Showing papers on "Academic achievement published in 1985"
TL;DR: This paper found that academic intrinsic motivation is significantly and positively correlated with children's school achievement and perceptions of academic competence and negatively correlated with academic anxiety, whereas achievement was more pervasively related to general motivation.
Abstract: Results of three studies are presented that demonstrate the significance of academic intrinsic motivation for children's education. As predicted, academic intrinsic motivation was found to be significantly and positively correlated with children's school achievement and perceptions of academic competence and negatively correlated with academic anxiety. Evidence supported the view that academic intrinsic motivation is differentiated into school subject areas (reading, math, social studies, science) and is also a general orientation toward school learning. Relations between motivation and perception of competence and anxiety were differentiated by subject area, whereas achievement was more pervasively related to general motivation. Math motivation, however, emerged as a unique predictor of math achievement. The significance of academic intrinsic motivation as differentiated into subjects and as a general orientation is discussed.
736 citations
TL;DR: A conceptual model of the factors affecting dropout syndrome (a combination of intent to leave, discussing leaving, and actual attrition) was developed emphasizing academic, social, and personal outcomes of the selection or socialization of students at an institution as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: A conceptual model of the factors affecting dropout syndrome (a combination of intent to leave, discussing leaving, and actual attrition) was developed emphasizing academic, social, and personal outcomes of the selection or socialization of students at an institution. The model was estimated using path analysis, and the intervening variables (college grades, institutional fit, and institutional commitment) were found to be important predictors of dropout syndrome. The variables in the model accounted for 27 to 47% of the variance in the criterion. Findings indicate that a student’s peers are more important agents of socialization than are informal faculty contacts, that students may play a more active role in their socialization than previously thought, and that college grades seem more the product of selection than socialization.
622 citations
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of selected studies on the efficacy of bilingual education was conducted and the results were compared with a traditional review of the same literature as discussed by the authors, showing that participation in bilingual education programs consistently produced small to moderate differences favoring bilingual education for tests of reading, language skills, mathematics, and total achievement when the tests were in English, and for reading and language, language, mathematics and writing, social studies, listening comprehension, and attitudes toward school or self when they were in other languages.
Abstract: A meta-analysis of selected studies on the efficacy of bilingual education was conducted and the results were compared with a traditional review of the same literature. When statistical controls for methodological inadequacies were employed, participation in bilingual education programs consistently produced small to moderate differences favoring bilingual education for tests of reading, language skills, mathematics, and total achievement when the tests were in English, and for reading, language, mathematics, writing, social studies, listening comprehension, and attitudes toward school or self when tests were in other languages. The magnitude of effect sizes was influenced by the types of programs compared, language of the criterion instruments, academic domain of the criterion instruments, random versus nonrandom assignment of students to programs, formula used to calculate effect sizes, and types of scores reported in the studies. Programs characterized by instability and/or hostile environments were as...
583 citations
570 citations
TL;DR: The overall pattern of results suggests that the manner in which black parents orient their children toward blocked opportunities is a significant element in their motivation, achievement, and prospects for upward mobility.
Abstract: This study focuses on race-related socialization in order to extend past research, which demonstrated that a sense of personal control over the environment is critical to effective performance of black youth in educational settings. In contrast to underclass views, both a sense of personal efficacy and academic performance were enhanced by proactive orientations toward racial barriers transmitted by parents to children. Sixty-eight percent of black youth in a national three-generation family sample reported that their parents transmitted some message to them about theri racial status. With only slight gender differences, parents emphasized either the importance of ethnic pride, self-development, racial barrier awareness, or egalitarianism. The intergenerational transmission of self-development orientations was associated with a greater sense of personal efficacy. In contrast, those whose parents emphasized racial barrier awareness received higher school grades, even when the effect of persoanal efficacy was controlled. The overall pattern of results suggests that the manner in which black parents orient their children toward blocked opportunities is a significant element in their motivation, achievement, and prospects for upward mobility.
565 citations
Book•
01 Sep 1985
495 citations
TL;DR: This article developed a theoretical context with which to understand the evidence on effective schools and pointed out that good teachers are difficult to recruit and almost impossible to retain because the rewards of teaching do not outweigh the frustrations.
Abstract: This paper develops a theoretical context with which to understand the evidence on effective schools. I begin by specifying a central problem in the operation of inner-city schools--that good teachers are difficult to recruit and almost impossible to retain because the rewards of teaching do not outweigh the frustrations. Exceptions to this are identified in effective schools--schools that are distinctive in important ways. Principals of effective schools have a unitary mission of improved student learning, and their actions convey certainty that these goals can be attained. Such actions include recruiting outstanding teachers who have goals similar to their own and to those of other staff, organizationally buffering teachers to ensure that their efforts are directed toward raising student achievement, monitoring the academic progress teachers make, supplying additional technical assistance to needy teachers, and providing--mostly in concert with teaching colleagues--the opportunities to establish strateg...
480 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills is discussed, where the authors find that students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of selfefficacy for learning.
Abstract: This article discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills. Self-efficacy refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of self-efficacy for learning. During task engagement, students may assess self-efficacy by utilizing cues made cognitively salient by educational practices and which convey information about their capability to acquire knowledge and skills, such as performance outcomes, attributions, situational circumstances, outcome patterns, perceived model similarity, and persuader credibility. In turn, heightened learning self-efficacy enhances motivated learning, or motivation to acquire knowledge and skills. Research findings are presented showing how different educational practices affect self-efficacy. Future research needs to determine how students derive efficacy information from multiple cues, and to specify in finer detail how the cognitive processes involved in understanding instruction and appraising self-efficacy influence one another.
458 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: A meta-analysis of 32 comparative studies showed that computer-based education has generally had positive effects on the achievement of elementary school pupils as mentioned in this paper, however, these effects have been dif- ferent, however, for programs of line computer-managed instruction (CMI) and for interactive computer assisted (CAI).
Abstract: A meta-analysis of 32 comparative studies showed that computer-based education has generally had positive effects on the achievement of elementary school pupils. These effects have been dif- ferent, however, for programs of @line computer-managed instruction (CMI) and for interactive computer-assisted (CAI). The average effect in 28 studies of CAI programs was an increase in pupil achievement scores of O. 47 standard deviations, or from the 50th to the 68th percen- tile. The average effect in four studies of CMI programs, however, was an increase in scores of only O. 07 standard deviations. Study features were not significantly related to study outcomes. Computers are fast becoming an important factor in elementary school teaching. The number of computers in American elementary schools has increased by a factor of at least 10 during this decade, and the majority of schools now own them (Becker, 1983). The use of computers in teaching is nonetheless a difficult subject to bring into focus. Researchers and developers disagree on some of the basic issues. Even the terminology in the area is open to dispute. The acronym CAI is often used, but it is variously interpreted as standing for computer-assisted instruc- tion, computer-aided instruction, computer-augmented instruction, or computer-administered instruction. Other terms used in the area are computer-managed instruction, computer- based learning, and computer-based instruction. Computer-based education, or CBE, is becoming increasingly popular as a generic term for the area because it encom-
432 citations
TL;DR: The authors identified the classroom activities that were related to the low-level and high-level mathematics achievement of boys and girls, and found that the engagement in the following four types of activities was consistently and differentially related to girls versus boys' low level and high level mathematics achievement: competitive mathematics, cooperative mathematics activities, social activities and off-task behavior.
Abstract: This research identified the classroom activities that were related to the low level and high level mathematics achievement of boys and girls. In December and in May, students in 36 fourth grade mathematics classes completed a mathematics test containing low level and high level items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. During January through April, the engagement/nonengagement in mathematics activities was observed for six randomly selected students of each sex in each class. Results showed that girls and boys did not differ significantly in either mathematics achievement or in observed engagement/nonengagement in mathematics activities. However, engagement in the following four types of activities was consistently and differentially related to girls’ versus boys’ low level and high level mathematics achievement: competitive mathematics activities, cooperative mathematics activities, social activities, and off-task behavior.
304 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that Catholic schools produce higher achieving students because they place more students in academic programs, require more semesters of academic coursework, and assign more homework, and the magnitude of the Catholic-school effects ranges from about one-half to one grade equivalent for students of average background.
Abstract: This article brings together independent longitudinal extensions of Greeley's (1982) and Coleman, Hoffer, -and Kilgore's (1982b) analyses of public-school and Catholic-school student achievement differences. Drawing on a variety of analytic techniques, we find that Catholic schools have a positive effect on verbal and mathematics achievement growth from the sophomore to senior year of high school. The magnitude of the Catholic-school effects ranges from about one-half to one grade equivalent for students of average background. The Catholic-school effects are larger for black, Hispanic, and lower-SES students, and somewhat smaller for white, and higher-SES students. We find that Catholic schools produce higherachieving students because they place more students in academic programs, require more semesters of academic coursework, and assign more homework.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: Findings from the present study indicate that iron supplementation among iron-deficient anemic children benefits learning processes as measured by the school achievement test scores.
TL;DR: In this article, a meta-analysis of 32 comparative studies showed that computer-based education has generally had positive effects on the achievement of elementary school pupils These effects have been different, however, for programs of off-line computer-managed instruction (CMI) and for interactive computer-assisted instruction (CAI).
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between athletic participation and academic performance among athletes involved in big-time college sports and found that most athletes enter college with optimistic and idealistic goals and attitudes about their impending academic careers.
Abstract: This study examines the relationship between athletic participation and academic performance among athletes involved in big-time college sports. Drawing on four years of participant observation of a major college basketball program, we trace athletes' involvement in academics throughout their college careers. We show that, contrary to popular belief, most athletes enter college with optimistic and idealistic goals and attitudes about their impending academic careers. However, their athletic, social, and classroom experiences lead them to become progressively detached from academics. As a result, they make pragmatic adjustments, abandoning their earlier aspirations and expectations and gradually resigning themselves to inferior academic performance. We conclude that the structure of universities with big-time athletic programs and the athletes' patterned experiences within these universities undermine their attainment of the professed goals of the educational system. We discuss several policy implications of this research.
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of computer-assisted cooperative, competitive, and individualistic instruction on student achievement and attitudes was compared on SAT test items, and it was found that computer assisted cooperative instruction promotes greater quantity and quality of daily achievement, more successful problem solving, and higher performance on factual recognition, application, and problem-solving test items than do computer assisted competitive learning.
Abstract: : The impact of computer-assisted cooperative, competitive, and individualistic instruction was compared on student achievement and attitudes. Seventy-three eighth-grade students were randomly assigned to conditions stratifying for sex and ability. In all conditions students completed the same computer-assisted instructional unit. Results indicate that computer-assisted cooperative instruction promotes greater quantity and quality of daily achievement, more successful problem solving, and higher performance on factual recognition, application, and problem-solving test items than do computer-assisted competitive or individualistic learning. The attitudes of females, compared with males, were adversely affected within the competitive condition.
TL;DR: Children with spina bifida, sickle cell disease, or epilepsy, and children with the added burden of low socioeconomic status, were at particular risk for poor school achievement.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe issues related to the teaching of learning strategies in the context of evaluating an introductory cognitive psychology course, which is intended to teach both the concepts of cognitive psychology and their application to learning strategies.
Abstract: Contemporary teaching is concerned not only with imparting knowledge but with developing skills and strategies for further learning. This article describes issues related to the teaching of learning strategies in the context of evaluating an introductory cognitive psychology course. The course is intended to teach both the concepts of cognitive psychology and their application to learning strategies. The evaluation revealed substantial success in affecting students' self-reported study habits and modest success in affecting achievement in later semesters. An Attribute x Treatment interaction revealed that students high in anxiety were particularly helped by the course.
TL;DR: The results suggest that the high achievement of Chinese and Japanese children cannot be attributed to higher intellectual abilities, but must be related to their experiences at home and at school.
Abstract: Chinese, Japanese, and American children at grades 1 and 5 were given a battery of 10 cognitive tasks and tests of achievement in reading and mathematics. Samples consisted of 240 children in each grade in each culture. 2 major purposes of the study were to determine possible differences in cognitive abilities of Japanese, Chinese, and American children and to investigate the possible differential relation of scores on cognitive tasks to reading by children of the 3 cultures. Similarity was found among children of the 3 cultures in level, variability, and structure of cognitive abilities. Chinese children surpassed Japanese and American children in reading scores; both Chinese and Japanese children obtained higher scores in mathematics than the American children. Prediction of achievement scores from the cognitive tasks showed few differential effects among children of the 3 cultures. The results suggest that the high achievement of Chinese and Japanese children cannot be attributed to higher intellectual abilities, but must be related to their experiences at home and at school.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of cooperative learning in which oral discussion was structured (to ensure oral summarization and the monitoring of others' summaries) and individualistic learning were compared on daily achievement, post-instructional achievement, and retention.
Abstract: : The effects of cooperative learning in which oral discussion was structured (to ensure oral summarization and the monitoring of others' summaries), cooperative learning in which oral discussion was unstructured, and individualistic learning were compared on daily achievement, post-instructional achievement, and retention. Seventy-five second grade students were randomly assigned to the three conditions stratifying for sex and ability level. The results indicate that students in cooperative groups performed significantly higher on the accuracy of daily work than do students working individualistically. In addition, the high-, medium-, and low-ability students in the structured oral discussion cooperative condition scored higher on the post-instructional and retention tests (which were taken individually) than did the students in the other two conditions, and the students in the unstructured oral discussion cooperative condition scored higher on these tests did the students who had learned individualistically. These results indicate that group-to-individual transfer does take place within cooperative learning groups and that orally summarizing the material being learned and the monitoring of others' summaries contributes to the efficacy of cooperative learning. Keywords: Cooperation; Achievement; Oral Discussion.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed and analyzed the design features and efficacy of mainstreaming as an educational approach to serving disabled students and found that mainstreamed disabled students consistently outperformed non-mainstreamed students with comparable special education classifications.
Abstract: The twofold goal of this study was to review and analyze the design features and efficacy of mainstreaming as an educational approach to serving disabled students. Based on a predetermined set of criteria, 11 empirical studies of the effects of mainstreaming published from 1975 through spring, 1984 were selected for analysis from a total pool of 264 studies. Meta-analysis was the technique used to perform a quantitative synthesis of findings from the studies. Among the notable findings was that mainstreamed disabled students consistently outperformed nonmainstreamed students with comparable special education classifications. In addition, selected design features found in the extant effective-teaching literature to be associated with programs designed to provide for student differences were also found to be features of mainstreaming programs that showed greater proportions of positive than of negative outcomes.
TL;DR: Children identified as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) on the basis of teacher ratings using the SNAP Rating Scale were compared to non-ADD children on objective classroom measures including observations of classroom behavior, examination of the organization of children’s desks, and scoring of daily academic work.
Abstract: Children identified as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) on the basis of teacher ratings using the SNAP Rating Scale were compared to non-ADD children on objective classroom measures including observations of classroom behavior, examination of the organization of children’s desks, and scoring of daily academic work Analyses provided some support for the ability of the objective measures to differentiate between teacher-identified ADD and non-ADD children, though there was considerable overlap on the distributions of most variables between groups Six measures chosen by a discriminant analysis combined to predict teacher ratings in 83% of the cases The inclusion of academic, observational, and desk measures in the discriminant function indicates the importance of a multivariate assessment of this construct
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared the growth in academic achievement of public and Catholic students during their last two years of high school using the High School and Beyond data on over 20,000 students who participated in the 1980 base-year study and the 1982 follow-up study.
Abstract: This study compares the growth in academic achievement of publicand Catholic-school students during their last two years of high school. The study uses the High School and Beyond data on over 20,000 students who participated in the 1980 base-year study and the 1982 follow-up study. Previous studies of publicand private-school effectiveness, including the controversial Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore (1981) study, have been limited to the 1980 cross-sectional data, which do not include information on student ability prior to entering high school. The follow-up data enable a comparison of the growth in achievement on outcome measures that were specifically designedfor that purpose. I estimated Catholic-school effects with four different statistical models. Each model regresses senior test scores on sophomore pretest scores; sophomore test scores in reading, vocabulary, and general mathematics; and a set of background variables describing student characteristics andfamily background. Three of the models include background measures from previously published studies; the fourth model is a parsimonious model including only the most important control variables. I conducted several subsidiary analyses to ensure that the results were not substantially biased due to such factors as the method of handling missing data, the differential dropout rate between the two sectors, and the ceiling effects on the outcome measures. I also examined the extent to which the achievement tests were valid indicators of student growth in academic achievement. The results suggest that there are no pervasive Catholic-school effects. Public schools had a small advantage in science and civics; Catholic schools had an advantage in reading, vocabulary, mathematics, and writing. All of the effects were very small: On average, the Catholic-school advantage was only about 5 percent of a standard deviation. However, the analyses also suggest that the tests are relatively poor measures of academic growth during the junior and senior years of high school. Therefore, we cannot be certain that the tests are sensitive enough to detect differences that might exist between public and Catholic schools in their effects on student achievement.
01 Sep 1985
TL;DR: A statewide survey of the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of California sixth-and twelfth-grade students in the areas of computer science and computer literacy was conducted during the 1982-1983 school year.
Abstract: A statewide survey of the knowledge, attitudes, and experiences of California sixth- and twelfth-grade students in the areas of computer science and computer literacy was conducted during the 1982–1983 school year. Boys in both grades displayed consistently higher levels of achievement in nearly all curriculum objectives surveyed. Boys had more exposure to computers both at school and at home and tended to have more positive attitudes toward the role of computers in the workplace.
TL;DR: This article presented an innovative model for economic education research on teaching methods at the university level and found that student achievement and attitudes toward economics might be improved by a better match between the teaching style of instructors and the learning style of students.
Abstract: The authors present an innovative model for economic education research on teaching methods at the university level. The results suggest that student achievement and attitudes toward economics might be improved by a better match between the teaching style of instructors and the learning style of students.