Journal of Management and Planning In Educational System

Journal of Management and Planning In Educational System

The Mediating Role of Math Anxiety in the Relationship Between Electronic Assessment Protocol and Academic Achievement of High School Students: An Experimental Study

Document Type : Scientific - Research

Authors
Khadijeh Paseban Khamari 1
Mohammadreza Rabie 2
Ahmad Shahvarani Semnani 1
Mohsen Rostami Malkhalifeh 1
1 Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Faculty of Converging Sciences and Technologies, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Statistics, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Shahrood University of Technology, Shahrood, Iran
10.48308/mpes.2026.240847.1618
Abstract
Objectives: Mathematics anxiety is a significant educational and psychological challenge that can adversely affect students’ academic achievement. With the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of online education, concerns about the potential exacerbation of this anxiety have intensified. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of an electronic assessment protocol on students’ academic achievement and mathematics anxiety and to elucidate the underlying mechanism through which the protocol influences academic achievement, with particular emphasis on the mediating role of mathematics anxiety.

Materials and Methods: This study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population comprised all 43,039 female junior high school students in Golestan Province during the 2020–2021 academic year. A sample of 246 students, comprising 167 in the experimental group and 79 in the control group, was selected using multistage cluster sampling. The experimental group received the electronic assessment protocol intervention, whereas the control group continued with its usual online instruction. The research instruments included the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale–Revised (MARS-R) and researcher-developed academic achievement tests. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 27 and R software. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to examine the effects of the protocol on the dependent variables. Subsequently, path analysis and bootstrapping were employed to investigate the mediating role of mathematics anxiety and clarify the mechanism through which the protocol influenced academic achievement.

Discussion and Conclusion: The results indicated that the electronic assessment protocol had a statistically significant effect on improving academic achievement (p < 0.01) and reducing mathematics learning anxiety among students in the experimental group (p = 0.03). Although the reductions in test anxiety and the overall mathematics anxiety score did not reach statistical significance at the 0.05 level, decreasing trends were observed in both components. More importantly, the mediation analysis revealed that mathematics anxiety, which was targeted by the intervention, played a statistically significant mediating role in the relationship between implementation of the electronic assessment protocol and academic achievement (indirect effect = 0.235; 95% bootstrap confidence interval: 0.021–0.502). This finding suggests that the protocol may indirectly improve academic achievement by reducing mathematics anxiety, particularly mathematics learning anxiety. These findings support the effectiveness of the electronic assessment protocol and help clarify its potential mechanism of action through the mediating role of mathematics anxiety in a quasi-experimental setting. This study highlights the importance of designing and implementing interactive and practical assessment strategies in educational environments, particularly virtual settings, to reduce psychological barriers while promoting learning. It is recommended that educational policymakers give special attention to affective factors, such as mathematics anxiety, alongside cognitive factors, and seriously consider the use of emerging assessment technologies to improve students’ psychological and academic outcomes simultaneously.
Keywords
Math Anxiety
E-learning
Assessment
Protocol
Academic Achievement
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