This study was to investigate how teachers' and principals' beliefs were related to 8th grade
students' self-efficacy and autonomy as well as their Korean and math achievement. The
nation-wide data comes from KELS, which includes 6,446 8th graders, 2,670 teachers, and 150
principals from 150 middle schools. This study used HLM with student variables(Level 1) and
teacher and principal variables(Level 2). When analyzing each model, we entered student, teacher,
and principal variables, respectively. Results showed that female students' outperformed their male
counterparts in both Korean and math. Along with students' self-efficacy toward the subject,
introjected self-regulation positively predicted achievement. When a teacher reported that
‘students' efforts and persistence were important to student goal accomplishment,’ students'
Korean achievement was high. Principals' beliefs were found to have no effect on students'
achievement. In sum, it is necessary, especially in math, to relate students' interest and
achievement, and to reflect this in the curriculum.