There are contentious and persistent gender differences reported in some measures of spatial skills, particularly mental rotation and, to a lesser extent, perspective-taking, which may have an impact on mathematics success. Furthermore, pathways between spatial skills and mathematics may be mediated by other cognitive factors, such as fluid…

Background/purpose: Low attendance rates in undergraduate (UG) programs represent a critical issue for higher education institutions (HEIs), as they directly impact both individual and institutional success. This study investigates the influence of moderating variables such as age and gender on the effect of student absenteeism on mathematics…

One of the categories of failing public schools is turnaround schools, which requires effective school leadership and teachers to improve student achievement scores. However, the impact of principals' self-efficacy beliefs in successfully turning around failing schools is unknown. The purpose of this research was to investigate principal…

In 2014, the municipal water source in Flint, Michigan was switched, causing lead from aging pipes to leach into the city's drinking water. While lead exposure in Flint children increased modestly on average, some children were exposed to high lead levels. Surveys of Flint residents show the water crisis was also associated with increased levels…

This brief is a continuation of NWEA's research series examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on student achievement and progress toward academic recovery. Initiated in the early phase of the pandemic, this series has leveraged NWEA's large national sample of longitudinal MAP® Growth™ data to track student performance and compare it to…

Introduction: Individuals' math value beliefs are theorized to influence who persists in STEM. However, the existing findings on gender differences in adolescents' math value beliefs are inconsistent. The goal of this study was to use three existing datasets to help clarify when gender differences emerge for high school adolescents and for whom…

The purpose of this technical appendix is to share detailed results and to more fully describe the sample and methods used in the research included in the brief, "Recovery Still Elusive: 2023-24 Student Achievement Highlights Persistent Achievement Gaps and a Long Road Ahead." The authors investigated three main research questions in…

Students' self-beliefs about mathematics, such as mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety, can interact with each other in the explanation of mathematics achievement. The present study aimed to identify mathematics self-belief profiles (derived from combinations of mathematics self-efficacy and mathematics anxiety) and their…

The relationship between anxiety and mathematics has often been investigated in the literature. Different forms of anxiety have been evaluated, with math anxiety (MA) and test anxiety (TA) consistently being associated with various aspects of mathematics. In this meta-analysis, we have evaluated the impact of these forms of anxiety, distinguishing…

We investigated two research questions: which students are more likely to respond inconsistently to mixed-worded questionnaire scales, and which country samples have larger shares of inconsistent respondents? We defined an inconsistent response as strongly agreeing or disagreeing with both positively and negatively worded items of the same scale.…

Historic achievement gaps in mathematics favoring male students have recently started to narrow, close, or even shift in favor of female students. Still, in many countries, male students continue to outperform their female counterparts in international mathematics assessments. Chile has one of the highest mathematics achievement gaps in the world,…

This study aimed to explore age and gender differences in motivational (mathematics value and self-concept), emotional (mathematics anxiety), and cognitive (learning strategies and performance) aspects of mathematics functioning in a large representative sample of Croatian students (N = 2749; 56% girls, mean age = 14.58) during the transition from…

In online virtual-based learning, combining more adaptive personal student characteristics with risk factors, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between student at-risk factors and mathematics achievement. Further, the study examined how personal student characteristics, which are sometimes amenable to change and…

Mathematics is a gateway to science-related careers and all stakeholders want to improve the achievement levels in mathematics. In this study we use data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2015 to investigate the association between the learner situational factors of gender, grade level age appropriateness, school…

Mathematics anxiety and attitude have a great influence on mathematics performance. This article presents an analysis of the relationship between Mathematics anxiety, attitude and performance. The study adopted a correlational research design. The analysis is based on the responses of 367 students who were randomly selected from 55 secondary…