A panel analysis of student mathematics achievement in the US in the 1990s: does increasing the amount of time in learning activities affect math achievement?

Panel estimation techniques are utilized to estimate econometric models of the determinants of mathematics achievement for a nationally representative sample of US high school students from the National Education Longitudinal Studies program (NELS88). Among the results, several relate to variables discussed as potentially important policy variables. Extra time spent on mathematics homework increases student test scores while extra hours per day of watching television negatively impacts math test scores. The results of the estimations also indicate the positive and significant effect of an increase in the number of minutes of each class period for mathematics. Given the means and standard deviations of these variables, 3 hours per week for math homework, 2.6 hours per day of watching TV, 52 minutes per math class period, as well as the relatively large effects associated with these variables, the potential for manipulating them to enhance math achievement seems like a real possibility. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. JEL classification: JEL 12.