Showing papers on "Academic achievement published in 1978"
Book•
01 Jan 1978
1,102 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the development of the capacity to infer ability required by tasks of different difficulty levels and the belief that more difficult tasks have greater incentive value of success were described, and it was suggested that these findings help account for certain developmental changes in achievement behavior.
Abstract: Academic Attainment, and the Understanding That Difficult Tasks Require More Ability. CmrL DEVELOPMENT, 1978, 49, 800-814. Selected cognitive developments presumed to mediate the development of achievement motivation are described. 4 levels of reasoning or causal schemes involving the concepts of effort and ability were isolated and age trends from 5 to 13 years presented. The developments of capacity to infer ability required by tasks of different difficulty levels and the belief that more difficult tasks have greater incentive value of success were described. These achievements occurred at about the same time as the development of the second level of reasoning about effort and ability. It is suggested that these findings help account for certain developmental changes in achievement behavior. Perception of own academic attainment was less closely related to attainment in young children than older children. The age changes in perception of own attainment and causal schemes are held to be likely to contribute to age increases in the stability of individual differences in achievement behavior and academic attainment. The educational implications of the study are noted.
913 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated the relationship among a variety of school-level climate variables and mean school achievement in a random, sample of Michigan elementary schools and found that SES, racial composition and climate were each highly related to mean school performance.
Abstract: The present study investigates the relationships among a variety of school-level climate variables and mean school achievement in a random, sample of Michigan elementary schools. School-level SES, racial composition and climate were each highly related to mean school achievement; only a small proportion of the between-school variance in achievement is explained by SES and racial composition after the effect of school climate is removed. The climate variable we have called Student Sense of Academic Futility had the largest correlation with achievement. An observational study of four schools with similar SES and racial composition but different achievement tended to support the more analytical findings and suggest the processes by which climate affects achievement.
556 citations
TL;DR: This article examined memory phenomena in male and female, high school and Ph.D. educated, 20 and 60 year olds, and observed significant age decrements in episodic recall and recognition performance.
Abstract: This dissertation examined memory phenomena in male and female, high school and Ph.D. educated, 20 and 60 year olds. Sizable age decrements in episodic recall and recognition performance were observed. The age differences in memory performance could not be attributed to mediational overload, mediational capacity deficit, selector impairment, or any of several strategy deficits. An associative processing production deficiency at acquisition, and mediational inefficiency at acquisition and/or retrieval, probably contributed to the age deficits. The adults demonstrated a wide range of generalized-abstracted knov;ledge about memory, as well as considerable competence in two memory monitoring skills, memory prediction and memory confidence rating. No systematic age differences were observed in these types of metamemory. It was considered unlikely that cohort effects, at least in their most obvious interpretation, accounted for aging effects. Restricted disuse and expectation of decay hypotheses of memory aging remained tenable, and a biological explanation received some support. \\'HAT IS iMiMvlORY AOT^IG THE AGING OP? A Dissertation Presented By Marion Perlmutter Approved as to style and content by: i\\ancy Anari st ^yers, Chairperson of Corr.T.ittee Richard S. Jiiogar^z , i
278 citations
TL;DR: This article investigated individual differences in teacher planning and the relationship of teacher planning to teacher behavior and student achievement and found that the greatest proportion of planning statements concerned the subject matter, but substantial differences occurred.
Abstract: This study investigated individual differences in teacher planning and the relationship of teacher planning to teacher behavior and student achievement. Each of 12 experienced teachers taught a social studies lesson to three groups of junior high students (N=8 per group) randomly formed from 288 paid volunteers. Before teaching each group, teachers had 90 minutes to “think aloud” and plan the lesson. Teachers’ planning and teaching were recorded and coded. Students completed achievement and attitude measures after the lesson. Results indicated that generally, the greatest proportion of planning statements concerned the subject matter, but substantial differences occurred. Planning differences were related to teachers’ cognitive styles and abilities. Relationships between teacher planning, teacher behavior, and student outcomes also appeared.
254 citations
01 Sep 1978
226 citations
Journal Article•
221 citations
TL;DR: Febrile seizures were not associated with a decrement in IQ or early academic performance, as judged by comparison of affected children with their siblings.
Abstract: • The relationship of febrile seizures to later intellectual and academic performance was examined in a sibling-control study. Among 431 sibling pairs tested at the age of 7 years, the mean full scale IQ on the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children was not different for children who had febrile seizures as compared with siblings who were seizure-free. Neither recurrent seizures nor those lasting 30 minutes or longer were associated with IQ deficit. Poor academic achievement, defined as Wide Range Achievement Test performance more than one grade level below school placement in children with IQs of 90 or above, was equally frequent in index cases and control patients. Febrile seizures were not associated with a decrement in IQ or early academic performance, as judged by comparison of affected children with their siblings.
207 citations
TL;DR: The authors investigated the relationship between student-faculty informal relationships and three freshman year educational outcomes and found that the frequency of student-Faculty informal interactions focusing on intellectual or course-related matters had the strongest positive association with academic performance and intellectual development.
Abstract: This study investigated the relationship between student-faculty informal relationships and three freshman year educational outcomes. After controlling for the influence of 14 student pre-enrollment characteristics, such as high school academic performance, academic aptitude, personality needs, and expectations of certain aspects of college, eight measures of the frequency and strength of student-faculty informal relationships accounted for statistically significant increases in the variance in freshman year academic performance and self-perceived intellectual and personal development. Partial correlations, controlling for the influence of all pre-enrollment characteristics and all other student-faculty relationship variables, indicated that frequency of student-faculty informal interactions focusing on intellectual or course- related matters had the strongest positive association with academic performance and intellectual development. Interactions for the purpose of discussing students’ career co...
184 citations
TL;DR: Pedersen et al. as mentioned in this paper found that the classroom teacher may have a significant effect on children's chances for success in later life, in contrast to that of many recent studies.
Abstract: In this article Eigil Pedersen, Therese Annette Faucher, and William W. Eaton have taken on one of the most difficult questions in educational research: the impact of the classroom teacher on children's adult status. The authors detail the results of a research project of unconventional methodology and Unusually long duration. They sought originally to examine atypical IQ changes but came to focus on the enduring effects of one remarkable first-grade teacher. Drawing upon the idea of the "self-fulfilling prophecy," the authors relate the effects of teachers' attitudes and resultant behavior to the subsequent adult status of sixty children. Their conclusion, in contrast to that of many recent studies, is that the classroom teacher may have a significant effect on children's chances for success in later life.
TL;DR: The concept of ''social skill'' has been defined by Libet and Lewinsohn (1973) as the ability to emit behaviors that are positively or negatively reinforced and not to emit behaviours that are punished or extinguished by others.
Abstract: Schools traditionally have viewed the process of equipping students with the necessary academic skills, i.e., reading, writing and arithmetic, as being their primary, and in some cases, sole function. Although considered to be a major socializing institution, and as such the purveyor of not only academic skills but social behaviors and attitudes as well, schools have historically placed little emphasis upon formal social skill instruction. It appears, however, that the development of certain prerequisite social skills may be crucial to the academic instructional experience as well as the overall school success of the individual student. The concept of \"social skill\" has been defined by Libet and Lewinsohn (1973) as the ability to emit behaviors that are positively or negatively reinforced and not to emit behaviors that are punished or extinguished by others. Taking a similar position, MacDonald and Cohen (Note 1) describe a social skills training program as requiring participants to: \"(1) perform those behaviors evaluated as prosocial, (2) refrain from performing those behaviors not evaluated as prosocial, and (3) reinforce
TL;DR: In this article, student-faculty interactional settings and their relationship to predicted academic performance are discussed. But they do not consider the relationship between student-student interaction and academic performance, as we do.
Abstract: (1978). Student-Faculty Interactional Settings and Their Relationship to Predicted Academic Performance. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 49, No. 5, pp. 450-463.
TL;DR: This article found that pupils' involvement in tasks was a necessary condition for school achievement and that pupil involvement was different for high, middle, and low achievers and that certain types of classroom activities were associated with higher or with lower levels of pupil involvement.
Abstract: ? 1978 by The University of Chicago. 0013-5984/78/7803-0010$00.88 Pupils who fall behind their classmates academically fall further behind each year they remain in school (1). Part of the explanation for their continuing failure to keep pace with other pupils may lie in the fact that they spend less time on academic tasks than other pupils. The reason for such self-defeating behavior may be the desire to maintain self-esteem. If a pupil expends less effort on schoolwork than the average pupil, any resulting failure may be easier to accept. Pupils who try but fail may conclude that they do not have the ability to succeed. Pupils' involvement in tasks would seem to be a necessary condition for school achievement. If pupils are to master material, they must engage in it and react to it-read, make response. Indeed there are data to suggest that achievement is related to time for learning and opportunity to learn (2, 3). Similarly, there are data to suggest that learning is also positively related to low rates of time lost because of poor management of classrooms, for example, lengthy transitions (4). The major purpose of the present study was to find out whether pupil involvement was different for high, middle, and low achievers. Also, we wanted to find out whether pupils generally were more involved in some subjects than in others and whether certain types of classroom activities were associated with higher or with lower levels of pupil involvement. We selected two different types of schools to find out whether pupils' characteristics affect involvement. School 1
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined sex differences in the prestige and sex-type of occupational aspirations and expectations held by adolescents, and the effects of socioeconomic background and academic achievement on the unmeasured construct of occupational ambition are compared for the two sexes.
Abstract: The research reported in this paper examines sex differences in the prestige and sex-type of occupational aspirations and expectations held by adolescents. Sex differences in the discrepancy between aspirations and expectations are examined, and the effects of socioeconomic background and academic achievement on the unmeasured construct of occupational ambition are compared for the two sexes. The study is based on a random sample of eleventh-grade students in Pennsylvania. The findings indicate that: (I) occupational aspirations and expectations held by adolescents are highly differentiated by sex according to the pattern of sexual segregation in the occupational structure; (2) boys aspire to and expect higher levels of occupational attainment than girls; (3) boys' occupational aspirations and expectations are characterized by greater variability than those of girls; (4) the discrepancy between the prestige of occupations aspired to and expected is greater for girls than boys at higher levels of aspiratio...
TL;DR: This paper found that ability and time devoted to various aspects of the learning process are the most important determinants of students' accomplishments, emphasizing the potential for students to compensate for relatively poor educational backgrounds by spending more time on study and class attendance.
Abstract: This research examines scholastic performance within the context of an individual’s production function. A constant partial elasticity of substitution production function for academic achievement is presented and estimated with non linear maximum likelihood methods. We find that ability and time devoted to various aspects of the learning process are the most important determinants of students’ accomplishments. Our results underscore the potential for students to compensate for relatively “poor” educational backgrounds by spending more time on study and class attendance.
TL;DR: This paper measured the self-esteem and academic achievement of 798 black and white adolescents as they move from sixth to seventh grade in a large Midwestern city and found that black children appear to have higher, rather than lower, selfesteem than whites.
Abstract: This study measures the self-esteem and academic achievement of 798 black and white adolescents as they move from sixth to seventh grade in a large Midwestern city. Our findings, in many instances, do not fit widespread preconceptions, but support other recent, large-scale quantitative studies. The basic findings involving selfesteem are as follows: (1) black children appear to have higher, rather than lower, self-esteem than whites; (2) girls of both races demonstrate lower self-esteem than do boys, with white girls exhibiting the lowest self-esteem of all; (3) among black children, those from broken families fare worse in terms of self-esteem in desegregated than in segregated schools. In terms of academic achievement, school desegregation is related to the marks the black children receive in school and their achievement in standardized tests. The black children in segregated schools receive somewhat higher marks than their desegregated peers, but score significantly lower in national standardized tests even when parental occupation, parental education, family structure and the child's educational aspirations are held constant.
TL;DR: The efficiency of an educational system can be defined partly by the net benefits-lifetime earnings, labor productivity, or personal satisfaction-accrued to individuals with more education than those accrued to individuals having less as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Officials in developing countries are concerned with the efficient allocation of educational resources, since education represents their largest and usually most rapidly increasing budgetary expenditure. The efficiency of an educational system can be defined partly by the net benefits-lifetime earnings, labor productivity, or personal satisfaction-accrued to individuals with more education than those accrued to individuals with less. Educational institutions provide their graduates with these advantages by instilling in them attributes considered necessary to obtain such advantages. These attributes are both cognitive-academic achievement and manual skill-and affective self-esteem, dependability, creativity, and motivation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined more recent evidence on sex differences in both educational aspirations and expectations, obtained from a random sample of eleventh grade students in Pennsylvania and found that both socioeconomic background and academic ability, as measured by an achievement test, have a greater effect on educational ambition for boys than girls.
Abstract: Previous studies of sex differences in adolescents’ goals for educational attainment have focused on either educational aspirations or expectations and found that socioeconomic background has a greater effect on the educational goals of girls than boys, and that academic ability has a greater effect on the educational goals of boys than girls. Almost all of these studies are based on students who attended high school between 1955 and 1960. This paper examines more recent evidence on sex differences in both educational aspirations and expectations, obtained from a random sample of eleventh grade students in Pennsylvania. The findings indicate that: (1) boys both aspire to and expect higher levels of educational attainment than girls; (2) the discrepancy between educational aspirations and expectations is greater for girls than boys at higher levels of aspiration; and (3) both socioeconomic background and academic ability, as measured by an achievement test, have a greater effect on educational ambition for...
TL;DR: Analysis of admissions interview data and college academic credentials of University of Missouri-Columbia medical students suggested that additional emphasis during selection upon applicants' personal characteristics would have enhanced the clinical success of these students.
Abstract: Admissions interview data and college academic credentials of five classes of University of Missouri-Columbia medical students were evaluated as possible predictors of clinical success. Those students who were judged by admissions interviewers to have high levels of maturity, nonacademic achievement motivation or rapport were approximately two to three times as likely to receive outstanding internship recommendations as those without such personal characteristics. Under-graduate grade-point average had a smaller but nevertheless significant relationship with clinical success as measured by internship letters. These data suggest that additional emphasis during selection upon applicants' personal characteristics would have enhanced the clinical success of these students.
TL;DR: In this paper, a sample of 278 students enrolled in an introductory statistics course was used to determine which of a set of cognitive and affective variables correlates with course performance, and measures of state anxiety, mathematics achievement, previous mathematics experience, expectations, and attitudes were found to be significantly related to course outcome.
Abstract: A sample of 278 students enrolled in an introductory statistics course was used to determine which of a set of cognitive and affective variables correlates with course performance. Measures of state anxiety, mathematics achievement, previous mathematics experience, expectations, and attitudes were found to be significantly related to course outcome. Other variables such as age, academic major, year in school, reason for taking the course, and general anxiety appeared to be unrelated to student success or failure. It is suggested that individual diagnostic profiles may be developed which may be useful in establishing prescriptive treatments specifically designed to help students who are likely to experience difficulty in statistics.