Assessment of mathematics learning in sixth-grade students of Tehran City

Monitoring quality of educational system to ensure the quality of students' learning is one of the main responsibilities of educational systems and is considered as one of the indicators of the quality of education. In this regard, assessing students' learning in mathematics - as one of the key subjects - has significant importance. In this study, to assess quality of students’ learning in mathematics in the final grade of elementary schooling, a sample of 9720 sixth grade students in Tehran City was selected using a stratified two-stage cluster sample design. 264 math questions were distributed among students using matrix sampling. The results showed that the average performance of sixth grade students was 463, which is lower than the average scale (500). Also, girls performed better than boys. The comparison of different types of schools showed that public school students had performed weaker than students in other types of schools, but the difference in the students’ performance among other types of schools was not significant. In addition, there was a significant difference between the mean of students’ performances in different educational districts: the best performance was seen in districts 3, 2, 5 and 6 and the weakest performance was seen in districts 19, 15 and 18. The observed differences were almost noticed between public schools and schools with board of trustees too. In general, students of Tehran showed a relatively poor mathematics achievement, additionally, their achievement varies group by group.