This study investigated the science achievement of eighth graders in Turkey in terms of the relationship of science achievement with the selected student- and classroom-level variables, and modeled the relationship among these variables. The TIMSS 2011 data were used for this purpose. A hierarchical linear model was used to analyze the data. The results of the analysis revealed that the variance in science achievement among eighth-grade classrooms is statistically significant. The variance is about 32%. The result also showed that while attitudes towards science and parents’ level of education are positively related to science achievement, student engagement has no relation with science achievement. Furthermore, the analysis showed that while teacher collaboration and inquiry-related activities do not have a statistically significant effect; class average-engagement and readiness to learn have a significant effect on science achievement.

Keywords: cience achievement, TIMSS, engagement, inquiry-related activities, readiness to learn