Showing papers on "Academic achievement published in 2015"

Self-regulated learning strategies & academic achievement in online higher education learning environments: a systematic review

Abstract: As enrolments in online courses continue to increase, there is a need to understand how students can best apply self-regulated learning strategies to achieve academic success within the online environment. A search of relevant databases was conducted in December 2014 for studies published from 2004 to Dec 2014 examining SRL strategies as correlates of academic achievement in online higher education settings. From 12 studies, the strategies of time management, metacognition, effort regulation, and critical thinking were positively correlated with academic outcomes, whereas rehearsal, elaboration, and organisation had the least empirical support. Peer learning had a moderate positive effect, however its confidence intervals crossed zero. Although the contributors to achievement in traditional face-to-face settings appear to generalise to on-line context, these effects appear weaker and suggest that (1) they may be less effective, and (2) that other, currently unexplored factors may be more important in on-line contexts.

Mind-Set Interventions Are a Scalable Treatment for Academic Underachievement

Abstract: The efficacy of academic-mind-set interventions has been demonstrated by small-scale, proof-of-concept interventions, generally delivered in person in one school at a time. Whether this approach could be a practical way to raise school achievement on a large scale remains unknown. We therefore delivered brief growth-mind-set and sense-of-purpose interventions through online modules to 1,594 students in 13 geographically diverse high schools. Both interventions were intended to help students persist when they experienced academic difficulty; thus, both were predicted to be most beneficial for poorly performing students. This was the case. Among students at risk of dropping out of high school (one third of the sample), each intervention raised students’ semester grade point averages in core academic courses and increased the rate at which students performed satisfactorily in core courses by 6.4 percentage points. We discuss implications for the pipeline from theory to practice and for education reform.

Association of Child Poverty, Brain Development, and Academic Achievement

Abstract: Importance Children living in poverty generally perform poorly in school, with markedly lower standardized test scores and lower educational attainment. The longer children live in poverty, the greater their academic deficits. These patterns persist to adulthood, contributing to lifetime-reduced occupational attainment. Objective To determine whether atypical patterns of structural brain development mediate the relationship between household poverty and impaired academic performance. Design, Setting, and Participants Longitudinal cohort study analyzing 823 magnetic resonance imaging scans of 389 typically developing children and adolescents aged 4 to 22 years from the National Institutes of Health Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Normal Brain Development with complete sociodemographic and neuroimaging data. Data collection began in November 2001 and ended in August 2007. Participants were screened for a variety of factors suspected to adversely affect brain development, recruited at 6 data collection sites across the United States, assessed at baseline, and followed up at 24-month intervals for a total of 3 periods. Each study center used community-based sampling to reflect regional and overall US demographics of income, race, and ethnicity based on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development definitions of area income. One-quarter of sample households reported the total family income below 200% of the federal poverty level. Repeated observations were available for 301 participants. Exposure Household poverty measured by family income and adjusted for family size as a percentage of the federal poverty level. Main Outcomes and Measures Children’s scores on cognitive and academic achievement assessments and brain tissue, including gray matter of the total brain, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and hippocampus. Results Poverty is tied to structural differences in several areas of the brain associated with school readiness skills, with the largest influence observed among children from the poorest households. Regional gray matter volumes of children below 1.5 times the federal poverty level were 3 to 4 percentage points below the developmental norm ( P P P Conclusions and Relevance The influence of poverty on children’s learning and achievement is mediated by structural brain development. To avoid long-term costs of impaired academic functioning, households below 150% of the federal poverty level should be targeted for additional resources aimed at remediating early childhood environments.

Strategies for Teaching Students to Think Critically A Meta-Analysis

Abstract: Critical thinking (CT) is purposeful, self-regulatory judgment that results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanations of the considerations on which that judgment is based. This article summarizes the available empirical evidence on the impact of instruction on the development and enhancement of critical thinking skills and dispositions and student achievement. The review includes 341 effects sizes drawn from quasi- or true-experimental studies that used standardized measures of CT as outcome variables. The weighted random effects mean effect size (g+) was 0.30 (p < .001). The collection was heterogeneous (p < .001). Results demonstrate that there are effective strategies for teaching CT skills, both generic and content specific, and CT dispositions, at all educational levels and across all disciplinary areas. Notably, the opportunity for dialogue, the exposure of students to authentic or situated problems and examples, and mentoring had positive effects on CT skills.

The Potential for School-Based Interventions That Target Executive Function to Improve Academic Achievement: A Review

Abstract: This article systematically reviews what is known empirically about the association between executive function and student achievement in both reading and math and critically assesses the evidence for a causal association between the two. Using meta-analytic techniques, the review finds that there is a moderate unconditional association between executive function and achievement that does not differ by executive function construct, age, or measurement type but finds no compelling evidence that a causal association between the two exists.

Teacher Collaboration in Instructional Teams and Student Achievement.

Abstract: This study draws upon survey and administrative data on over 9,000 teachers in 336 Miami-Dade County public schools over 2 years to investigate the kinds of collaborations that exist in instructional teams across the district and whether these collaborations predict student achievement. While different kinds of teachers and schools report different collaboration quality, we find average collaboration quality is related to student achievement. Teachers and schools that engage in better quality collaboration have better achievement gains in math and reading. Moreover, teachers improve at greater rates when they work in schools with better collaboration quality. These results support policy efforts to improve student achievement by promoting teacher collaboration about instruction in teams.

Investigating grit and its relations with college students’ self-regulated learning and academic achievement

Abstract: We investigated grit and its relations with students’ self-regulated learning (SRL) and academic achievement. An ethnically diverse sample of 213 college students completed an online self-report survey that included the Grit Short scale (Duckworth and Quinn Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166–174, 2009), seven indicators of SRL and their past and present academic achievement. Results indicated that one aspect of grit, perseverance of effort, was a consistent and adaptive predictor for all indicators of SRL including value, self-efficacy, cognitive, metacognitive, motivational, time and study environment management strategies, and procrastination. A second aspect of grit, consistency of interest, was associated only with the latter two facets of SRL. Perseverance of effort predicted achievement before, but not after, accounting for SRL; hence, students’ engagement in SRL may serve as a mediating pathway through which this aspect of grit is associated with improved academic outcomes. In contrast, consistency of interest showed no relation to achievement. Implications of the findings for additional research and instruction are discussed.

Defining and Measuring Academic Success.

Abstract: Despite, and perhaps because of its amorphous nature, the term ‘academic success’ is one of the most widely used constructs in educational research and assessment within higher education. This paper conducts an analytic literature review to examine the use and operationalization of the term in multiple academic fields. Dominant definitions of the term are conceptually evaluated using Astin’s I-E-O model resulting in the proposition of a revised definition and new conceptual model of academic success. Measurements of academic success found throughout the literature are presented in accordance with the presented model of academic success. These measurements are provided with details in a user-friendly table (Appendix B). Results also indicate that grades and GPA are the most commonly used measure of academic success. Finally, recommendations are given for future research and practice to increase effective assessment of academic success.

How science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (stem) project-based learning (pbl) affects high, middle, and low achievers differently: the impact of student factors on achievement

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether participating in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) activities effected students who had varied performance levels and to what extent students’ individual factors influenced their mathematics achievement. STEM PBL has been a critical challenge to be embedded in schools, thus the effect of STEM PBL should to be examined. Teachers in 3 high schools attended sustained professional developments provided by 1 STEM center based in a Southwestern university and were required to implement STEM PBLs once in every 6 weeks for 3 years (2008 through 2010). The participants were 836 high school students in these 3 schools who took the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test and had scores at least in the initial year. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the data using student’s mathematics TAKS scores and demographic information for the longitudinal study. STEM PBL instruction influenced student achievement in mathematics by both student demographic backgrounds and performance levels. Low performing students showed statistically significantly higher growth rates on mathematics scores than high and middle performing students over the 3 years. In addition, student’s ethnicity and economic status were good predictors of academic achievement. Results of the present study implied that STEM PBLs in schools benefitted low performing students to a greater extent and decreased the achievement gap.

Intergenerational Effects of Parents’ Math Anxiety on Children’s Math Achievement and Anxiety

Abstract: A large field study of children in first and second grade explored how parents’ anxiety about math relates to their children’s math achievement. The goal of the study was to better understand why some students perform worse in math than others. We tested whether parents’ math anxiety predicts their children’s math achievement across the school year. We found that when parents are more math anxious, their children learn significantly less math over the school year and have more math anxiety by the school year’s end—but only if math-anxious parents report providing frequent help with math homework. Notably, when parents reported helping with math homework less often, children’s math achievement and attitudes were not related to parents’ math anxiety. Parents’ math anxiety did not predict children’s reading achievement, which suggests that the effects of parents’ math anxiety are specific to children’s math achievement. These findings provide evidence of a mechanism for intergenerational transmission of low math achievement and high math anxiety.

A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Roles of Instructional Leadership, Teacher Collaboration, and Collective Efficacy Beliefs in Support of Student Learning.

Abstract: Principals’ instructional leadership may support the degree to which teachers work together to improve instruction, and together leadership and teacher collaboration may contribute to school effectiveness by strengthening collective efficacy beliefs. We found a significant direct effect of leadership on teacher collaboration. Further, leadership and collaboration predicted collective efficacy beliefs. Finally, achievement differences among schools were predicted directly by collective efficacy beliefs and indirectly by instructional leadership and teacher collaboration. These findings suggest that strong instructional leadership can create structures to facilitate teachers’ work in ways that strengthen organizational belief systems, and, in concert, these factors foster student learning.

Uneven Playing Field? Assessing the Teacher Quality Gap Between Advantaged and Disadvantaged Students

Abstract: Policymakers aiming to close the well-documented achievement gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students have increasingly turned their attention to issues of teacher quality. A number of studies have demonstrated that teachers are inequitably distributed across student subgroups by input measures, like experience and qualifications, as well as output measures, like value-added estimates of teacher performance, but these tend to focus on either individual measures of teacher quality or particular school districts. In this study, we present a comprehensive, descriptive analysis of the inequitable distribution of both input and output measures of teacher quality across various indicators of student disadvantage across all school districts in Washington State. We demonstrate that in elementary school, middle school, and high school classrooms, virtually every measure of teacher quality we examine—experience, licensure exam scores, and value added—is inequitably distributed across every indicator of stu...

The Scientific Status of Learning Styles Theories.

Abstract: Theories of learning styles suggest that individuals think and learn best in different ways. These are not differences of ability but rather preferences for processing certain types of information ...

Childhood Maltreatment and Educational Outcomes

Abstract: Children (0-18 years) with maltreatment histories are vulnerable to experiencing difficulties across multiple domains of functioning, including educational outcomes that encompass not only academic achievement but also mental well-being The current literature review adopted Slade and Wissow's model to examine (1) the link between childhood maltreatment and academic achievement, (2) the link between childhood maltreatment and mental health outcomes (ie, emotional and behavioral difficulties), and (3) the bidirectional relationship between childhood academic achievement and mental health In addition, we reviewed variables that might influence or help explain the link between childhood maltreatment and educational outcomes, drawing on developmental perspectives and Bronfenbrenner's ecological model Finally, whenever possible, we presented findings specific to maltreated children in out-of-home care to highlight the unique challenges experienced by this population Results indicated that children with maltreatment histories often experience impairments in both their academic performance (eg, special education, grade retention, lower grades) and mental well-being (eg, anxiety, low mood, aggression, social skills deficits, poor interpersonal relationships) These impairments appeared to be particularly pronounced among maltreated children in out-of-home care Findings, albeit sparse, also indicated that mental health difficulties are negatively associated with children's academic achievement and, similarly, that academic achievement deficits are linked with mental health problems The link between childhood maltreatment and educational outcomes may be partly explained through the disruption of key developmental processes in children, such as attachment, emotion regulation, and sense of agency As well, maltreatment characteristics and the functioning of various systems in which children are embedded (eg, family, school, child welfare) can serve to positively or negatively influence the educational outcomes of maltreated children The theoretical, research, and applied implications stemming from the findings are considered

The Relationship Between Cell Phone Use and Academic Performance in a Sample of U.S. College Students

Abstract: The cell phone is ever-present on college campuses and is frequently used in settings where learning occurs. This study assessed the relationship between cell phone use and actual college grade point average (GPA) after controlling for known predictors. As such, 536 undergraduate students from 82 self-reported majors at a large, public university were sampled. A hierarchical regression (R2 = .449) demonstrated that cell phone use was significantly (p < .001) and negatively (β = −.164) related to actual college GPA after controlling for demographic variables, self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, self-efficacy for academic achievement, and actual high school GPA, which were all significant predictors (p < .05). Thus, after controlling for other established predictors, increased cell phone use was associated with decreased academic performance. Although more research is needed to identify the underlying mechanisms, findings suggest a need to sensitize students and educators about the potential academic...

Students’ aspirations, expectations and school achievement: what really matters?

Abstract: Using the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LSYPE), this study examines how different combinations of aspirations, expectations and school achievement can influence students’ future educational behaviour (applying to university at the age of 17–18). The study shows that students with either high aspirations or high expectations have higher school achievement than those with both low aspirations and low expectations. Furthermore, complete alignment between high aspirations, high expectations and high achievement is the most important predictor of future educational behaviour among students. However, it is also found that low expectations do not negatively impact students’ future behaviour when they have high aspirations accompanied with high school achievement. Additionally, the study finds significant ethnic differences in favour of white students at GCSE level, but that these differences are reversed in relation to applying to university at the age of 17–18.

The Community College Route to the Bachelor’s Degree:

Abstract: It is well established that students who begin post-secondary education at a community college are less likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than otherwise similar undergraduates who begin at a 4-year school, but there is less consensus over the mechanisms generating this disparity. We explore these using national longitudinal transcript data and propensity-score methods. Inferior academic preparation does not seem to be the main culprit: We find few differences between students’ academic progress at each type of institution during the first 2 years of college and (contrary to some earlier scholarship) students who do transfer have BA graduation rates equal to similar students who begin at 4-year colleges. However, after 2 years, credit accumulation diverges in the two kinds of institutions, due in part to community college students’ greater involvement in employment, and a higher likelihood of stopping out of college, after controlling for their academic performance. Contrary to some earlier claims, we fin...

Keep on Truckin’ or Stay the Course? Exploring Grit Dimensions as Differential Predictors of Educational Achievement, Satisfaction, and Intentions

Abstract: In an ongoing effort to identify predictors of educational success and achievement, grit has emerged as a seemingly useful disposition. Grit is conceived as the combination of perseverance of effor...

The Enduring Predictive Significance of Early Maternal Sensitivity: Social and Academic Competence Through Age 32 Years

Abstract: This study leveraged data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (N = 243) to investigate the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity during the first 3 years of life for social and academic competence through age 32 years. Structural model comparisons replicated previous findings that early maternal sensitivity predicts social skills and academic achievement through midadolescence in a manner consistent with an enduring effects model of development and extended these findings using heterotypic indicators of social competence (effectiveness of romantic engagement) and academic competence (educational attainment) during adulthood. Although early socioeconomic factors and child gender accounted for the predictive significance of maternal sensitivity for social competence, covariates did not fully account for associations between early sensitivity and academic outcomes.

Achievement, motivation, and educational choices: A longitudinal study of expectancy and value using a multiplicative perspective

Abstract: Drawing on the expectancy-value model, the present study explored individual and gender differences in university entry and selection of educational pathway (e.g., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM] course selection). In particular, we examined the multiplicative effects of expectancy and task values on educational outcomes during the transition into early adulthood. Participants were from a nationally representative longitudinal sample of 15-year-old Australian youths (N = 10,370). The results suggest that (a) both math self-concept and intrinsic value interact in predicting advanced math course selection, matriculation results, entrance into university, and STEM fields of study; (b) prior reading achievement has negative effects on advanced math course selection and STEM fields through math motivational beliefs; and (c) gender differences in educational outcomes are mediated by gender differences in motivational beliefs and prior academic achievement, while the processes underlying choice of educational pathway were similar for males and females.

The Paradox of Success at a No-Excuses School

Abstract: No recent reform has had so profound an effect as no-excuses schools in increasing the achievement of low-income, black and Hispanic students. In the past decade, no-excuses schools-whose practices include extended instructional time, data-driven instruction, ongoing professional development, and a highly structured disciplinary system-have emerged as one of the most influential urban school-reform models. Yet almost no research has been conducted on the everyday experiences of students and teachers inside these schools. Drawing from 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork inside one no-excuses school and interviews with 92 school administrators, teachers, and students, I argue that even in a school promoting social mobility, teachers still reinforce class-based skills and behaviors. Because of these schools' emphasis on order as a prerequisite to raising test scores, teachers stress behaviors that undermine success for middle-class children. As a consequence, these schools develop worker-learners-children who monitor themselves, hold back their opinions, and defer to authority-rather than lifelong learners. I discuss the implications of these findings for market-based educational reform, inequality, and research on noncognitive skills.

Predictors of Retention and Achievement in a Massive Open Online Course

Abstract: Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have been heralded as an education revolution, but they suffer from low retention, calling into question their viability as a means of promoting education for all. In addition, numerous gaps remain in the research literature, particularly concerning predictors of retention and achievement. In this study, we used survival analysis to examine the degree to which student characteristics, relevance, prior experience with MOOCs, self-reported commitment, and learners’ implicit theory of intelligence predicted retention and achievement. We found that learners’ expected investment, including level of commitment, expected number of hours devoted to the MOOC, and intention to obtain a certificate, related to retention likelihood. Prior level of schooling and expected hours devoted to the MOOC predicted achievement.

Faculty trust in the principal: an essential ingredient in high-performing schools

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships among faculty trust in the principal, principal leadership behaviors, school climate, and student achievement Design/methodology/approach – Data from 64 elementary, middle, and high schools in two school districts formed the basis of the study (n=3,215 teachers), allowing for correlational and regression analyses of the variables Findings – The authors found that faculty trust in the principal was related to perceptions of both collegial and instructional leadership, as well as to factors of school climate such as teacher professionalism, academic press, and community engagement Student achievement was also correlated with trust, principal leadership behaviors, and school climate The authors found that both of the composite variables, principal behaviors and school climate, made significant independent contributions to explaining variance in student achievement and that together they explained 75 percent of the variance in achievement