The relationship between levels of mathematics anxiety in elementary classroom teachers, selected teacher variables, and student achievement in grades two through six

Several research studies have indicated that mathematics anxiety is a phenomenon that is fairly widespread among elementary education majors. Other studies suggest that levels of this anxiety increase with age. As one school district moves toward making the course entitled Algebra I the expected course for the majority of ninth grade students, it becomes necessary to consider the preparation students receive in the earlier grades. Specifically, mathematics instruction in the elementary school must be of the kind that allows most students to exit an arithmetic-based program by the end of grade six. The purpose of this study is to determine what factors related to teacher preparation, age, gender, grade level teaching assignment, attitudes toward mathematics and problem solving, and assignment to a magnet or comprehensive program impact on levels of mathematics anxiety and to what extent mathematics anxiety impacts student achievement. Teachers participating in this study completed an 85-item questionnaire. Multiple regressions were used to identify which of twenty-two factors most heavily impacted each of three dimensions of mathematics anxiety and the cumulative anxiety, and which dimension(s) of anxiety had the most influence on student achievement. A correlation matrix established the relationship between all pairs of factors. The results indicate that levels of mathematics anxiety are most influenced by age, experience, the highest level college mathematics content course, and attitudes toward mathematics and problem solving. Student achievement is most influenced by the grade level of instruction, and the number of college mathematics content courses the teacher has taken. Additional findings suggest that upper grade elementary teachers have had higher levels of high school mathematics and have more positive attitudes toward mathematics but less positive attitudes toward problem solving; that the more college mathematics a teacher has, the more positive that teacher's attitude toward problem solving; that teachers in magnet programs report less anxiety and better preparation; that student achievement in magnet programs does not differ significantly from student achievement in comprehensive programs; and, that students in the upper elementary grades do not experience as high a level of achievement as their counterparts in the primary grades. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).