Chapter 11: Trust and Friction: A Multilevel Analysis of Elementary Math Classrooms

Understanding how to maximize classroom climate factors that may positively affect student achievement scores in mathematics is vital to school improvement efforts. The focus of this study is to examine the impact teacher trust in clients and classroom friction have on elementary math achievement. Both student and teacher perceptions are explored. Surveys were collected from 482 students and their teachers, from 26 math classrooms, across 10 elementary schools in Texas. Intraclass correlations were calculated to identify the level of variation in math achievement between classrooms. Next, a random coefficient HLM model was employed to identify the specific impacts that classroom friction and teacher trust in students and parents (clients) have on elementary math achievement. Finally, an intercepts as slope HLM model was created to isolate potential interaction effects between Level 1 (classroom) and Level 2 (school) variables. The results of the analyses indicate that both teacher trust in clients and classroom friction make statistically significant impacts on the variance in elementary math achievement. Teacher years of experience on campus and socioeconomic status (SES) are also examined. Implications are discussed.