Teacher Qualification Characteristics and Secondary School Students’ Mathematics Achievement: A Quantitative Study

Many Grade 12 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Mathematics examination registrants are consistently underperforming due to their inability to grasp basic mathematical concepts (Caribbean Examinations Council, 2006-2016). The purpose of this research was to examine the relation and association between five Teacher Qualification Characteristics (TQCs) and students’ 2016 CSEC Mathematics achievement at two secondary schools in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). A sample size of 113 participants were incorporated in this research (N=105 students and N=8 teachers). These teachers taught these students CSEC Mathematics during the year of examination, 2015-2016. The Spearman’s rho correlation revealed that there was a statistically significant positive relationship between teacher qualification, teacher certification, and teacher Mathematics teaching experience and students’ ordinal grades at [r=.416; p=.000 < ?=.001], [r=.235; p=.016 < ?=.05], and [r=.20; p=.041 < ?=.05] respectively. Similarly, the chi-square output showed a statistically significant association between teacher qualification, teacher certification, and teacher Mathematics teaching experience and students’ ordinal grades at [p=.000 < ? =.001], [p=.010< ? =.05], and [p=.003< ? =.05] respectively. On two occasions, the Bonferroni adjustment was used. For both tests, professional development and academic coaching were not statistically significant

ID Model Development and Validation: Improving Secondary School Students’ Mathematics Achievement through Cooperative Learning Strategies

Many secondary school students within the Caribbean region are consistently failing to grasp basic mathematical concepts. The purpose of this Design and Development Research was to generate an Instructional Design (ID) Model that demonstrates how the effective use of cooperative learning strategies improved students’ mathematical achievement, at a junior secondary school in the British Virgin Islands. The researcher collected information from Mathematics teachers (n = 5) and their students (n = 5). Each participant was involved in semi-structured interviews and MAXQDA12 was employed for analysis. Two research questions guided this research. The results of this research showed that the consistent use of effective cooperative learning strategies contributed to students’ academic achievement in Mathematics, especially at the junior secondary school level. The results stand to benefit both Mathematics teachers of junior secondary schools and their students. There is one recommendation for future research