Individual Differences and School Effects

The present study focuses on the effect of students ’ own characteristics on the their mathematics performance and progress. School context and climate characteristics, as well as the cluster effect of school are considered. Using the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), where students were repeatedly measured and clustered within schools, a 3-level multilevel model is applied. Given that some demographic information, such as parent academic push, does not remain constant, the variations of these variables between the waves of the longitudinal study are taken into account. The relationship between student initial mathematics achievement and growth trajectory are also examined. The results provide a frame of reference to compare changes over time given more recent national panel studies