A longitudinal study on the impact of parental academic support and expectations on students’ academic achievement: the mediating role of happiness

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Previous studies have separately explored the impact of parents’ academic support and expectation on students’ academic achievement....     

Testing the mediating role of teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between sources of efficacy information and students achievement

The purpose of this study is to test the mediating role of teachers?? self-efficacy beliefs in the relationship between sources of efficacy information and students achievement. For achieving this aim, this study suggests two alternative models, tested by Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. In the first model, sources of efficacy information and teachers?? sense of self-efficacy independently influenced student achievement. In second model, we examined a dependent 2-factor model, consisting of: (a) antecedent variable: sources of efficacy information, (b) mediator variable: teachers?? sense of self-efficacy, and (c) criterion variable: student??s achievement. Among 284 teachers who participated in this study, Sources of the Self-Efficacy Inventory (SOSI) and Teachers?? Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) were distributed. Findings of this study indicated that between two suggested models, the dependent model showed the best overall fit to the data. In this model, teachers?? self-efficacy had mediational role between sources of teachers?? self-efficacy and student??s achievement.     

Leadership and students’ academic success: mediating effects of self-efficacy and self-determination

When exploring the effects of leadership on students, most studies have focused on either how leadership affects the students’ academic outcomes or how it contributes to their personal development. This study merged both approaches and aimed to measure the mediating effects of self-efficacy and self-determination among leadership, students’ intentions to persist and GPA. A Structural Equation Analysis was applied to a data-set of 1009 students from 39 countries to examine these relationships. The results showed a full mediating effect of academic self-efficacy between leadership and students’ intentions to persist and between leadership and GPA, and revealed a full mediating effect of self-determination through autonomy and relatedness constructs between leadership and intention to persist. This result implies that even though leadership does not directly affect students’ academic outcomes, it enhances their confidence and motivation, which provides them with the inner drive to aim high, persevere and achieve their goals. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed.     

College students’ motivation and learning strategies profiles and academic achievement: a self-determination theory approach

The development of effective self-regulated learning strategies is of interest to educationalists. In this paper, we examine inherent individual difference in self-regulated learning based on Motivated Learning for Learning Questionnaire (MLSQ) using the cluster analytic approach and examine cluster difference in terms of self-determination theory related variables. The sample of the study consisted of 238 junior college students from 12 intact classes. Two adaptive clusters and two maladaptive clusters were uncovered based on the MLSQ, with the adaptive clusters showing better academic grades. Results from the one-way MANOVA showed that the four clusters differed significantly in terms of their needs satisfaction, behavioural regulations, enjoyment, effort and value. The findings supported the importance of needs satisfaction in the development of self-regulated learning behaviour.     

The case of high motivation and low achievement in science: what is the role of students’ epistemic beliefs?

The importance of motivation-related factors in shaping students’ academic achievement across a range of areas, including science, has been consistently acknowledged by the existing research literature. In an effort to improve students’ science achievement, many education systems put particular emphasis on the enhancement of intrinsic (i.e. enjoyment and interest) and instrumental motivation in the subject. However, based on the latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data, many of the countries that managed to increase their motivation indices between 2006 and 2015 did not necessarily note a rise in science performance, with many still performing below the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average. Interestingly, although students’ motivation increased in some of these countries (e.g. Luxembourg, Iceland and Greece), their average performance in science decreased. Using the PISA 2015 data for Greece, this study examined the case of high motivation and low achievement in science by incorporating epistemic beliefs in the discussion. The multilevel analysis confirmed the importance of 15-year-old students’ motivation for learning science in predicting their science achievement and highlighted the positive predictive power of their epistemic beliefs. Policy and practice recommendations are provided based on the study findings, stressing the key role of students’ epistemic beliefs.     

The impact of school SES composition on science achievement and achievement growth: mediating role of teachers’ teachability culture

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have shown that schools’ socioeconomic-status (SES) composition has an impact on the academic performance of pupils. Less attention has been given to the explanation of this effect. This study examined whether the teachability culture among the school staff (teachers’ collective beliefs about how teachable their pupils are) mediated the school SES effect on science achievement and achievement growth. Multilevel analyses were conducted with data from 1,761 pupils and 1,255 teachers across 66 primary schools in Flanders. First, the analyses indicated that there was a positive association between school SES composition and teachability culture: Even after controlling for cognitive ability and performance of pupils, there was a more pessimist culture in socioeconomically disadvantaged schools. Second, the association between school SES and academic performance was explained/mediated by the teachability culture. However, no school effects or mediation effects were found for achievement growth as the covered period of academic growth was too short.     

Relationships among properties of college students’ self-set academic goals and academic achievement

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among properties of college students’ self-set academic goals and academic achievement, using multiple theoretical perspectives. Using a personal goal-based research methodology, college students enrolled in a learning-to-learn course (N?=?130) were asked to list 20 of their goals (academic and/or non-academic). For each of their goals, goal specificity, value, expectation of success and autonomous and controlled motivation were measured and then ratings on each goal property were averaged across students’ academic goals (24.75% of all goals) to predict students’ grade point average (GPA) for the semester. Regression results suggested a positive affect on students’ semester GPA for goal specificity and a negative effect for controlled motivation; the model explained 19% of the variation in GPA. This research may help to inform motivation researchers and educational practitioners who assist college students with goal setting.     

The role of engagement in immigrant students’ academic resilience

Academic resilience refers to academic success despite chronic socio-educational adversity. Given increases in immigration across the world in the past decade (including in Europe), there have been calls to identify factors (e.g., engagement) that can better support immigrant students’ academic resilience. With a sample of N = 17,241 immigrant students from 18 European countries, the present investigation employed multi-level probit regression to determine the extent to which cognitive, behavioral, and social-emotional engagement predict academic resilience status at both the student- and school-level. Findings revealed that cognitive engagement and behavioral engagement, at both the student- and school-level, are positively associated with academic resilience (yielding moderate and large effect sizes), while the findings regarding social-emotional engagement were more equivocal.     

Exploring the determinants of students’ academic performance at university level: The mediating role of internet usage continuance intention

Education and Information Technologies - This study investigates the impact of integrating essential factors on academic performance in university students’ context. The proposed model...     

The effect of teacher support on primary school students’ reading engagement: the mediating role of reading interest and chinese academic self-concept

The subjects of this research were 776 pupils from grade three to grade six in Shandong Province, China. This study examined the influence of teacher support on students’ reading engagement, and the mediating variables between those two factors, as measured by the perception of teachers’ support scale, reading engagement scale, reading interest scale and Chinese academic self-concept scale. Results showed that the reading engagement of primary school students who lived in urban areas was significantly greater than that of students in rural areas. Moreover, teacher support positively influenced primary school students’ reading engagement, and reading interest had a mediating effect on teacher support and reading engagement, whereas the Chinese academic self-concept did not mediate such relations. However, Chinese academic self-concept completely mediated the relationship between teacher support and reading interest, such that there was a specific sequential effect between teacher support and reading engagement that formed an intermediating chain.     

The role of personal best (PB) and dichotomous achievement goals in students’ academic motivation and engagement: a longitudinal investigation

This study assessed the role of prior personal best goals in predicting subsequent academic motivation and engagement. A total of 1160 high school students participated in a longitudinal survey study exploring the extent to which personal best and mastery and performance (dichotomous) achievement goals predict students’ academic motivation and engagement across the course of a full academic year. Findings showed that personal best goals predicted higher motivation and engagement a year later. Along with personal best goals, mastery goals also predicted higher motivation and engagement, while the role of performance goals was either neutral or negative. These findings provide support for the contention that personal best goals are associated with higher motivation and engagement across time.     

Comparing students’ self-discipline and self-regulation measures and their prediction of academic achievement

Using a multi-source, multi-measure research design involving 507 high school students and their teachers, we compared prediction of these students’ academic achievement by a composite of students’ and teachers’ measures of students’ self-regulation (SR) with a composite of students’ and teachers’ measures of students’ self-discipline (SD). Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the SR composite was more predictive of students’ grade point average and performance on a state-wide achievement test than the SD composite. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that, although SD and SR latent factors correlated significantly, a two-factor solution provided an acceptable fit for the results. Structural Equation Modeling analyses indicated that the SR latent factor predicted both measures of students’ achievement significantly, but the SD factor did not predict either achievement measure significantly. No significant gender differences were found with students’ SD, SR, or achievement measures. These results suggest a path for integrating two relatively separate streams in self-regulation research on the basis of a well-established distinction between learning and performance processes.     

Factors affecting bioscience students’ academic achievement

The examination of academic progression has become an essential tool for measuring the effectiveness of educational systems. Research concerning the relationship between student learning and how they progress in their studies, however remains scarce. The aim of this study is two-fold: Firstly, the study aims to analyse first-year bioscience students’ perceptions of their teaching–learning environment and their approaches to learning as well as the relationship of these to academic achievement as measured by students’ progression in studies and how they succeed. Secondly, the present study explores factors students feel either enhance or impede their studying as well as the relationship of those factors with their approaches to learning and academic achievement. The data consist of responses from 188 first-year students who began their studies in the fall 2007 and 2008. The data were collected in a Finnish context with a modified and shortened version of the Experiences in Teaching and Learning Questionnaire (ETLQ). The analyses were carried out using factor analysis, one-way ANOVA and structural equation modeling. According to the results, organised studying was related to both academic progression and study success. In addition, academic progression was positively related to peer support. Furthermore, most of the students found that problems in time management impeded their studies and that pre-set schedules enhanced them. Results indicate that social support and self-regulation skills are important for academic achievement.     

Classroom management and students' mathematics achievement: The role of students’ disruptive behavior and teacher classroom management

Establishing a well-organized classroom conducive to learning is a key element of high-quality teaching. However, less is known about the degree to which the classroom management process is affected by the specific students in the classroom. Using two large-scale datasets of German secondary school students, the present two studies examined the effectiveness of teachers' classroom management in mathematics while taking into account students' disruptive behavior in the classroom. When controlling for the average level of disruptions in the classroom, both students' disruptive behavior and teachers' monitoring activity were negatively associated with students' mathematics achievement, whereas no associations occurred for teachers' structure and rule clarity. The results suggest that teachers' monitoring activity needs to take into account students’ disruptive behavior in the classroom, highlighting the complexity of effective classroom management.     

Teacher–student relationship quality and math achievement: The mediating role of teacher self-efficacy

The relation between social dyadic variables such as teacher–student relationship quality (TSRQ) and student achievement have been well-documented within prior work; however, less research has focused on how TSRQ associates with achievement. We used longitudinal structural equation modeling to investigate the extent that teacher self-efficacy mediated the relationship between TSRQ and math achievement for 881 children in the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study. Teacher–student closeness had moderate to large positive effects on teacher self-efficacy, whereas teacher–student conflict had small to moderate negative effects on teacher self-efficacy, which then had small positive effects on math achievement. Closeness only had indirect effects on math achievement via teacher self-efficacy, whereas conflict had direct and indirect effects on math achievement. The results were consistent across grades, lending strength to the findings. This study provides researchers and practitioners evidence of an area that can be developed to potentially enhance student success in math.     

The impact of term‐time employment on higher education students’ academic attainment and achievement

Term‐time employment among Britain’s undergraduates is a growing phenomenon but it has received scant attention from government and policy makers. Although there are numerous studies on the subject, few have explored the impact of term‐time employment on students’ actual attainment and those that have are limited. This article attempts to fill that gap. Using data derived from 1000 students in six UK universities, it quantifies the impact of students’ paid work on their actual marks and degree results, while controlling for their academic attainment on entry to higher education and other factors including their hours of work. It shows that irrespective of the university students attended, term‐time working had a detrimental effect on both their final year marks and their degree results. The more hours students worked, the greater the negative effect. Consequently, students working the average number of hours a week were a third less likely to get a good degree than an identical non‐working student. Some of the least qualified and poorest students are most adversely affected perpetuating existing inequalities in HE. The 2006/07 changes to student finances may help some of them, but term‐time employment is likely to remain part of the HE landscape.     

The effectiveness of advance organiser model on students’ academic achievement in learning work and energy

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the advance organiser model (AOM) on students’ academic achievement in learning work and energy. The design of the study was quasi-experimental pretest–posttest nonequivalent control groups. The total population of the study was 139 students of three sections in Endabaguna preparatory school in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. Two sections with equivalent means on the pretest were taken to participate in the study purposely and one section assigned as the experimental group and the other section assigned as the control group randomly. The experimental group was taught using the lesson plan based on the AOM, and the control group was taught using the lesson plan based on the conventional teaching method. Pretest and posttest were administered before and after the treatment, respectively. Independent sample t-test was used to analyse the data at the probability level of 0.05. The findings of the study showed that the AOM was more effective than the conventional teaching method with effect size of 0.49. This model was also effective to teach male and female students and objectives namely understanding and application. However, both methods were equally important to teach work and energy under the objective knowledge level.     

The interplay of learning approaches and self-efficacy in secondary school students’ academic achievement in science

ABSTRACT

The aim of the present investigation was to analyse the role of academic self-efficacy and approaches to learning in general and in Physics and Chemistry academic achievements. The sample comprised 507 secondary school students of two Spanish schools and the study was conducted in the context of a Physics and Chemistry subject. Structural equation models showed that surface motive was the only type of learning approach directly related to performance. Besides, our models revealed that self-efficacy plays an important role as a mediating variable between the surface strategy and the deep motive learning approaches and academic achievement. Gender effects were also studied as girls showed higher levels of achievement both in general performance and in Physics and Chemistry. Implications for science education and suggestions for future research of these findings are also discussed.     

Implementing vertical and horizontal engineering students’ integration and assessment of consequence academic achievement

Recent scholarship references indicate that integration of the student body can result in an enhanced learning experience for students and also greater satisfaction. This paper reports the results of a case study whereby mechanical engineering students studying at a newly established branch campus in Dubai of a British university were exposed to vertical and horizontal integration. Different activities have been embedded to ensure that students integrated and worked together with their peers and colleagues at different levels. The implemented processes and practices led to improved academic achievements, which were better than those of a similar cohort of students where no effort had been made to integrate. The analysis revealed that cooperative learning and the degree of academic support provided by teachers are positively and directly correlated with academic as well as the students’ own sense of personal achievement. The results are discussed in light of previous research and with reference to the cultural context of the study.     

The role of autonomy supportive activities on students’ motivation and beliefs toward out-of-school activities

Physical education in elementary education usually provides children’s first contact with sports. According to the trans-contextual model of motivation, physical education teachers can positively influence children’s beliefs toward and actual leisure time physical activity behavior. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of a dance-based physical education program on motivation regarding physical education lesson participation, as well as leisure time physical activity participation. The sample consisted of 252 pupils attending Grades 5 and 6 of elementary school (M_age?=?10.48 years, SD?=?0.50 years). Participants were randomly assigned into three groups. The first group attended a physical education lesson based on various forms of dance, the second one attended lessons with Greek traditional dances only, and the third group served as active control group that attended the typical curriculum. The intervention lasted six weeks. Before and after the intervention, students completed survey-based measures of motivational climate, motivational regulations in physical education and leisure time, enjoyment, attitudes, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and intentions toward leisure time physical activity. In support of the trans-contextual model, results showed that students in the dance intervention programs scored significantly higher in perceptions of motivational climate and beliefs toward leisure time physical activity. The findings of the study suggest that dancing lessons at school can bolster more positive attitudes and beliefs toward physical education and leisure time physical activity.