Studies of children’s self-efficacy have found that, within each level of math ability (i.e., high, medium, and low ability), students with greater math self-efficacy outperformed their similar-ability peers.20 In studies of students’ math performance, the direct effect of self-efficacy was as strong as the effect of ability.21 Researchers have found similar effects of self-efficacy beliefs across a variety of other academic domains and contexts.22