Math Achievement and Learner Characteristics: A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Studies Exploring Factors Related to Student Learning and Achievement in Mathematics (Table 2)

Abstract

Learners’ individual differences in mathematics achievement are associated with individual differences in psychological characteristics. A number of meta-analyses have quantified the strengths of these correlations. However, these findings are scattered across different strands of the literature. The present systematic review aims to integrate these strands by providing an overview of meta-analyses of psychological correlates of mathematics achievement. We conducted a systematic literature search and included 30 meta-analyses, reporting correlations between mathematics achievement and 75 variables based on 14,066 effect sizes. The correlations are rank-ordered by size and complemented with information about the meta-analyses. The results show particularly strong associations of math achievement with verbal skills and abilities, prior knowledge, intelligence, creativity, math-specific skills, math self-concept, self-regulation, meta-cognition, and executive functions.

Authors

• Moritz Lion Breit, University of Trier

• Michael Schneider, University of Trier

• Franzis Preckel, University of Trier