Factors associated with school performance: an analysis of math scores by students in the fifth year of elementary schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Abstract

This study is included in the line of research which seeks to identify different factors that influence the operation of public schools and their quality by identifying variables that affect educational outcomes, in particular, students’ achievements measured by educational assessment procedures conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Estudos e Pesquisas Educacionais Anísio Teixeira (Inep/MEC). Factors that influence students’ proficiency are numerous and complex, and include dynamics operating on different levels, from socioeconomic and cultural features of individuals and their families, through the dynamics that take place in classrooms between teachers and students, and extending to structural features of schools. Significant actors that explain better or weaker student outcomes include students themselves as well as their relatives, school employees, principals and teachers . The objective of this study was to analyze the possible factors that influence the educational achievements of students in the fifth year of public elementary schools in the city of Rio de Janeiro. For this purpose, three-level hierarchical linear models were used to assess the effects of socioeconomic, cultural and family backgrounds of students, teaching practices and styles, and even educational policies, management aspects and other features of schools. The primary data source was Prova Brasil 2007.