A research on the relation of the math attitude, school culture and some demographic variables with the math achievement of secondary school students

In this study, we investigate the relation of the mathematics attitude, school culture and some demographic variables with mathematics achievement of secondary school students. We obtain the research data in the 2014-2015 academic year. The research was conducted with 600 7th grade students (53% female and 47% male) who are in four different middle-schools in the different locations of Gaziantep. 600 students have participated to this study in Hatice Büyükbeşe secondary school, Nuriye Zekeriya Kına secondary school, Adnan Menderes secondary school from Şahinbey and in the Şahinbey secondary school from Şehitkamil. In order to collect data, an instrument which consisting of three parts were used. These parts are "Personal Information Form, Math Attitude Scale-Thurstone Form and School Culture Scale". Correlation coefficient, two samples independent t-test, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple linear regression were used in the data analysis. The p=0.05 was considered as statistical significant level. SPSS 16.0 software was used for data analysis. After the analysis we found a significant and positive relation between math success and math attitude, school culture, class level, living with the parents, early childhood education, the grade average of the previous year, having own study room. Multiple linear regression results show that math attitude level, perceived school culture, class level, father education level, having self-room were significant predictors of mathematics achievement.