Effects of Instructional Activities and Classroom Assessment Environment on Mathematics Achievement in Jordan

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the relative importance of instructional activities and classroom assessment environment variables to mathematics achievement. Data on 147 mathematics teachers and 3,813 thirteen-year old eighth Jordanian graders were collected. The teachers and their students participated in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS-R) and completed students’ and teachers’ questionnaires. The students participated in the mathematics test. Using Block wise Regression Analysis, it was found that eight variables accounted for statistically significant proportion of the variance of math’s achievement. Six of them related to instructional activities, two were suppressors. Whereas, two variables related to classroom assessment environment, one of them was a suppressor. Moreover, instructional activities and classroom assessment environment variables accounted for 29.3% of mathematics achievement variance. Implications of the study for Jordanian educational policies and for educational research are discussed