The Effects of School Mathematics Resources on Students' Intention to Study Mathematics Over Other Subjects

Abstract

Increasing students' intentions to pursue mathematics-intensive careers is an urgent priority in the United States. To foster these intentions among marginalized student groups, such as immigrant students, and achieve equity in their career options, a critical question is whether we should allocate a greater proportion of school resources to mathematics over other subjects. The aims of this dissertation study were, first, to conceptually model and statistically evaluate how a school environment that prioritizes mathematics over other subjects might influence students' intentions to pursue mathematics over other academic subjects in the long term, and second, how this relationship is mediated by students’ mathematics pursuit attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior (Ajzen, 1991), and moderated by their immigrant standing. The data for this study stemmed from the U.S. 2012 Programme For International Student Assessment Academic & Science (PISA) Student Questionnaire and School Questionnaire. A predictive mean matching technique was used to impute missing data that would resemble observed data. A 2-1-1 multilevel mediation Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was implemented to accurately measure a school-level effect and student-level effect of the relationship of the examined constructs and to test the hypothesized model for the total sample. In order to compare immigrant student group and non-immigrant student group in the path model, multiple group path analysis was conducted. The results of the multilevel SEM model for the total sample presented that, at the school level (level 2), the school’s mathematics resources had no statistically significant direct and indirect effects on aggregated students’ intentions to pursue mathematics over other subjects. However, at the student level (level 1), students’ experiential and instrumental attitudes toward the pursuit of mathematics were positively related to students’ intentions to pursue mathematics over other subjects. The results of the multiple group path analysis comparing immigrant and non-immigrant student groups also found that the school’s mathematics resources had no statistically significant direct and indirect effects on students’ intentions to pursue mathematics over other subjects. However, a statistical difference in the overall path model of these two groups was found. The implications of this study for researchers, educators, and policymakers were discussed.