| Summary: | In this work we investigate the impact of selected personal, family and school characteristics on the level of mathematical ability of fifteen year old pupils from 6 countries of the Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Poland, Austria and Slovakia) and from countries with excellent results in mathematics (Finland, Hong Kong and the Netherlands). Then we compare the impact of the factors in the individual countries. Much can be concluded from this analysis. The type of school attended by the pupil has a great impact. The maximal difference between type of schools can come up to 40 percentage points in some countries (CR, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). We do not discuss this factor in Finland and Poland, where all fifteen year olds attend one type of school. The results in these countries are therefore determined differently. As for other basic characteristics of the school, the size matters in some countries (Hong Kong and the Netherlands) and has always a positive effect. The urbanization level of the place of the school (the size of the village or city) is also positively correlated with the mathematics result. Here the Netherlands and Germany form an exception. The status of the school (public vs. private), lack of well-educated teachers, equipment of the school and enthousiasm of the...
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