Factors Related to Differential Achievement Among Boys in Ninth-Grade Algebra

Abstract

This study was an investigation to determine intellectual and non-intellectual variables associated with achievement, persistence, and change of curricular choice among secondary school pupils. The sample of 140 students was categorized into three groups: achievers (N = 86), those who encountered no academic difficulty in their four years of a curriculum; persisters (N = 23), those who encountered difficulty but remained in their initial choice; and changers (N = 31), those who changed their curriculum. The analysis of variance was applied to test significance of the intellectual variables; chi-square for the nonintellectual variables. The level of confidence used for significance was .05.

All intellectual variables tested proved statistically significant. None of the non-intellectual variables tested for changers and persisters proved significant. The conclusion reached was that academic skills, especially reading, arithmetic, and language, related to achievement and persistence in curricular choice.     

A Cross-Cultural Study of Intellectual and Nonintellectual Factors Influencing Mathematical Ability in Tibetan and Han Students

We have already conducted cross-cultural studies of mathematical thinking ability and the capacity to study the schools' mathematics curriculum of Tibetan and Han students. Our study methods and results have been discussed in detail in "Study on the Differences in the Development of Mathematical Thinking Ability of Tibetan and Han Children"¹ and "Comparative Study of the Development of Mathematical Ability in Han and Tibetan Secondary School Students."² The results of the study show that Tibetan students' mathematical thinking ability and capacity to learn the school mathematics curriculum are lower than these skills in Han students in the same locality. What produces these differences? And what are the influences affecting the development of Tibetan and Han students' ability to think mathematically? In the previous studies, we carried out preliminary analysis on school conditions, family environment, language, and other areas, but analyzing these external factors is insufficient to explain these differences. Educational circles in China and overseas have recently considered that the primary factors influencing learning activities were intelligence and nonintelligence psychological factors. Therefore we can only accurately state the reasons for the differences in mathematical ability of Tibetan and Han students by analyzing the individuals' intellectual and nonintellectual factors. There have been studies that have looked at the influences of intellectual and nonintellectual factors in students' schoolwork, but they are usually limited to the Han nationality and only deal with cross-cultural issues in their conclusions. We therefore went to Tibetan areas to carry out field-work to examine the differences in mathematical ability of Tibetan and Han students. This paper endeavors to analyze the data comprehensively in order to probe the intellectual and nonintellectual factors influencing the development of mathematical ability in Tibetan and Han students.     

影响英语听力水平的非智力因素分析

学习活动是智力因素与非智力因素共同参与的过程。然而,教学双方往往在实践中重视前者而忽视后者。实际上,良好的非智力因素不但有助于智力因素的发展,还可以弥补其他方面的不足,促进学生的全面发展。英语听力是对英语综合语言能力的一种测试,是英语教学中的一个重要环节,同时也是一个薄弱环节。学生听力水平的提高不可避免会受到相关非智力因素的影响。从狭义的非智力因素角度入手,分析学习动机、兴趣、情感等因素对英语听力理解能力的影响,同时就如何培养和激发学生非智力因素,以提高英语听力教学效果提出一些建议。     

Disentangling the predictive validity of high school grades for academic success in university

To refine selective admission models, we investigate which measure of prior achievement has the best predictive validity for academic success in university. We compare the predictive validity of three core high school subjects to the predictive validity of high school grade point average (GPA) for academic achievement in a liberal arts university programme. Predictive validity is compared between the Dutch pre-university (VWO) and the International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Moreover, we study how final GPA is predicted by prior achievement after students complete their first year. Path models were separately run for VWO (n = 314) and IB (n = 113) graduates. For VWO graduates, high school GPA explained more variance than core subject grades in first-year GPA and final GPA. For IB graduates, we found the opposite. Subsequent path models showed that after students’ completion of the first year, final GPA is best predicted by a combination of first-year GPA and high school GPA. Based on our small-scale results, we cautiously challenge the use of high school GPA as the norm for measuring prior achievement. Which measure of prior achievement best predicts academic success in university may depend on the diploma students enter with.     

PREDICTING SUCCESS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the usefulness of standardized tests (ACT, Preprofessional Skills Test) as predictors of student success in early childhood studies. Success was measured as grade point average at the time of graduation. The sample consisted of students enrolled at a four‐year public institution in the United States (N = 129). Data analysis indicated the standardized measures, including ACT and the Preprofessional Skills Test, were significantly related to success in early childhood studies. In addition, both tests, along with high school rank and student age, were useful in the prediction of grade point average at graduation, but did little to predict success during the student teaching experience.     

The AVOM: A model-derived,age-limited,and modality-related test of intellectual functioning

The current status of intellectual assessment is reviewed. Traditional psychometric techniques are criticized for yielding only a single score that purports to measure the individual's intellectual ability. Such a unified score gives no indication of what specific deficit is present, nor does it suggest a strategy for remediation. The AVOM Test is presented as a potentially useful device. This experimental test measures performance in two input channels, auditory and visual, and two output channels, oral and manual. AVOM was administered to over 200 elementary school students. Scores increased with age, and the other results were supportive of the potential utility of the device.     

Validity of the Differential Aptitude Test for the Assessment of Immigrant Children

This paper addresses the construct as well as the criterion validity of the Differential Aptitude Test (DAT) for the assessment of secondary school minority group students ( N = 111) as compared to majority group students ( N = 318) in The Netherlands. Comparison of the test dimensions with the structural equation modelling program EQS showed that construct validity was good for both groups. With one exception, the subtests of the DAT measured the cognitive abilities of minority and majority group students equally well. The estimate of g as computed with the DAT showed strong predictive validity with little bias for various school subjects and achievement tests for mathematics and Dutch. Although some criteria revealed prediction bias to the disadvantage of the minority group, these differences concerned very small changes in R 2 . Conversely, the predictive value decreased substantially when an estimate of g was used excluding subtests that measure aspects of crystallised intelligence. Spearman's hypothesis tested with DAT subtest scores and criterion scores showed that g explained most of the group differences. Professional test users can safely draw conclusions from the DAT regardless of the students' ethnicity.     

Emotional intelligence and academic attainment of British secondary school children: a cross-sectional survey

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) covers a wide range of self-perceived skills and personality dispositions such as motivation, confidence, optimism, peer relations and coping with stress. In the last few years, there has been a growing awareness that social and emotional factors play an important part in students’ academic success and it has been claimed that those with high scores on a trait EI measure perform better. This research investigated whether scores on a questionnaire measure of trait EI were related to school performance in a sample of British pupils. Results showed that high performing students had higher trait EI scores than low performing students and that some aspects of trait EI (motivation and low impulsivity) as well as total trait EI were significant predictors of academic achievement after controlling for prior attainment at school. Therefore, initiatives to develop the emotional and social abilities of schoolchildren might be worthwhile and more effective than concentrating solely on teaching and curriculum activities.     

Activist dispositions for social justice in advantaged and disadvantaged contexts of schooling

This article advances current conceptions of teacher activism through an exploration of the social justice dispositions of teachers in advantaged and disadvantaged contexts of schooling. We interrogate the practices of teachers in a government school, with a high proportion of refugee students and students from low socio-economic backgrounds, in a high-fees, multi-campus independent school, and in a disadvantaged Systemic Catholic school to illustrate how Bourdieu’s notion of dispositions (which are constitutive of the habitus) and Fraser’s distinction between affirmative and transformative justice are together productive of four types of teacher activism. Specifically, we show that activist dispositions can be characterised as either affirmative or transformative in stance and as either internally or externally focused in relation to the education field. We argue that the social, cultural and material conditions of schools are linked to teachers’ activist dispositions and conclude with the challenge for redressing educational inequalities by fostering a transformative activism in teachers’ practices.     

Examination of Gender Bias in University Admissions

In this study we examined whether the measures used in the admission of students to universities in Israel are gender biased. The criterion used to measure bias was performance in the first year of university study; the predictors consisted of an admission score, a high school matriculation score, and a standardized test score as well as its component subtest scores. Statistically, bias was defined according to the boundary conditions given in Linn (1984). No gender bias was detected when using the admission score (which is used for selection) as a predictor of first-year performance in the university. Bias in favor of women was found predominantly using school grades as predictor whereas bias against women was found predominantly in using the standardized test scores. It was concluded that the admission score is a valid and unbiased predictor of first-year university performance for the two genders.     

对西安市城镇高中生批判性思维的初步调查

This paper reports the development of critical thinking of urban high school students in the Chinese city of Xi’an. It presents the assessment of the students’ two components of critical thinking: dispositions towards critical thinking and critical thinking skills, using the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory and the California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Results show that the students’ dispositions toward critical thinking are at an average level while their critical thinking skills are very low. This research also shows that there is no significant difference between students from science classes and arts classes in their critical thinking dispositions while science students have a higher level of critical thinking skills. Students from advanced classes have a higher level of the two components of critical thinking than their counterparts from general classes. There are no differences between male students and female students in both components.      

A Factor Analysis of Epps Scales,Ability, and Achievement Measures

Data from 169 high school students were rotated by means of an oblique factor rotation so that from a 27x 27 variance-covariance matrix six factors were obtained. These factors were labeled: intellectual introversion, dependence, superego strength, ego-strength, independent orientation, and verbal aggression. The results suggested that the factors of intellectual introversion, dependence, superego strength, and ego-strength had concurrent validity. It was concluded that a factor analysis of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS), though questionable mathematically due to the fact that the EPPS is an ipsative measure, extracted psychologically relevant dimensions. The findings also suggested that introverted, socially controlled, mathematically apt students were not competing successfully with verbal, high ego-strength students in high school academic work.     

Peer-Facilitated Learning: Students’ Experiences

This article explores first-year students’ motivation for attending peer-facilitated learning (PFL) sessions at a University of Technology, and how they benefit from it. Studies have shown better academic performance for students attending PFL sessions; however, little attention has been dedicated to questioning what else outside of subject knowledge is being disseminated during these sessions; what motivates students to attend these sessions; and what students benefit from attending these sessions. Research has revealed that the majority of first-year students experience challenges with the transition between high school and university. Consequently, first-year experience has become the focus of higher education institutions worldwide. This situation calls for an effective intervention programme such as PFL to assist first-year students with the challenges of transition. The findings of this study contrary to popular literature that highlights academic success as the focus of PFL, revealed that students demonstrate a strong inclination to soft skills and social interactions as the main motivation for attending PFL sessions. This calls for a re-evaluation on how PFL support should be organised especially for first-year students.     

French-Arab students and verbal intellectual performance: Do they really suffer from a negative intellectual stereotype?

Stigmatized group membership leads to deleterious consequences for individuals. More specifically, according to stereotype threat literature, the awareness of negative intellectual stereotypes can impair stereotyped group members’ performance. Based on this framework, two studies were designed to explain the lower grades obtained by French-Arab students, compared to French students. An Implicit Association Test (Study 1) revealed that native French students automatically expressed a negative stereotype regarding French-Arab students’ intellectual abilities. The second study (Study 2) examined whether this negative stereotype could alter French-Arab students’ intellectual performance in a threatening context. As expected, French-Arab students underperformed when the verbal task was presented as a measure of intellectual ability, compared to French students. When the task was presented as non-diagnostic, their performance equaled that of French students. The discussion herein addressed implications of these results in terms of discrimination against the French-Arab population.     

Multidimensional perfectionism in middle school age gifted students: A comparison to peers from the general cohort

The researchers designed this study to investigate levels of multidimensional perfectionism in identified gifted middle school students and a group of their peers from the general cohort. Gifted students (N = 83) were compared with the general cohort (N = 112) from a Southeastern rural middle school (grades 6 through 8). One‐way analyses of variance were used to determine whether gifted and general cohort students differed on measures of adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism. Results revealed that gifted students had significantly higher standards scores, a measure of adaptive perfectionism, and significantly lower discrepancy scores, a measure of maladaptive perfectionism. These results suggest that gifted students are more perfectionistic (i.e., hold higher personal standards) than general cohort students. However, the results do not support the contention that gifted students experience distress or maladjustment from their higher levels of perfectionism (e.g., Maxwell, 1995).     

Recency of Secondary School Mathematical Preparation as an Influence on First-Year College Mathematics Achievement

Abstract

A random sample of four hundred college freshman mathematics students with comparable high school mathematical preparation was selected from 1,435 students. The test group included 126 members who had not attempted a mathematics course during their last year in high school, designated as Group N, and 263 members who had received mathematical credit during their last year, designated as Group Y. Statistical treatment of data for each group indicated that the SAT mathematical aptitude scores, CEEB (Level I) mathematical achievement scores, and achievement in first-year college mathematics courses was greater for Group Y at the .01 level of confidence. The achievement comparison was based on an analysis of covariance procedure with SAT Mathematical scores, CEEB Mathematical scores, and sex of student used as adjusting variables.     

元情绪对高一学生学习适应性及成绩的影响

采用特质性元情绪问卷（TMMS）和学习适应性测验（AAT）对328名高一学生进行元情绪与学习适应性调查。结果表明：高一学生元情绪总分及情绪注意、辨别与恢复三维度得分居于中等以上水平,且均无性别差异和生源地差异。高一学生元情绪与学习适应性及学业成绩呈正相关,其中,情绪恢复维度与学习适应性及学业成绩的相关较大,情绪辨别维度次之,情绪注意维度仅与学业适应性相关且相关较小,学习适应是元情绪与学习成绩的中介变量。建议在学业辅导与心理教育中加强对元情绪的发展。     

College Course Grades for Dual Enrollment Students

This study compared college course grade outcomes, both during and after high school, of dual-enrollment students to those of traditional students. The study was based on a large, multiyear sample of Iowa high school and community college students. The results showed that while in high school, dual-enrollment students consistently outperformed traditional students in community college courses. However, much of the difference might be due to underlying differences in the two groups associated with the type of college the students chose to attend after high school (i.e., four-year vs. two-year). Dual enrollment students tended to perform about the same as traditional students in terms of post-high-school community college course grades. For students who enrolled in four-year institutions after high school, analyses of college course grade data suggested a small positive effect of dual enrollment on first-year college grade point average (GPA).     

Achievement Motivation: a cross‐cultural comparison of British and Chinese students

This study investigated age, sex and cultural differences in achievement motivation. Subjects were a total of 764 male and female British high school and Chinese students aged 13‐55. The thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was administered to measure need for achievement (nAch). Results revealed that Chinese high school students had significantly higher nAch scores than their British counterparts. They also had significantly higher scores than the two older groups of Chinese students. Female subjects of both cultures had higher scores than males, although this difference was significant for British female subjects only. The results were discussed in terms of sociocultural and situational factors.     

Training chemistry students to ask research questions

In previous studies, science students have been trained to ask more and better questions through intensive instruction apart from the ongoing academic program. Cognitive strategies (such as questioning) are developed best, however, within the framework of an academic subject. In the current study, questioning skills were taught to high school chemistry students in the context of their laboratory experiments. Since both intellectual development and questioning skills are causally related to problem solving, the effect of intellectual development on the learning of questioning skills also was investigated. The Piagetian model of intellectual development was chosen for its demonstrated effects on many important aspects of science instruction. The number and quality of student research questions was measured by the Science Inquiry Assessment Instrument. The student's level of intellectual development was measured by the Classroom Test of Formal Operations. The twelve-week experimental treatment involved printed lessons which taught students to ask research questions in response to unanticipated observations in their regularly scheduled laboratory experiments. The pretest exaggerated the effect of this treatment. This effect, however, was significant among unpretested students, accounting for 14% of the post-test score variance. The level of intellectual development has no effect on these post-test scores. These important questioning skills can be acquired within the framework of the regularly scheduled classroom activities by high school chemistry students, irrespective of their level of Piagetian intellectual development.