Load and academic attainment in two business schools

In this paper the relationship between academic load (the number of modules attempted) and academic performance is investigated in a Scottish and an Australian university. An engagement approach to academic integration is employed, in which there is feedback between load and performance, and in which there is scope for diminishing returns to the study of additional modules once loads become high. The results indicate that full‐time students reduced module load in response to information on academic performance. At the Scottish business school many non‐traditional students had taken up opportunities to enter university under the UK government's drive to widen participation. In that school load reduction was undertaken at twice the rate of the Australian business school. For women, reductions from full‐time loads by one or two modules appear rational in that better average marks result. There are indications that status as a widening participation entrant, the learning and assessment environment, the funding regime and rest‐of‐life demands have influences on load reduction and on academic performance.     

Phantom and big-fish-little-pond-effects on academic self-concept and academic achievement: Evidence from English early primary schools

The Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE) suggests that school-average achievement has a negative effect on academic self-concept (ASC); some research has also verified a negative effect on students' academic achievement. Our study evaluates the compositional effects of school-average achievement on both outcomes, using a longitudinal sample of English early primary school students in Year 1 and Year 4. We provide evidence for BFLPEs in children as young as six to nine years of age. Further, we show that the BFLPE is a potential mechanism in the negative compositional effect of school average achievement in Year 1 on students' achievement in Year 4. Once adjustments for measurement error are made, the negative effect of school-average achievement on students' self-concept, and on their subsequent achievement, becomes even more negative. Our findings question previous research suggesting that attending a school with higher average achievement necessarily advances students’ outcomes.     

The short‐term and the long‐term effect of primary schools and classes on mathematics and language achievement scores

A considerable body of previous research has demonstrated that differences between schools and classes have an impact on students' learning and acquisition of skills. It is not yet clear, however, whether the effects persist in the longer term. The present study examines the effect of primary schools and classes on language and mathematics achievement over a period of two years after leaving primary education. Considerable short‐term effects of the primary school and class on achievement levels at the end of primary education were found. Multilevel models with a cross‐classified structure were constructed to estimate the long‐term effects. Differences between secondary schools and classes turned out to be much more important for achievement in secondary education than the long‐term effects of primary schools and classes, which were small and died out fast.     

Social capital and student achievement in Norwegian secondary schools

This paper investigates student social capital in Norwegian secondary schools and its effects on student achievement. Using data from the national survey ‘Young in Norway 2002’, it explores the concept and measurement of social capital in the school context by applying factor analysis. The paper also tests an analytical model that links student home background, social capital at school and student academic achievement, using a structural modelling technique. Control variables in the analysis are student age, gender, school size and home community. Testing the analytical model with female and male student subgroup data takes gender perspectives into consideration. Finally, statistical results are presented and discussed, and implications for further research are provided. The study finds that student social capital, generated from student social relations with parents, teachers and peers, has a significant influence on student achievement.     

Educational outcomes,policy reform and cultural capital in Italian secondary schools

Italy’s poor performance in various indicators of educational achievement, such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), has featured strongly in analyses of Italian education policy, and its progress towards the Lisbon objectives has been slow. With weak outcomes often linked to a highly stratified system of upper secondary schooling, combining high levels of track differentiation with a comparatively young track selection age, Italy’s education system has been characterised as antiquated and rigid. Yet the evidence that poor educational outcomes are differentially distributed between different Italian regions suggests that the ‘tracked system’ itself, which does not vary among regions, may not fully explain the Italian indicators. This article examines recent policy responses to these weak educational outcomes and, drawing on a range of data which take account of the links between social selection, regional inequality and levels of family cultural capital, investigates whether the concept of cultural capital might provide a more nuanced and theoretically powerful explanation of differences in educational outcomes in Italy.     

The interface between mathematics and design and technology in secondary schools

ABSTRACT

This article suggests that there are important connections between design and technology and mathematics curricula and that these are not fully made in the United Kingdom National Curriculum. Using three examples, the authors show how there are real opportunities in design and technology teaching for incorporating mathematical learning, but that all too often these are lost because they are not made explicit. Again, the authors argue that too much mathematics teaching is dominated by abstract investigation rather than practical problem‐solving. They conclude by suggesting that teaching should transcend subject boundaries and be concerned with real‐life situations.     

A test of social capital theory outside of the American context: Family and school social capital and youths’ math scores in Canada, Japan, and the United States

Within the area of youth studies, social capital theory (SCT) has been widely used to explain achievement disparities. Although this theory has gained popularity, few researchers have tested it outside of the US context. This paper tests one dimension of SCT: that social capital has a positive effect on young people's academic achievement within three randomly drawn samples of 15-year-olds in Canada, Japan, and the United States. By doing this, I examine the theory's utility for explaining disparities in youths’ academic achievement outside of the US context. This is particularly important because the theory has gained widespread acceptance in youth studies and amongst policy researchers, even though it has not been tested using a variety of data sets. If supported, all of the measures of social capital will have a positive influence on achievement levels in each of the three data sets.     

Rural schools,social capital and the Big Society: a theoretical and empirical exposition

The paper commences with a theoretical exposition of the current UK government's policy commitment to the idealised notion of the Big Society and the social capital currency underpinning its formation. The paper positions this debate in relation to the rural and adopts an ethnographically‐informed methodological approach to provide an in‐depth look at two contrasting English rural primary schools and their relationship with their village communities. The empirical investigation seeks to explore the extent to which the potential for building social capital is evidenced in current rural school–community relations within these two locales. The findings reveal a highly differentiated countryside in which any attempt to essentialise the abilities of rural schools to generate social capital in order to build the Big Society should be avoided.     

Heterogeneous effects of comprehensive vs. single-track academic schools: Evidence from admission lotteries

We use admission lotteries to study how enrollment in a single-track academic school instead of a comprehensive school affects achievement of students in Amsterdam. The two types of schools score differently on measures of school quality and enrollment in a single-track school instead of a comprehensive school implies exposure to better and richer peers. Yet, school resources and the school curriculum are very similar. Different groups of students are differentially affected by this treatment. Girls from lower-income neighborhoods benefit whereas boys from these neighborhoods are harmed. For students from higher-income neighborhoods, it does not matter which type of school they attend.     

Inequality in social capital: social capital,social risk and drop-out in the Turkish education system

This article examines the effects of social capital on the likelihood of dropping out from the compulsory education system (Grades One through Eight) in Turkey. It focuses on the question of whether school-related social capital can provide the means to stay in school in the presence of risk factors such as socioeconomic status, race, or gender that cannot be easily modified. Despite major progress in enrollment rates due to policies enacted in recent years, the overall drop-out rate in compulsory education is close to 15% in Turkey. Data collected from 764 student–mother pairs show that drop-outs are exposed to higher number of social risk factors. We further illustrate that school-related social capital, as measured by quality of in-school teacher–student interactions as well as parental involvement in school, significantly and positively contributes to adolescents’ likelihood of staying in school even in the presence of severe social inequalities.     

Faith,phonics and identity: reading in faith complementary schools

Thousands of UK school children spend considerable time during a lengthy period of their youth learning to read, or decode, a ‘religious classical’, the liturgical language connected to their faith. Drawing on recent theories of reading, identity and literacy practices, this paper briefly describes and seeks to share tentative thoughts about some common issues around the teaching and learning of religious classicals within minority ethnic faith settings. It presents a comparative textual analysis of a central teaching resource used in three Jewish, Muslim and Sikh complementary schools in the United Kingdom. It is concluded that, regardless of any relative effectiveness of method or resource, what may be more interesting for researchers is the symbolic value of learning to read the religious classical. This may be more important than the eventual outcome in terms of reading competence. Here, ‘successful reading’ is understood primarily as ‘successful decoding’. The tenacity of this literacy practice in the face of spoken community language attrition is testimony to the importance placed upon it both individually and collectively.     

RESEARCH SECTION: Nurture groups: a large‐scale,controlled study of effects on development and academic attainment

Nurture groups have contributed to inclusive practices in primary schools in the UK for some time now and have frequently been the subject of articles in this journal. This large‐scale, controlled study of nurture groups across 32 schools in the City of Glasgow provides further evidence for their effectiveness in addressing the emotional development and behaviour problems of vulnerable children. In particular, Sue Reynolds, Principal Educational Psychologist, Maura Kearney, Senior Educational Psychologist, both working in Glasgow City Council Psychological Services, and Tommy MacKay, Professor at the University of Strathclyde and Director of Psychology Consultancy Services, suggest that is the first study to report quantitative gains in academic achievement when the progress of pupils in nurture groups is compared with that of matched children in mainstream classes. This highlights the importance of providing a nurturing context as a basis for promoting children's learning.     

Competition,cream‐skimming and department performance within secondary schools1

The performance of departments has been largely neglected in previous studies of subject choice in secondary schools. This is a significant omission because analysis at departmental level enables a fuller assessment of the effects of competition and specialisation on pupil performance. This paper examines relationships between both absolute and value‐added measures of departmental performance and the likelihood of students being entered for examination in a subject. It examines these relationships with reference to four option subjects: French, German, Geography and History. It utilises data from an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded study which examined trends and patterns in departmental effectiveness using a sample of 664 schools which participated in the Yellis monitoring system for a minimum of five years during the period 1995–2002.     

The academic success of undocumented Latino students: School programs,non-profit organizations,and social capital

Based on 29 in-depth interviews with undocumented Latino college students and graduates in Southern California, this study explores how academic high achievers obtain the information, resources, and emotional support they need to achieve college-student status. The study highlights the importance of the programs offered by schools and nonprofit organizations to compensate for undocumented Latino students’ lack of social capital and their parents’ lack of human capital. Forging a trusting relationship with teachers and/or counselors remains crucial for navigating the unique application process for undocumented students and for identifying private funding sources.     

Ability emotional intelligence,trait emotional intelligence,and academic success in British secondary schools: A 5 year longitudinal study

This study examines the long-term effects of ability- and trait EI on academic performance for British adolescents. The sample comprised 413 students from three secondary schools in the North-West of England. Students completed tests of ability EI, trait EI, personality, and cognitive ability in Year 7 (mean age = 11 years 2 months). Performance data at the end of Year 11 (mean age = 15 years 10 months) were collected. Structural Equation Modelling examined the longitudinal relationships between latent variables of these constructs. Results show that the importance of ability EI resides in the fact that it moderates the effect of cognitive ability on performance in Year 11. Trait EI has a direct effect on Year 11 performance for boys only. This suggests that initiatives that help to develop ability EI and increase trait EI offer educators opportunities to improve educational achievement.     

Predicting academic achievement of Greek secondary school Students from family background and California Psychological Inventory scores

Family background data and California Psychological Inventory (CPI) protocols were obtained from 1643 Greek students (825 males, 818 females), from 19 schools in upper, above average, below average, and lower socioeconomic districts of the City of Athens. Students were enrolled in Grades 8 and 9 (gymnasio) or 10 through 12 (likio). Background variables, individual CPI scales, and a combination of six CPI scales developed earlier to forecast high school academic achievement in the United States were related to the scholastic performance of the Greek students. For all 1643 students, the optimum linear combination of three family background variables correlated .29 with grades, whereas the previously defined CPI equation had a correlation of .38. Similar results were observed in subsamples defined by sex and school level. It was concluded that the CPI measures showed sufficient validity in this cross-cultural application to warrant further research at higher educational levels, and in special subgroups such as the intellectually gifted or mathematically precocious.