanatory variables were excluded from the analyses. The scores in the TIMSS math test were correlated to several variables at teacher level, in particular r Pearson correlation coefficients were computed among students' performance in mathematics and teachers' characteristics (years of teaching, educational curriculum, teacher participation in professional developments on mathematics content), teachers' perception of their abilities (teacher feel “Very well” prepared to teach the TIMSS Mathematics topics), and teachers' school practices (topics related to TIMSS test actually taught in class, use of calculators and computers in math classes, use of homework). Furthermore a multiple regression analysis was conducted in order to measure their impact on the students’ performance, with the student socio-economic index (SES) included in the regression analysis as control variable. Analyses were performed with the IEA IDB Analyzer software.

Expected Outcomes

Frequencies of teachers’ qualifications, practices, and perceptions divided per country were presented. Descriptive statistics of teacher variables are reported at student level. All variables, with the exception of use of homework, are significantly related to students performance on TIMSS test for different countries. The results of regression models relating mathematics achievement scores to teacher characteristics shown r2 more elevated in two of the countries considered, namely Singapore and England. Across all countries the use of calculator during the math lessons has a different impact to explain the variance on TIMSS test. Furthermore, in Italy teachers’ participation in professional development activities on mathematics contents shows to have a significant effect on student performance, while this variable has a lower impact on students’ performance in other countries. The Years of teaching variable has a positive impact on students results in all countries, except Singapore. Furthermore, the perception of their abilities (Teacher feel “Very well” prepared to teach the TIMSS Mathematics topics) has a different impact across countries. The variable Topics related to TIMSS test actually taught in class doesn’t influence student performance, except in Singapore and in England, where has a significant impact. Results of regression models were compared among countries and cross national differences are discussed.

References

Akiba, M., LeTendre, G. K., & Scribner, J. P. (2007). Teacher quality, opportunity gap, and national achievement in 46 countries. Educational Researcher, 36(7), 369–387. Akyüz, G., Berberoglu, G. (2010).Teacher and Classroom characteristics and their relation to mathematics achievement of the student in the TIMSS. New Horizons in Education, 58(1) 77-95. Dodeen, H., Hilal, M. (2012). The effect of teacher’s qualification practices, and perceptions on student Achievement in TIMSS Mathematics: a comparison of two countries. International Journal of testing 12, 61-77. Eurydice (2011). Mathematics Education in Europe: Common Challenges and National Policies. Brussels, EACEA P9 Eurydice Goe, L. (2007). The link between teacher quality and student outcomes: A research synthesis. Washington, DC: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. Retrieved from http://www.ncctp.org/publications/; Goe, L., & Stickler, L. (2008). Teacher quality and student achievement: Making the most recent research (TQ Research and Policy Brief). Washington, DC: National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality. Retrieved from http://www.tqsource.org/publications/March2008Brief.pdf Luschei, T. F., Chudgar A.(2011). Teacher, student achievement and national income: a cross national examination of relationships and interactions. Prospects 41, 507-533. OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation, Development] (2009). Creating effective teaching and learning environments: First results from TALIS. Paris: OECD. Mullis, I. V. S., Martin, M. O. and Foy, P., with Olson, J. F., Preuschoff, C., Erberber, E., Arora, A. & Galia, J. (2008). TIMSS 2007 International Mathematics Report: Findings from IEA’s trends in international mathematics and science study at the fourth and eighth grades. Chestnut Hill, MA: TIMSS and PIRLS International Study Center, Boston College. Rivkin, S. G., Hanushek, E. A., & Kain, J. F. (2005). Teachers, schools and academic achievement. Econometrica, 73(2), 417–458. Sturman, L., Lin, Y. (2011). Exploring the mathematics gap : TIMSS 2007. RicercaAzione, 3 (1), 43-58

Author Information

Elisa Caponera (submitting)

INVALSI

Frascati (Rome)

Bruno Losito (presenting)

Roma Tre University

Letizia Giampietro

INVALSI

Frascati

Emanuela Vinci

INVALSI (National Institute for the Educational Evaluation of Instruction and Training), Italy

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