Designed to examine the factors that contribute to student achievement, this study focused specifically on the relationship between physics achievement and selected teacher characteristics, student characteristics, and school and district characteristics. Questionnaires and attitude surveys were completed by 39 randomly selected Mississippi physics teachers (21 certified, 18 noncertified). To measure achievement in physics, the Mississippi State University Physics Achievement Test was administered to 616 physics students. Data were analyzed to determine the correlation between physics achievement and each of the 26 variables identified in the study. Consideration was also given to which combination of selected variables would serve as the best predictor of achievement in physics. Results indicated that teacher certification in chemistry, number of undergraduate hours in physics, student-reported average school grade of A, and a teaching load which included general science were the best predictors of achievement, collectively accounting for 48.7 percent of the variance. (ML)