Showing papers on "Academic achievement published in 1970"

Student Social Class and Teacher Expectations: The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy in Ghetto Education

Abstract: Many studies have shown that academic achievement is highly correlated with social class. Few, however, have attempted to explain exactly how the school helps to reinforce the class structure of the society. In this article Dr. Rist reports the results of an observational study of one class of ghetto children during their kindergarten, first- and second-grade years. He shows how the kindergarten teacher placed the children in reading groups which reflected the social class composition of the class, and how these groups persisted throughout the first several years of elementary school. The way in which the teacher behaved toward the different groups became an important influence on the children's achievement. Dr. Rist concludes by examining the relationship between the "caste" system of the classroom and the class system of the larger society.

Teachers' Communication of Differential Expectations for Children's Classroom Performance: Some Behavioral Data.

Abstract: The processes by which teachers communicate differential performance expectations to different children were investigated through observational study of dyadic contacts between teachers and individual students in four first-grade classrooms. Differential teacher expectations for diffefent children were associated with a variety of interaction measures, although many of these relationships are attributable to objective differences :;n the behavior of the children. However, other differential teacher behavior was observed which is not attributable to objective differences among the children and which is consistent with the hypothesis that differential teacher expectations function as self-fulfilling prophecies. The teachers demanded better performance from those children for whom they had higher expectations and more likely to praise such performance when it was elicited. In cNitrast, they, were more likely to accept,poor performance from students for whom they held low expectations and were less likely to praise good performance from these students, when it occurred, even though it occurred less frequently, /The findings are interpreted as supportive of the hypotheses of Rosenthal and Jacobson concerning teacher expectation effects and as indicative of the behavioral mechanisms invo1ved when teacher expectatibns function as self-fulfilling prophecies. 4111z lommo 1 The authors wish to thank Vern Jones for his assistance in collection of data and Jean Romigh and Betty Johnson for their help in manuscript preparation.

The relationships between personality, study methods and academic performance

Abstract: Summary. 139 university students and 118 students at a college of education were given the Eysenck Personality Inventory and a questionnaire relating to academic motivation and study methods. A correlational analysis of these scores in relation to academic performance at the end of the first year showed the superiority of introverts and students with good study methods. Introverts also tended to have better study methods, but this only partially explained their high academic performance. There was no relationship between neuroticism and attainment. A supplementary approach used an item-analysis to identify the characteristics of successful students. From this analysis, items which identified good students were also positively related to stability and introversion.

Relationships between teacher behaviors and pupil achievement in three experimental elementary science lessons.

Abstract: Despite considerable growth in the number of observational studies of teaching in the last five years, there have been relatively few investigations of the relationships between what teachers do in the classroom and pupil achievement (Nuthall, 1968; Meux, 1967). As Gage has noted (Gage, 1966), observational data-gathering in classrooms has an obvious attraction to educational researchers, but there is little if any empirical evidence which makes it clear just what aspects of teacher behavior are most relevant to the major concerns of schools.

IQ, Creativity, and the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain.

Abstract: Based on the assumptions of the Taxonomy(4) and its definitions of the cognitive processes, it was hypothesized that the first four taxonomic levels are related to intelligence alone, but that performance on the upper two levels would require creative as well as intellectual abilities. The Lorge-Thorndike Intelligence Test, two creativity tests, and taxonomic tests were administered to 141 eleventh graders. Multivariate stepwise regression procedures were employed to determine the contributions of IQ and creativity to variation on the taxonomic tests. Results support the hypotheses. Implications are discussed in relation to Bloom’s model of mastery learning and the teaching for creativity.

Enthusiastic Teaching: A Research Review

Abstract: evidence. After pages of documentation on the ineffectiveness of structural innovations in education, Stephens hypothesized that effective teaching depends upon the "lively interests of teachers."2 This paper is a review of the attempts to assess the relationship of enthusiasm to pupil achievement and to specify the behavioral components of enthusiasm. Correlational and experimental studies in classrooms ranging from elementary school to college will be examined. I shall discuss the results of the studies, estimate the relevance of the results to teacher training programs, and suggest directions for future research. An important element of this paper is the discussion of how high-inference and low-inference measures can be used together in the study of teaching.

A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Teacher Selection.

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to report some results of applying costeffectiveness analytic techniques to decisions on teacher recruitment and retention. The data are derived from the U.S. Office of Education's Survey of Equal Opportunity for the school year 1965-66. Evidence relating teacher characteristics to student achievement is combined with data on the costs of obtaining teachers with different characteristics. This evaluation suggests that recruiting and retaining teachers with higher verbal scores is five to ten times as effective per dollar of teacher expenditure in raising achievement scores of students as the strategy of obtaining teachers with more experience. Separate estimates are made for black and for white sixth graders in schools of the metropolitan North.

Relationship between measures of psychological differentiation and intellectual ability.

Abstract: This study was concerned with the nature of the relationship between measures of psychological differentiation and intellectual ability. Significant correlations ranging from –.21 to –.56 (N = 143) were obtained between field-independence measures and diverse measures of intellectual achievement many of which ostensibly have little or no relationship to embedding contexts, spatial-perceptual skills or non-verbal organization. The adequacy of Witkin's notion that significant relationships between measures of field-independence and intelligence can be explained on the basis of a common requirement for overcoming embedded contexts was questioned. An alternative interpretation was proposed and other lines of evidence consistent with this viewpoint were presented.

How Teachers Make A Difference.

Abstract: The collection and analysis of data concerning teacher effectiveness will continue to be of very limited use to teachers and administrators until our models of the educational process become much more sophisticated. Teacher performance indicators appear more relevant for judging teacher effectiveness than certification, education, and experience. Teacher effects may well be seriously underestimated if achievement data are first calibrated for student socioeconomic status, as the present rudimentary state of our quantitative models does not permit us to disentangle the effects of home, school, and peers on students` be achievement. Although many investigators believe that teachers may the most important factor in educational achievement for most children, that belief rests largely on judgment and does not give us it is not of much use any clue as to how it operates. Without that, administrative practice. We absolutely must for policy formulation or pin down the connections between the inputs and the outputs of education; without that kind of theoretical structure we can flounder indefinitely in our efforts to improve the process. (Agthor/JM) U.S. DEPARTMENT Of HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE

Measures of Self-Perception as Predictors of Scholastic Achievement.

Abstract: Certain nonintellectual variables recently have been developed and have proven to have meaningful relationships to academic achievement. These instruments were administered to 411 girls and 466 boys, all of whom were members of the 1967 Sophomore Class at the University of Texas, Austin. The nonintellectual measures employed were the Identity Rating Scale, Self-Concept of Ability, and Self-Expectations. These, along with a measure of scholastic aptitude, were used to predict scholastic achievement. All variables were positively associated with achievement and all, with the exception of self expectation and scholastic aptitude were positively associated with each other. It was inferred that, at this developmental period, self-perception appears to be the most accurate predictor of academic achievement.

Relationships between College Characteristics and Student Achievement.

Abstract: As greater numbers of young people continue on to college, it becomes of increasing concern to know which institutional characteristics are associated with how much a student learns during his four years in college. Such information is important not only to the theorist who is attempting to understand how and to what extent college characteristics influence student behavior, but to the college administrator who requires such information for decisions concerning the optimum allocation of limited funds among many competing educational programs and processes. In addition, the recent increase in student population has been accompanied by an ever increasing flow of both public and private funds into the college system, resulting in an increasing need to evaluate the potential payoff of differential funding policies. Many of the differences among colleges with respect to their resources have been documented by Astin and Holland (1962), Cartter (1964), and the College Data Bank of Columbia's Bureau of Applied Social Research (1966). However, little additional light has been shed on whether or not these differences are associated with differential student achievement. Certainly any study of the impact of various

The Influence of the Teacher Expectancy Phenomenon on the Academic Performances of Educable Mentally Retarded Pupils in Special Classes

Abstract: 1 The financial help received from the University of lowa and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in support of this study is gratefully acknowledged. 2 Now an associate professor at the University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri. The teaching-learning process, as it occurs in the classroom setting of the public schools, has historically been the target of considerable research. For the most part, the emphasis has been on assessing the performance of the learner in meeting prescribed performance objectives. The independent variable in such research has typically been

Prediction of Long-Term Success in Doctoral Work in Psychology

Abstract: THIS study examines the degree to which measures of aptitude and undergraduate preparation obtained before the beginning of doctoral study are predictive of the &dquo;success&dquo; of psychology graduate students. Criterion measures were taken at two points in time. At the end of the first year of graduate study, the general progress and potential of each student was rated, and first-year course grades were obtained. Judgments of the overall success of each student were made six years after the beginning of graduate work, when all students in the research either had completed a Ph.D. or

Longitudinal Analyses of Classroom Behavior and School Achievement

Abstract: Third-, sixth-, and ninth-grade teachers in a Wisconsin county nominated 982 children as consistently displaying socially approved behavior and 568 as consistently displaying aggressive-disruptive behavior in the classroom. Five years after the original nominations teacher grades in English, science, mathematics, and social studies; rank in graduating class for original ninth graders; and STEP scores were obtained. Analyses of covariance (ANACOVA) were made with IQ as the covariate and behavior, grade, sex, and home location as the independent variables. The results indicate clearly that the children whose behavior was aggressive and disruptive in the classroom achieved at significantly lower levels than their socially approved peers.

Internal-external control as a determinant of academic achievement

Abstract: The aim of the present investigation was to examine the relationship between Rotter's (1966) internal-external control dimension (I-E) and academic achievement. Although no previous investigators have reported significant associations between these two variables (Eisenman & Platt, 1968), it seems a logical extension of the perceived locus of control dimension that internals would manifest more achievement-striving behavior than externals, who feel they have little control over their environment. Accordingly, it was predicted that internally controlled college students would obtain significantly higher quality point averages than their externally controlled counterparts. The I-E scale was administered to several sections of introductory psychology at Villanova University. From the total pool of Ss who responded to this questionnaire (N = 483), 31 males and 10 females who scored on the internal end of the scale (18 to 23) and 76 males and 22 females who scored on the external end (0 to 9) were selected. The measure of S's academic achievement was taken to be cumulative quality point average (QPA), retrieved for each S from the university's computer science center. Insofar as the over-all OPA means for males (2.48) and females (2.41) did not . . differ significantly, data were analyzed for sexes combined. Internals and externals were separately assigned to one of three a prior; QPA categories (3.00 to 4.00; 2.00 to 2.99; 1.00 to 1.99) and the resulting frequency data (I-E X QPA) yielded a x2 of 2.98 (df = 2, p < .250) indicating only marginal support for the prediction. Two distinct possibilities may account for the lack of relationship berween the I-E and academic achievement variables. First, and along the same lines as suggested by Rotter (1966), there may be an overabundance of college Ss who have arrived at an external view of the world as a defense against failure but who were initially highly competitive. Thus, externals would still maintain comparatively strong achievement motivauon in clearly structured competitive situations but defensively account for failure by externally controlled attitudes. Second, the I-E dimension is probably not generalizable across situations, and in the highly structured academic achievement situation there is probably more specificity determining QPA than in other kinds of competitive situations. In either event, subsequent research should attempt to clarify the interaction of personality factors and academic achievement.

Relationship between Attitudes Toward School Subjects and School Achievement.

Abstract: Attitudes toward school subjects were explored in a group of sixth graders. First, correlations were obtained between ratings of school subjects on the Semantic Differential (SD) and scores on corresponding subtests of the SRA Achievement Series. Significant positive correlations (p < .01) were observed for boys in social studies, arithmetic, and reading and for girls in reading. Second, achievement at the end of the year was predicted from IQ, achievement and SD scores at the beginning of the year. SD ratings contributed significantly to predictions only in the case of arithmetic for boys (p < .01). Third, SD ratings of school subjects at the beginning and end of the year were compared by an anlysis of variance procedure. For both boys and girls, attitudes were significantly less favorable for most subjects at the end of the year.

Effect of Precise Objectives upon Student Achievement in Health Education

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine what effect the communication of precise instructional objectives to students has on their learning. The study was designed (1) to provide data on whether student achievement can be influenced significantly by providing students, in advance of instruction, information on what is expected of them as an outcome of instruction and (2) to investigate various ways of communicating to students, in writing, that which is to be learned in class. The Ss for this study were selected from five tenth-grade health and safety classes taught by the same teacher. Of the 143 Ss, one third in each class was randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups. For treatment groups one through three, the participants received precisely stated instructional objectives, vaguely stated instructional objectives, and short paragraphs of health information, respectively. Ss receiving prior to instruction precise information on what is expected of them showed greater achievement than those ...

College environments and student academic achievement

Abstract: In this study, selected aspects of the college environment were related to student academic achievement at 27 small liberal arts colleges. Academic achievement was measured by senior students' scores on the Area Tests of the Graduate Record Examination; the Scholastic Aptitude Test (Verbal and Mathematics) scores of these same students prior to college entrance were used as a control measure for differences in initial aptitude. The colleges' social and academic environment were assessed through students' perceptions and included five scales describing the extent of faculty-student interaction, student activism, curriculum flexibility, academic challenge, and the colleges' cultural facilities. All but the Activism scale were related to student over or underachievement on one or more of the three Area Tests (Humanities, Natural Science, Social Science). In particular, students at colleges with high scores on the Faculty-Student Interaction scale more often overachieved on two of the criteria tests, while students at colleges with low scores on this scale underachieved on all three of the tests. The results suggest that certain student-described college environmental features are related to academic achievement, although replication with another group of colleges would be desirable.