Tracking Practices, Opportunity to Learn, and Achievement in Mathematics: An International Perspective from TIMSS

Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA

Investigators

Abstract

The goal of this 25-month project is to provide a cross-national perspective on tracking practices in mathematics as they relate to opportunity to learn and achievement using data from TIMSS and TIMSS-R. More specifically, the questions to study are: Prevalence and Trends -- How prevalent is the practice of tracking in mathematics? What are the trends over time and across grades? Profiling Tracked and Untracked Math Classes - Within each country, what indicators are statistically associated with tracked and untracked mathematics classes? Tracking, Opportunity to Learn, and Achievement - Within each country, how does the use or non-use of tracking practices in mathematics relate to opportunity to learn and achievement, both overall and for particular student groups (e.g., gender, race)? Implications for the US - What are the implications of results for policy makers and educators in relation to OTL and issues on equity? School data files on tracking will be linked to the student data file. A classroom-tracking index will be created to identify within school tracking classrooms. The Mathematics Teachers Questionnaire will be used to explore issues on OTL. The number of mathematics topics listed in the questionnaire will be used to test OTL differences between tracked and non-tracked classes.