What can Botswana learn from the TIMSS assessments of 2003? Poloko Chepete What can Botswana learn from the TIMSS assessments of 2003? Poloko

This study offers a holistic examination of 8 grade student performance in mathematics in schools in Botswana based on the country’s sample data from the IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) of 2003. The analyzed sample is comprised of 4,805 students in 136 schools. Missing data was treated at the student level using multiple imputation and at the school level using the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. Part of the theoretical framework for variable selection was based on six factors from the Rand model (Oakes, 1986). Two of the factors (student background and attitudes) were at the student level, three factors (teacher attributes, school quality, and instructional quality) were at the school level, and the sixth one, Mathematics Achievement, served as the outcome variable. A two-level hierarchical linear modeling technique was employed to model student achievement in mathematics as a function of the student and the school level factors. Findings suggested that about one fifth of the variability in mathematics performance is between schools and that the learning of mathematics in Botswana was driven largely by student level factors with the attitudinal factor accounting for a greater part of the variation than the student background factor. The findings also suggested that the most effective schools in mathematics had safe school environments and an academically-inspired student body. Teacher-attribute and instructional quality factors served a moderating effect on the relationship between student-level factors and student performance.