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In this article, the effects of secondary schools, teachers, and classes on mathematics achievement are explored. The results of multilevel analyses indicate important recruitment differences between schools and classes within schools. After controlling for this, the group composition at the class level remained very important for the explanation of differences in mathematics achievement. Also the learning climate in the class, which correlates positively with group composition, explained an additional part of the variance. The effect of other educational process variables disappeared when group composition variables were entered into the model. At the school level, the proportion of girls was positively related to mathematics achievement. Indications of differential effectiveness of classes and schools and of heteroscedasticity related to SES, average class SES, sex, and learning climate were found.
Opdenakker et al. (Tue,) studied this question.