Using Structural Equation Modeling to Fit a Model of Student Background, Teacher Background, Home Environment, and a School Characteristic to Mathematics Achievement on the TIMSS

The purpose of this study is to build a model that explains the relationship between and among five variables that are student background, teacher background, home environment, school characteristic, and student mathematics achievement, using structural equation modeling. Another purpose of this study is to compare the relationships of these variables between the United States and Korea in 7th and 8th grades mathematics. Student, teacher, and school background files from population 2 in the TIMSS were selected for this study. The result of the study provides practical information for teachers, parents, school principals, and other people who are interested in improving student achievement, and also provides the information that may explain differences and similarities between the US and Korea in mathematics achievement.