| Summary: | 碩士 === 亞洲大學 === 經營管理學系碩士在職專班 === 97 === The Taiwan 2008 team performed spectacularly in the 49th International Mathematical Olympiad. It was noticed that all the contestants of the team were from urban high schools, not from any township comprehensive high schools, which reflected an urban-rural gap in student academic performance. People have sensed the education gap between urban and rural has been widening. Learning performance is also influenced by parents’ background. Therefore, this study explores (1)whether there is any correlation between parents’ background and performance in math among elementary school students.(2) whether there is any correlation between location of residence and performance in math among elementary school students.
The findings of the study are as follows:
(1) Location of residence plays a significant role in math performance among elementary school students. There is a significant difference in learning performance between urban and rural areas.
(2) Parents’ background also plays a significant role in math performance among elementary school students.
(A) There is a significant correlation between the educational level of parents and student performance in math: There is a significant difference in math performance between the students whose parents have a degree of senior high school or more and those whose parents have no more than junior high school education. With their parents who have completed up to the 9th grade level of education, students’ performance in math is significantly lower.
(B) There is a significant correlation between the socio-economic status of parental occupation and student performance in math: There is a significant difference in math performance between the occupational background of parents in the 1st category and those in other categories. That is, with their parents engaged in agriculture, forestry, fishery, animal husbandry, manual workers, such as labor, students’ performance in math is significantly lower.
(C) There is a significant correlation between the special background of parents and student performance in math: There is a significant difference math performance between the students from low-income households and from other backgrounds. Those from low-income households had a significantly lower performance than students from middle and upper class households.
From the above we can conclude that location of residence, parents’ level of education and the socio-economic status of parental occupation play a significant role in elementary school student performance in math. Therefore, educators and educational administrators should consider these factors into the policy-making process in order to enhance the effectiveness of mathematics learning.
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