Solving the Math Problem: Exploring Mathematics Achievement in Japanese and American Middle Grades

Abstract

Assessments of national differences in middle-grades mathematics have shown that Japanese students score significantly higher on achievement exams than American students. The debate over what causes this has generated many hypotheses that have not fared well in empirical tests. Because of this we examine another set of causal factors. It is hypothesized that classroom mathematics achievement is produced differently in each system. It is also hypothesized that teachers' management of class time and methods of instruction are major reasons for the differences in American and Japanese achievement. Classroom-level analyses of data on mathematics knowledge, management of class time, and instructional methods in more than 400 mathematics classes including over 14,000 middle-grades students in Japan and the United States support these hypotheses. Compared with the United States, Japanese classroom achievement is less influenced by incoming ability of students and more influenced by variation in knowledge among students and in the ability of teachers to reduce variation between students. Japanese teachers tend to manage classes and use instructional methods that reduce differences between students in a class and yield higher mean classroom knowledge. American teachers teach this way less and have lower class means as a result. These results, from nationally representative samples, support recent observational studies of the different schooling processes in each country that could explain national achievement differences.