Abstract
In this chapter, class level factors and teacher-related factors that can influence student achievement will be evaluated. Small class sizes are assumed to have a positive impact on student achievement and the author will explore if this is supported by TIMSS data. Teacher-related factors became increasingly important in educational research and policy recommendations; opinions on the influence of teacher quality, however, vary widely. The impact of homework given by teachers will be examined, and differences in the consequent achievement of native and immigrant students will be examined in detail. To follow is an analysis of the distribution of immigrant students across classes in the countries that participated in TIMSS 2007, and the effects on student achievement, which prove to form quite an ambiguous picture. How many immigrant students are there in the classes, and does their presence have a negative effect on the performance of native students? Are immigrant students more affected by class level or teacher-related factors than native students? The answers can be found in this chapter.
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Notes
- 1.
As discussed in chapter three, the within sampling units within schools in TIMSS are mathematics classes, and the class affiliation in this case reflects the mathematics classes. Since some of the educational systems are using course systems where the combination of students changes between their courses (e.g., the USA), having mathematics classes as sampling units means that the homeroom classes might be different. This is used in the analysis shown here.
- 2.
Since classes with more students have a higher chance of including immigrant students than smaller classes if immigrants would be allocated to classes randomly and independent of the class size, the class sizes of the three groups of classes were calculated and compared to avoid this obvious source of bias since as shown before there are correlations between class size and achievement of the students.
References
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OECD. (2005). Teachers matter: Attracting, developing and retaining effective teachers. Paris, France: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Trautwein, U., Köller, O., Schmitz, B., & Baumert, J. (2002). Do homework assignments enhance achievement? A multilevel analysis in 7th grade mathematics. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 27(1), 26–50.
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Hastedt, D. (2016). Class Level and Teacher Level Factors. In: Mathematics Achievement of Immigrant Students. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29311-0_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29311-0_7
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