Longitudinal effects of school context and practice on middle school mathematics achievement

The authors analyzed mathematics achievement data from a longitudinally matched student cohort from a large southwestern U.S. school district to investigate school context and practice effects on the academic performance and growth of middle school students. Investigation of the degree to which aspects of the school environment related to mathematics achievement outcomes revealed 2 distinct patterns. School context, as measured by student and school demographic characteristics, related closely to mathematics performance levels but had little relationship with mathematics growth rates. The opposite was true for aspects of school practice. Teacher educational attainment and the mathematics curricula delivered to students were not related to student performance levels but were moderately associated with mathematics growth rates. These results suggest that the effect of some policy-relevant school variables may be difficult to identify when student achievement is studied at a single point in time. However, investigation of school impacts on student achievement may be facilitated when an analytic strategy that takes into account the time-dependent and cumulative nature of schooling is adopted.