本研究旨在了解是否出身背景越好,子女數學學業成績會隨著時間的累積越來越優於同儕成就,以及數學高(低)成就學生落(升)到一般成就的原因為何?研究分析資料主要以「臺東縣教育長期資料庫」2003年、2005年以及2006年三個年度相同學生之學生與家長問卷作為研究分析的基礎。研究結果顯示(一)國小的數學高分組學生上了國中之後不再顯著具有優勢,而國小低分組學生上國中之後劣勢明顯縮減;(二)漢族、高社經背景、居住在都市中心之學生,在進入國中之前即呈優勢,不過這樣的優勢地位,僅在不同居住地區出現馬太效應;(三)原住民、低社經背景以及居住在鄉村偏遠地區學生的弱勢地位,在學習過程中回到數學成績在一般同儕程度或高成就的機會並沒有比較高。
Prior studies on students' academic performance indicate that students with higher socio-economic backgrounds perform better academically. Most of these studies, however, provide synchronic data. Hence, more studies from a longitudinal perspective should be conducted. The study attempts to answer the following two questions: 1) Is it really true that students with higher socio-economic backgrounds can succeed academically? 2) Do minority students (e.g. aboriginal students and students with low socio-economic backgrounds) start learning with a disadvantage?The research material include data of the socio-economic backgrounds and mathematic performance from the same group of students collected in three years. Results show that students who did well in mathematics in elementary school did not necessarily maintain their high performance after entering middle school. On the other hand, those who did poorly in elementary school showed obvious signs of improvement in mathematics in the middle school. In conclusion, in both of elementary and middle schools, high socio-economic backgrounds do not guarantee high performance on mathematics over time.