WISC-R factor scores as predictors of wrat performance: A multivariate analysis

The capability of the WISC-R Verbal Comprehension (VC), Perceptual Organization (PO), and Freedom from Distractibility (FD) factor scores to predict academic achievement as measured by the WRAT was investigated. Subjects consisted of children referred for psychological evaluation in a public school setting, typically because of learning problems within the classroom. The results of a multivariate multiple regression analysis revealed that the FD and VC factors significantly predict WRAT Reading, Spelling, and Arithmetic standard scores, with the FD factor accounting for a major portion of the variance in WRAT achievement based upon observed VC and FD factor scores.     

Predicting reading achievement for Kindergarten boys and girls

This study assessed the validity of the Kindergarten Teacher Rating Scale (KTRS) in predicting reading achievement for male and female students. The KTRS was a significant predictor of reading achievement for both boys and girls; differential predictive validity for boys and girls was not found. The KTRS explained about 30% of the variance in reading achievement both at the end of the 1st grade and the beginning of 2nd grade. The proportion of variance in reading achievement explained by variance in KTRS scores was significantly greater than the proportion of variance in reading achievement explained by variance in reading readiness scores. There were no significant differences in the mean KTRS scores for male and female students.     

Robust and specific personality traits as predictors of adolescents’ final grades and GPA at the end of compulsory schooling

The study investigated the predictive value of robust and specific personality traits in adolescents (M _age?=?14.7 years), in explaining their academic achievement at the end of basic compulsory schooling. Personality data were obtained through self, maternal, and peer reports using the Inventory of Child/Adolescent Individual Differences. Adolescent gender and maternal education predicted 36, 26, 19, and 26 % of the variance in the final grades in Slovene, English, and mathematics and the overall GPA, respectively. Personality ratings by each of the three groups of informants substantially improved the prediction of students’ academic achievements, over and beyond gender and maternal education. The robust trait scores contributed to significant increments in the variance explained, across the academic achievement indicators, ranging from 8 to 17 % (self-report), 15 to 24 % (maternal report), and 20 to 32 % (peer report). Conscientiousness was consistently the most powerful predictor of students’ academic success and extraversion was negatively associated with all achievement indicators. The study provided support for a relatively stronger predictive utility of specific, rather than robust personality traits. Likewise, peer ratings of the students’ personality provided relatively larger increments in variance explained in academic achievements than maternal and self-ratings; in general, the personality trait ratings added more to the prediction of mathematics grades and the GPA relative to the prediction of success in languages. Among specific traits, subjectively perceived student intelligence was the most powerful and consistent predictor of final grades and GPA.     

Affective and motivational factors of learning in online mathematics courses

We investigated what factors would be related to students' achievement in mathematics courses offered at a virtual high school. This was an attempt to understand why some succeed and some do not as well as to suggest what should be done to help with student success. Seventy‐two students responded to a self‐report survey on motivation (ie, self‐efficacy, intrinsic value), mathematics achievement emotions (ie, anxiety, anger, shame, hopelessness, boredom, enjoyment, pride), and cognitive processes (ie, cognitive strategy use, self‐regulation). A three‐step hierarchical multivariate regression was employed to examine which of the factors predict student achievement. Results showed that motivation accounted for approximately 13% of the variance in student achievement and self‐efficacy was the significant individual predictor of student achievement. However, when achievement emotions were added to the analysis, self‐efficacy failed to predict student achievement and emotions accounted for 37% of the variance in student achievement. Cognitive strategy use and self‐regulation did not explain any additional variance in the final scores. Findings are discussed and implications for future research and development are also suggested.     

A Beginning Reading Vocabulary

Abstract

Two ability tests (verbal and nonverbal), six achievement tests, and seven scales of the Self Observation Scales (a measure of self- concept) were completed by 225 sixth graders in two West Virginia rural counties. Self concept (measured by the SOS) was shown to add significantly to the prediction equation for achievement over and above the contribution of nonverbal intelligence. The SOS accounted for 22 percent of the variance in reading achievement, and combined with nonverbal intelligence to account for 34 percent of the variance in reading achievement.     

Validating the Conceptions of Assessment-III Scale in Canadian Preservice Teachers

Building on Snow's (1989) idea of 2 pathways to achievement outcomes, a performance and a commitment pathway, this study examined how cognitive and motivational factors associated with each of these pathways, respectively, contributed to the prediction of achievement outcomes in science. The sample consisted of 491 10th- and 11th-grade high school students. Results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that (a) students' cognitive abilities were the strongest predictors of their performance in science as measured by standardized test scores; (b) motivational processes enhanced the predictive validity for science test scores and grades beyond the variance accounted for by ability; and (c) motivational processes were the strongest predictors of students' commitment to science in the form of situational engagement and anticipated choices of science-related college majors and careers. These results are consistent with Snow's (1989) conjecture that both performance and commitment pathway-related factors are necessary for understanding the full range of person-level inputs to achievement outcomes.     

The relationship of phonological awareness, rapid naming, and verbal memory to severe reading and spelling disability.

The present study examined the relationship of phonological awareness, naming speed, and verbal memory to the scores obtained from five tests assessing word attack, word identification, reading comprehension, and spelling skills in 54 children with severe reading disabilities (48 boys and 6 girls; M age = 9 years, 7 months). Multiple regression analyses indicated that the best predictor of achievement across the five academic tests was the Verbal Comprehension factor from the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised. Age, socioeconomic status (SES), and externalizing behavior problems were also significant predictors of achievement, depending on the academic measure. After controlling for age, SES, behavior problems, and intelligence, the phonological awareness task added significantly to the prediction of word attack, spelling, and reading comprehension scores; rapid letter naming added significantly to the prediction of word identification and prose passage speed and accuracy scores; and a word-list memory task added significantly to the prediction of word recognition scores. These results suggest that several independent processes interact to determine the extent and severity of reading problems.     

Toward a research-based assessment of dyslexia: using cognitive measures to identify reading disabilities

One hundred five participants from a random sample of elementary and middle school children completed measures of reading achievement and cognitive abilities presumed, based on a synthesis of current dyslexia research, to underlie reading. Factor analyses of these cognitive variables (including auditory processing, phonological awareness, short-term auditory memory, visual memory, rapid automatized naming, and visual processing speed) produced three empirically and theoretically derived factors (auditory processing, visual processing/speed, and memory), each of which contributed to the prediction of reading and spelling skills. Factor scores from the three factors combined predicted 85% of the variance associated with letter/sight word naming, 70% of the variance associated with reading comprehension, 73% for spelling, and 61% for phonetic decoding. The auditory processing factor was the strongest predictor, accounting for 27% to 43% of the variance across the different achievement areas. The results provide practitioner and researcher with theoretical and empirical support for the inclusion of measures of the three factors, in addition to specific measures of reading achievement, in a standardized assessment of dyslexia. Guidelines for a thorough, research-based assessment are provided.     

Test-Taking Strategy as a Mediator between Race and Academic Performance

The issue of race differences in standardized test scores and academic achievement continues to be a vexing one for behavioral scientists and society at large. Ellis and Ryan (2003) suggested that a portion of the cognitive-ability test performance differences between White/Caucasian-American and Black/African-American college students could be attributed to the greater use of ineffective test-taking strategies by the latter group. We replicated and extended their findings by using three outcomes—exam scores in a single academic course, self-reported GPA, and a measure of verbal abilities. Ellis and Ryan reported that the variance in cognitive-ability test performance explained by race dropped by 48% (i.e., from 21% originally to 11%) when controlling for the mediator, ineffective test-taking strategies. Our results were less dramatic, but also indicated that ineffective test-taking strategies accounted for 19% to 25% of the variance originally explained by race. In addition, reminiscent of the disidentification effect, supplementary analyses showed that academic/intellectual self-perceptions correlated with the criterion measures but only for White participants. These results suggest that a portion of the race difference on test scores might be accounted for by test-taking strategies.     

AN INVESTIGATION OF RELATIONS AMONG ACADEMIC ENABLERS AND READING OUTCOMES

The current study examined the link between academic enablers and different types of reading achievement measures. Academic enablers are skills and behaviors that support, or enable, students to perform well academically, such as engagement, interpersonal skills, motivation, and study skills. The sample in this study consisted of 61 third‐, fourth‐, and fifth‐grade students (54% male). Academic enablers were rated by classroom teachers via the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES; DiPerna & Elliott, 2000 ). Four different measures of reading achievement were included: classroom grades, global ratings of reading skills, standardized test scores, and Reading CBM scores. Results indicated that academic enablers were significantly related to each type of reading outcome. Academic enablers accounted for the greatest amount of variance for classroom grades (45%) and the least amount of variance in standardized test scores (11%). Results suggest that academic enablers are an important part of academic success in reading, particularly classroom grades, but when considering the variance accounted for by academic enablers, they alone are not likely to improve Reading CBM scores or standardized test scores.     

Two readiness measures as predictors of first and third-grade reading achievement

Multiple-regression procedures were used to assess the effectiveness of the ABC Inventory and the Metropolitan Readiness Test (MRT) in predicting first and third-grade reading achievement. Sex and chronological age were included in the first-grade analysis (N = 62) and the first-grade PMA intelligence test score was added to the equation in predicting third-grade reading (N = 65). MRT performance accounted for 11% of the variance in first-grade SRA reading scores (R = .34). In predicting third-grade reading, the MRT accounted for 26% of the variance and the PMA IQ scores accounted for an additional 6% (final multiple R = .57). No other predictor made a significant contribution to explaining variance in first or third-grade reading achievement.     

IQ and neuropsychological predictors of academic achievement

Word reading and math computation scores were predicted from Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence Full Scale IQ, 10 neuropsychological tests, and parent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) ratings in 214 general population elementary school children. IQ was the best single predictor of achievement. In addition, Digit Span contributed significantly to reading prediction, and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and Coding contributed to math prediction. The remaining neuropsychological test scores did not significantly improve achievement prediction. Exploratory factor analysis yielded a general ability factor (comprising the four IQ subtests, Digit Span, VMI, reading, and math), five factors made up solely of subtests from single measures (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Color and Word Test, Gordon Diagnostic System, California Verbal Learning Test, and ADHD ratings), a factor consisting of Grooved Pegboard Test and Coding, and a factor consisting of Symbol Search and Animal Naming Test.     

Stability of Intelligence from Preschool to Adolescence: The Influence of Social and Family Risk Factors

Intelligence scores of children in a longitudinal study were assessed at 4 and 13 years and related to social and family risk factors. A multiple environmental risk score was calculated for each child by counting the number of high-risk conditions from 10 risk factors: mother's behavior, mother's developmental beliefs, mother's anxiety, mother's mental health, mother's educational attainment, family social support, family size, major stressful life events, occupation of head of household, and disadvantaged minority status. Multiple risk scores explained one-third to one-half of IQ variance at 4 and 13 years. The stability between 4- and 13-year environmental risk scores ( r = .77) was not less than the stability between 4- and 13-year IQ scores ( r = .72). Effects remained after SES and race, or maternal IQ, were partialled; multiple risk was important in longitudinal prediction, even after prior measurement of child IQ was accounted for; the pattern of risk was less important than the total amount of risk present in the child's context.     

Predictors of self-esteem: the roles of parent-child perceptions, achievement, and class placement.

This study examined the relative influence on children's self-esteem of academic achievement, maternal self-esteem, maternal acceptance, and children's perception of their parents' acceptance of them. Subjects were students with learning disabilities in a self-contained class (n=31), similarly diagnosed students in resource room (n=35), students in compensatory education (n=30), and nondisabled students (n=30) from Grades 3 through 6. Results showed that for the self-contained group, a child's perception of maternal and paternal acceptance plus the child's academic achievement score accounted for 58% of the variance in the child's self-esteem. None of the independent variables accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in the compensatory education and regular class groups. The self-esteem of the regular class students was significantly higher than that of the resource room students and the compensatory education students, but not significantly higher than that of the self-contained students.     

WISC-R factor structures among White,Mexican American,and African American children: A research note

The factor structure for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) was investigated for White (n = 183), Mexican American (n = 129), and African American (n = 139) nonreferred school-age children (6.8 to 14.6 years) of low-to middle-class socioeconomic background. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed. The WISC-R factor structure model tested was Kaufman's (1975) three-factor solution that consisted of Verbal Comprehension (VC, Factor 1), Perceptual Organization (PO, Factor 2), and Freedom from Distractibility (FD, Factor 3). The results of the exploratory analyses showed Kaufman's three-factor solution for the three ethnic groups, but the order of Factor 2 and Factor 3 was reversed for the Mexican American and African American samples—thus raising questions about the comparability of the WISC-R factor structure across groups. The confirmatory analyses, which used the orthogonal nested factors approach by Gustafsson and Balke (1993), resulted in a model (for each of the ethnic groups) in which a G factor explained most of the variance (followed by the nested first-order factors—VC, PO, and FD). The results of the confirmatory analyses provide some support for David Wechsler's (1974) original intentions that the WISC-R structure is best described as having a general, or global, factor. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Reflection-impulsivity as a predictor of children's academic achievement

To examine the implications of differences in reflection-impulsivity for later academic achievement, 70 children were administered the Matching Familiar Figures test (MFF) in grade 4 and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) in grades 4, 5, and 6. Children identified as reflective based on grade 4 MFF performance scored significantly higher on the CTBS achievement battery at all grade levels than those classified as impulsive. However, the 2 groups did not differ on the grade 5 or grade 6 achievement measures when scores were adjusted for initial differences in grade 4 CTBS. Similarly, while each of the continuous variables MFF error score and MFF response latency was significantly predictive of grade 5 and grade 6 achievement test scores, neither of the MFF variables significantly improved the prediction of academic performance when current level of achievement was statistically accounted for. Sex differences in the relations between the MFF variables and the achievement measures were identified; MFF error score was more strongly related to later academic achievement for boys than for girls, while MFF response latency was a better predictor of academic achievement for girls than for boys.     

Academic achievement despite child maltreatment: a longitudinal study

Purpose

Although researchers have concluded that child maltreatment has a negative effect on children's learning and academic achievement, not all children are negatively affected by maltreatment, and some children seem to succeed academically despite being maltreated. Drawing on risk and resilience theory, we examined a broad range of potential risk, promotive, and protective factors within children and their environments along with characteristics of the maltreatment to account for variability in test scores.

Methods

A national longitudinal probability sample of 702 maltreated school-aged children, ages 6-10, and their caregivers was used to predict reading and math scores among maltreated children over three years.

Results

We found that chronic maltreatment, poorer daily living skills, and lower intelligence explained a substantial proportion of the variance in maltreated children's math scores (39%), whereas type of maltreatment, poorer daily living skills and lower intelligence explained a substantial proportion of the variance in reading scores (54%) over time. Contrary to our prediction, having a behavior problem seemed to protect chronically maltreated children from poorer performance in math over time.

Conclusions

To increase academic achievement among maltreated children, it is imperative that we prevent chronic maltreatment and help children increase their competency on daily living skills.     

Leadership as Accountability for Learning: The Effects of School Poverty, Teacher Experience, Previous Achievement, and Principal Preparation Programs on Student Achievement

In the current era of accountability for achievement, school principals play the pivotal role of instructional leader. In a high-stakes testing environment, leadership preparation programs in universities and school districts need to be positively related to academic outcomes. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school leadership preparation programs and student achievement in urban settings. Because leadership is contingent on the setting, school contextual factors and their impact on student achievement framed this study. Regression techniques were employed to construct a conceptual model with predictors of criterion and norm-referenced student achievement scores. Confirming previous research findings, student poverty, teacher experience, and previous achievement were the strongest predictors and accounted for a significant amount of variance in student achievement; however, university and district preparation programs were not significant predictors. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.     

The relationship between quality of the present level of academic achievement and functional performance statement and student learning

The present level of academic achievement and functional performance (PLAAFP) is an essential component of the individualised educational program (IEP) process because it identifies student strengths and areas for growth. However, there is minimal research that examines components of an IEP and student outcomes. The current study examined the relationship between PLAAFP quality and student achievement, and between training and ongoing professional development and quality of the PLAAFP. The data were obtained from 211 special education teachers in one state. Results suggested that ongoing professional development predicted the quality of the PLAAFP statement, accounted for a large amount of the variance (r² = 0.14) in the PLAAFP quality score, and was a stronger predictor than participating in a single training. Additionally, PLAAFP quality predicted winter achievement scores beyond the school district, fall achievement scores and teacher variables, and accounted for significant and moderate amount of unique variance for reading (r² = 0.05) and math (r² = 0.07). Implications for research and practice are included.     

Measurement of quality in preschool child care classrooms: An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the early childhood environment rating scale-revised

The purpose of the current study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) with a large sample (1313 classrooms). We explored both the seven subscales and the possibility of fewer distinct aspects of quality being measured by the scale. The large sample size allowed both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to be performed. The results showed two distinct factors, Activities/Materials (nine items) and Language/Interaction (seven items), which accounted for 69% of the variance. High internal consistency scores, a moderate correlation between the factor-based scales, and a strong correlation between the combined factor-based scales and the overall ECERS-R score suggested these were distinct factors that could serve as a proxy for the larger scale. Structural aspects of quality and teacher education were examined in relation to the new factor-based scales and the overall score. Implications for practitioners and future research suggestions are provided.