Academic resilience of disadvantaged students in 58 countries: The role of early home learning activities and instructional clarity

Academic resilience refers to students’ ability to succeed academically despite socioeconomic adversity. This study investigates how early home learning activities and teachers’ instructional clarity interact to support disadvantaged students’ resilience in mathematics and science. Using data from 308,609 fourth graders across 58 countries in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019, resilient students were identified with both cross-national and within-country thresholds. Results show large variation across countries and subjects, with mathematics generally yielding higher resilience share than science. Pooled moderation analyses revealed compensatory effects: instructional clarity was especially beneficial for students with limited early home learning, while within-country analyses more often showed synergistic effects, where both supports reinforced one another. These findings underscore that resilience is context-specific and shaped by the alignment between home and school environments. Policymakers and educators should strengthen both supports individually while fostering their complementarity to enhance disadvantaged students’ resilience in mathematics and science.