Multilevel analysis of factors accounting for Mathematics achievement of students in timss 2011: A comparison of ghana and singapore

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the impact of student- and classroom/schoollevel factors on eighth-grade math achievement in Ghanaian and Singaporean students. Three research questions guided the study. A comparative research design was adopted. The data was obtained from 7323 students nested within 161 schools in Ghana and 5251 students nested within 129 schools in Singapore who participated in the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). A school questionnaire, teacher questionnaire, student questionnaire, and the TIMSS math achievement test were used to collect data. Hierarchical Linear Modelling was used to analyse the data. The study showed that 40.71% and 43.49% of the total variance in math achievement were accounted for by school-level differences in Ghana and Singapore, respectively. Meanwhile, the results showed that student-level differences contributed to 59.29% and 56.51% of the total achievement of Ghanaian and Singaporean students, respectively. The results also showed that in both countries, the math achievement of eighth grade students was largely influenced by student-level characteristics. At the student level, the results showed that students' like for learning math and confidence in doing math were the strongest contributors to the math achievement of the Ghanaian and Singaporean students, respectively. At the school level, school discipline and safety, as well as school emphasis on academic success, were the most influential factors on Ghanaian and Singaporean students' mathematics achievement, respectively. This study recommends that the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service critically look at students‘ characteristics, which can be developed both at the classroom and school levels, for improvement in their mathematics achievement.