Academic achievement

About: Academic achievement is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 69460 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2227289 citations. The topic is also known as: academic performance & educational achievement.

Self-efficacy for self-regulated learning, academic self-efficacy, and Internet self-efficacy in web-based instruction

Abstract: Effects of student motivation on performance in Web-based instruction (WBI) were examined. In particular, applicability of the self-efficacy theory to WBI contexts was tested. A total of 152 junior high school students in Seoul, Korea, participated in WBI during regular science classes. Participants completed motivational surveys before the onset of WBI and took the written and search tests at the end of WBI. Path analyses revealed that students' self-efficacy for self-regulated learning positively related to their academic self-efficacy, strategy use, and Internet self-efficacy. Academic self-efficacy predicted students' performance on the written test, which comprised problems on topics covered during the previous WBI sessions. Students' scores on the WBI search test were significantly and positively predicted by their self-efficacy in using the Internet. More interesting, students' academic self-efficacy beliefs were not able to predict their search test performance, whereas students' Internet self-efficacy beliefs were not able to predict their written test performance.

The Academic Lives of Neglected, Rejected, Popular, and Controversial Children

Abstract: The purposes of this study were to examine academically relevant characteristics of different sociometric status groups and to learn about the academic orientations of behavioral subgroups of rejected children. Results from a sample of 423 sixth and seventh graders (ages 11-13) suggested that sociometrically neglected children have quite positive academic profiles. When compared with average status children, these students reported higher levels of motivation, were described by teachers as more self-regulated learners, as more prosocial and compliant, and as being better liked by teachers. Analyses of two behavioral subgroups of rejected children indicated that aggressive-rejected but not submissive-rejected children have problematic academic profiles. Relations of neglected and aggressive-rejected status to academic adjustment in young adolescents' lives is discussed.

Contexts of Achievement: A Study of American, Chinese, and Japanese Children

Abstract: The major purpose of this study was to attempt to understand some of the reasons for the high academic achievement of Chinese and Japanese children compared to American children. The study was conducted with first and fifth graders attending elementary schools in the Minneapolis metropolitan area, Taipei (Taiwan), and Sendai (Japan). 1,440 children (240 first graders and 240 fifth graders in each city) were selected as target subjects in the study. The children were selected from 20 classrooms at each grade in each city and constituted a representative sample of children from these classrooms. In a follow-up study, first graders were studied again when they were in the fifth grade. The children were tested with achievement tests in reading and mathematics constructed specifically for this study, the children and their mothers were interviewed, the children's teachers filled out a questionnaire, and interviews were held with the principals of the schools attended by the children. In the follow-up study, achievement tests were administered, and the children and their mothers were interviewed. Background information about the children's everyday lives revealed much greater attention to academic activities among Chinese and Japanese than among American children. Members of the three cultures differed significantly in terms of parents' interest in their child's academic achievement, involvement of the family in the child's education, standards and expectations of parents concerning their child's academic achievement, and parents' and children's beliefs about the relative influence of effort and ability on academic achievement. Whereas children's academic achievement did not appear to be a central concern of American mothers, Chinese and Japanese mothers viewed this as their child's most important pursuit. Once the child entered elementary school, Chinese and Japanese families mobilized themselves to assist the child and to provide an environment conducive to achievement. American mothers appeared to be less interested in their child's academic achievement than in the child's general cognitive development; they attempted to provide experiences that fostered cognitive growth rather than academic excellence. Chinese and Japanese mothers held higher standards for their children's achievement than American mothers and gave more realistic evaluations of their child's academic, cognitive, and personality characteristics. American mothers overestimated their child's abilities and expressed greater satisfaction with their child's accomplishments than the Chinese and Japanese mothers. In describing bases of children's academic achievement, Chinese and Japanese mothers stressed the importance of hard work to a greater degree than American mothers, and American mothers gave greater emphasis to innate ability than did Chinese and Japanese mothers.

Does School Accountability Lead to Improved Student Performance

Abstract: The leading school reform policy in the United States revolves around strong accountability of schools with consequences for performance. The federal government's involvement through the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 reinforces the prior movement of many states toward policies based on measured student achievement. Analysis of state achievement growth as measured by the National Assessment of Educational progress shows that accountability systems introduced during the 1990s had a clear positive impact on student achievement. This single policy instrument did not, however, also lead to any narrowing in the Black-White achievement gap (though it did narrow the Hispanic-White achievement gap). Moreover, the Black-White gap appears to have been adversely impacted over the decade by increasing minority concentrations in the schools. An additional issue surrounding stronger accountability has been a concern about unintended outcomes related to such things as higher exclusion rates from testing, increased dropout rates, and the like. Our analysis of special education placement rates, a frequently identified area of concern, does not show any responsiveness to the introduction of accountability systems.© 2005 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management