Relationships Between Instructional Alignment, Time, Instructional Quality, Teacher Quality, and Student Mathematics Achievement

Abstract

Opportunity to learn (measured by time spent on teaching mathematics and mathematics content coverage) potentially acts as a mediator of instructional quality and teacher characteristics. Previous research used a multilevel structural equation model (SEM) to explore the relationship of teacher instructional quality (identified using a latent variable) to student mean outcomes at grade four. Here, this model is extended by incorporating two instructional quality variables related to opportunity to learn: teacher alignment with national curriculum expectations, and time spent on mathematics. This model was applied to grade four and grade eight data from the 2011 cycle of IEA's Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Replicating the analysis at grade eight determined whether the mathematics performance of lower secondary students showed similar relationships with instructional quality as those observed for grade four students. Teacher instructional alignment and time on mathematics was found to have a weak mediating effect on student outcomes. Keywords Opportunity to learn • Structural equation models • Teacher quality • Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

The effect of student and school characteristics on TIMSS 2015 science and mathematics achievement: The case of Türkiye

“…However, in the school model, the effect of the teaching experience and education level on student achievement has disappeared Mohammadpour & Abdul Ghafar, 2014). In addition, the effects of teachers' major study area (Atar, 2014; and professional development hours were not found to have a substantial effect on students' science or mathematics achievement (Burroughs et al, 2019;Önal, 2015). Thus, when socioeconomic status was controlled, it was seen that the teacher qualifications examined in the study did not have a significant effect on students' science and mathematics achievement.…”