Predicting mathematics performance of secondary level students in Matara educational zone: A case study

Abstract

Students’ mathematical achievements in secondary school have an influence on their performance in higher studies and their future careers. Having a solid background in mathematics helps students develop sophisticated perspectives and offer more career options. The importance of mathematical learning has repeatedly been emphasized by educators. Therefore, this research developed a model to explain mathematics performance. In this study, secondary level students’ mathematics examination marks were analyzed with a particular focus on students at grade ten in Matara educational zone. This examination was held by Ministry of Education. This research trot out, how important are the school and student level variables in explaining differences in mathematics performance, what characteristics of schools and students are linked to the mathematics achievements and are there any indication of differential effectiveness within school and between schools. Multilevel linear modeling was employed to analyze the data. Seven variables at the student level and two variables at the school level were used to build the two-level hierarchical linear model in order to predict the status of students’ mathematics performance. The final model reveals that one variable at the school level which is school type is significant predictor of students’ mathematics performance. At the student level, doing homework, mother’s education, student living area and student gender are significant factors. The results reveal that school level account for 27% of the overall variance in mathematics performance while 73% of overall variance was captured by student level within schools. This study further suggests that within school differences are far larger than between school differences.