Effective schools research looks at ways in which schools 'add value' to their programs through their organisational and instructional practices and how they are successful in providing the opportunity for all students to achieve their potential. This study examines school effectiveness using multilevel modeling to explore influences on mathematics achievement at grade 8 using TIMSS 1995 and TIMSS 1999. Building on a model of school effectiveness for the Australian Year 8 cohorts, the study reported in this paper explores a wider range of explanatory variables at student, class and school level. The current study looks specifically at the effects on achievement of particular methods of teaching and resource allocation in schools to attempt to identify the variables which have the greatest effect on student outcomes. In addition, the inclusion of a verbal ability score, used in Australia in TIMSS 95, is used as a student-level predictor. This variable has previously been found to be highly predictive of achievement in mathematics. It is anticipated that the results of the multilevel analysis will provide additional information and direction for schools to become more successful places of learning.