Effects of Student Help-Seeking Behaviors on Student Mathematics Achievement

Abstract

Using the nationally representative sample from the United States in the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (N = 7,429 students from 240 schools), the present study examined the effects of student help-seeking behaviors on eight measures of student mathematics achievement. To account for the multilevel structure of the data with students nested within schools (i.e., students attending different schools), a two-level hierarchical linear model was used in the data analysis. Student help-seeking behaviors showed statistically significant positive effects on all eight measures of mathematics achievement, even after controlling for student characteristics and school characteristics. Furthermore, for all eight measures of mathematics achievement, the positive effects of student help-seeking behaviors on student mathematics achievement are independent of which schools students attend.