Assessment use, self-efficacy and mathematics achievement: comparative analysis of PISA 2003 data of Finland, Canada and the USA

Abstract

The study examined the role of classroom assessment and its relationships to student characteristics and mathematics performance by comparing the USA, Canada and Finland using Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 data. The results indicated that student individual characteristics such as gender, family social–cultural status, foreign language spoken at home, effort invested on test, time spent on homework, mathematic self-efficacy and expected education level are similarly related to mathematics performance across the three countries. However, school assessment practices correlated to student achievement differently and interacted differently with individual student characteristics among the three countries. The comparative study provided a description of the unique role of assessment practices in mathematics performances in the USA, Finland and Canada.

Keywords:

• assessment use
• mathematics performance
• international comparison
• Hierarchical Linear Modelling

Acknowledgements

The research was generously funded by the University of Akron Faculty Research Grant, Spring 2006.