HIERARCHICAL LINEER MODEL OF THE EFFECT OF TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS ON MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT

Dr. Gozde Akyuz Ministry of National Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of mathematics teacher characteristics on students’ mathematics achievement across Turkey, European Union countries and the other candidate countries by analysing the data collected from student and teacher background questionnaire and mathematics achievement test in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS-R). After home educational resources (HER) of students was taken as a control variable, explanatory models were built by using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Turkish model explained 45 % of variance, while European Union countries explained 43 % and the other candidate countries explained 37 % of the variance. Although there are some similarities between the factors that had positive significant effect on student mathematics achievement in Turkey and European Union countries, it was completely different in candidate countries. In Turkish model, the classes of male teachers were more successful and teacher experience, time spent on tests and quizzes, use of textbooks, disciplined class climate and class mean of home educational resources were found to have positive significant effect on student achievement. It is recommended that the factors that were found to have significant effects on student learning should be explored in experimental settings and in-service teacher training courses should be organized which enables teachers to improve themselves.

Keywords

Teacher effect, mathematics achievement, TIMSS, Hierarchical lineer modeling