Impact of Some Demographic and Organizational Variables on Grade Eight Science Students’ Performance

Abstract

This study examined the impact of some demographic and organizational variables (gender, school type, and parental involvement) on the performance of Grade 8 students in the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessment in Abu Dhabi, Emirate. The study employed a mixed-method design to determine if, and to what extent, these factors affected how the students performed in the assessment. The population for the present study comprised male and female students from 68 public and private schools (35 all-boys and 33 all-girls schools). The study sample consisted of 3400 students (1750 boys and 1650 girls) and 40 parents who were put in 4 focus groups and interviewed to triangulate the results of the quantitative data. The results of the 2015 TIMSS assessment showed that demographic factors, gender, and parental involvement had no significant effect on the students’ performance. However, the type of school (private or public) was found to be statistically significant in predicting students’ performance, as private school students performed better than their public-school counterparts. The findings of the qualitative data were aligned with the results of quantitative data to some extent. The overall findings were then discussed in the context of the recent Science Education reform initiated by the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Education. Keywords: TIMSS, science achievement, gender, region, school type, parental involvement