BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1541 

 

 

 

 

Factors Influencing Mathematics Grades of Junior 

Secondary Students: An Analysis Based on the 

Hierarchical Linear Model 

By Tian, Y., Liu, Z. J., Zhao, M. Z., & Cui, T. 
Correspondence to: Yan Tian, Central China Normal University, China. E-mail: 

tiany@ccnu.edu.cn  

 OWADAYS, How to improve student classroom learning efficiency 

has always been an important issue in education. Both students’ internal 

factors and the classroom environment, one of the important external factors, 

affect their academic performance. This study (published in Educational 

Research and Experiment) surveyed eighth-graders from 10 classes of a 

middle school in Beijing and adopted the hierarchical linear model to explore 

the factors influencing math grades of junior secondary students. Student 

math grades were used as the dependent variable and the student individual 

academic level and the class average academic level as independent variables. 

The nested model was employed to examine individual and class factors 

influencing individual math grades. The findings of the study are as follows. 

First, there is no significant gender difference in student math grades, 

but boys’ self-concept and academic self-efficacy in math are remarkably 

higher than girls’. This may be due to girls’ identification with gender 

stereotypes in math learning. 

Second, at the individual level, student self-concept and self-efficacy 

in math can significantly and positively predict their math scores. 

Third, at class level, class cooperation positively predicts student math 

grades, but class competition has no significant effect on student math scores. 

Fourth, class cooperation and student self-concept in math have a 

significant influence on the cross-layer interaction of their math grades. In 

the class of low-level cooperation, student self-concept in math can 

significantly affect student math grades, but in the class of high-level 

cooperation, the effect is not significant. 

According to the above research results, encouraging classroom 

cooperation is a feasible and effective measure for mathematics learning. In 

the junior secondary stage, students are experiencing a critical phase of the 

development and transition of individual self-consciousness, and students 

acquire higher-order emotional experience and self-acceptance based on self-

evaluation. In a good class atmosphere, student self-concept in math is easier 

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mailto:tiany@ccnu.edu.cn


 

Vol.11, No.2, 2022 1542 

to maintain at a high level. At the same time, as the focus of student self-

consciousness is undergoing a transition from physiological needs to inner 

psychological quality and social communication, the sense of belonging to 

class is better aligned with students’ social psychological needs. Therefore, 

in junior secondary mathematics teaching, cooperative learning should be 

encouraged to create a good classroom climate. 

 

Source: Educational Research and Experiment, 2022; 2022(2):107-112.