Assessing Senior Secondary School Students’ Mathematical Proficiency as Related to Gender and Performance in Mathematics in Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated mathematical proficiency as related to gender and performance in mathematics among 400 Nigerian senior secondary school students from 10 elitist senior secondary schools in Lagos State using the quantitative research method within the blueprint of descriptive survey design. Data collected were analysed using the descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation and inferential statistics of independent samples t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Findings revealed that senior secondary school students from the elitist schools showed high level of mathematical proficiency. There were significant possible correlations among senior secondary school students‟ conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, strategic competence, adaptive reasoning, productive disposition and performance in mathematics. While gender differences in mathematical proficiency are no longer important and are dissipating even at the subscale level there are subtle gender differences in performance in mathematics in this study. Gender, conceptual understanding, productive disposition, adaptive reasoning, strategic competence and procedural fluency made statistically significant contributions to the variance in senior secondary school students‟ performance in mathematics. Based on this base line study, it was thus, recommended that future studies in Nigeria should investigate the mathematical proficiency of non-elitist schools which dominated the length and breadth of this country so as to generalize the results of this study.