The Effect of Student Discussion Frequency on Fifth-Grade Students’ Mathematics Achievement in U.S. Schools

Student discussion about mathematics has been said to improve the mathematical understanding of students. Yet, some studies suggest that this may not be the case (i.e., Shouse, 2001). Therefore, the authors used hierarchical linear modeling to investigate the effect frequent discussion has on math achievement. Findings showed no statistically significant mean difference in math achievement between weekly and less than weekly discussion in fifth-grade mathematics classrooms, but significant variability in the effect of discussion on achievement was found across classrooms and schools. This indicates that weekly discussion can have large positive effects in some classrooms/schools and negative effects in others. These results and their implications are discussed in context with current literature.