Children’s effortful control and academic achievement: do relational peer victimization and classroom participation operate as mediators?

Given that early academic achievement is related to numerous developmental outcomes, understanding processes that promote early success in school is important. This study was designed to clarify how students’ (N = 291; M age in fall of kindergarten = 5.66 years, SD = 0.39 year) effortful control, relational peer victimization, and classroom participation relate to achievement, as students progress from kindergarten to first grade. Effortful control and achievement were assessed in kindergarten, classroom participation and relational peer victimization were assessed in the fall of first grade, and achievement was reassessed in the spring of first grade. Classroom participation, but not relational peer victimization, mediated relations between effortful control and first grade standardized and teacher-rated achievement, controlling for kindergarten achievement. Findings suggest that aspects of classroom participation, such as the ability to work independently, may be useful targets of intervention for enhancing academic achievement in young children.     

Teacher–child relationships and academic achievement: A multilevel propensity score model approach

A robust body of research finds positive cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between teacher–child relationships and children's academic achievement in elementary school. Estimating the causal effect of teacher–child relationships on children's academic achievement, however, is challenged by selection bias at the individual and school level. To address these issues, we used two multilevel propensity score matching approaches to estimate the effect of high-quality teacher–child relationships in kindergarten on math and reading achievement during children's transition to first grade. Multi-informant data were collected on 324 low-income, Black and Hispanic students, and 112 kindergarten and first-grade teachers. Results revealed significant effects of high-quality teacher–child relationships in kindergarten on math achievement in first grade. No significant effects of teacher–child relationships were detected for reading achievement. Implications for intervention development and public policy are discussed.     

The Impact of Tutoring on Early Reading Achievement for Children With and Without Attention Problems

This study examined whether the benefits of reading tutoring in first grade were moderated by children's level of attention problems. Participants were 581 children from the intervention and control samples of Fast Track, a longitudinal multisite investigation of the development and prevention of conduct problems. Standardized reading achievement measures were administered after kindergarten and 1st grade, and teacher ratings of attention problems were obtained during 1st grade. During 1st grade, intervention participants received three 30-min tutoring sessions per week to promote the development of initial reading skills. Results replicated prior findings that attention problems predict reduced 1st grade reading achievement, even after controlling for IQ and earlier reading ability. Intervention was associated with modest reading achievement benefits for inattentive children without early reading difficulties, and substantial benefits for children with early reading difficulties who were not inattentive. It had no discernible impact, however, for children who were both inattentive and poor early readers. Results underscore the need to develop effective academic interventions for inattentive children, particularly for those with co-occurring reading difficulties.     

PBCB: A norming of the spanish translation of the Boehm test of Basic Concepts

The Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) was designed to measure children's mastery of concepts considered necessary for achievement in the first years of school. The test is group administered, and is appropriate for use with children in the first three grades: kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. The test has been demonstrated to be a valid and reliable measure when administered in English. Prueba Boehm de Conceptos Basicos (PBCB), a Spanish translation of the test, was administered to 1,292 children three times in public and private schools in Puerto Rico during the 1979–1981 school years. Normative information, reported by type of school, by grade, and by time of year tested is presented. The reliability of PBCB was established. The test was shown to have predictive validity as well, correlating with measures of academic achievement one year following the end-of-year administration of the PBCB.     

A longitudinal study of the relationship of maternal autonomy support to children's adjustment and achievement in school

A longitudinal study examined the relations of maternal autonomy support to children's school adjustment. Autonomy support and other parenting dimensions were measured when children were 5 years old. School measures were teacher-rated academic and social adjustment and achievement in reading and math in grade 3. Regression analyses controlling for age 5 family and child factors (e.g., socioeconomic status [SES], kindergarten adjustment, IQ) revealed that autonomy support was positively related to grade 3 adjustment (social and academic) and reading achievement. Maternal emphasis on school performance was positively related to achievement measures but negatively related to social adjustment. Maternal use of rewards and praise was unrelated to grade 3 school measures. Finally, supplemental analyses revealed that autonomy support was associated with greater consistency in children's adjustment across social and academic domains as well as higher overall adjustment. These results highlight the developmental significance of parental autonomy support in early childhood.     

小学儿童数学态度与数学成就的纵向联系：学业拖延和数学元认知的作用

为深入探讨小学儿童的数学态度、学业拖延、数学元认知与数学成就之间的纵向联系及内在作用机制,对515名三、五年级小学生进行为期半年的追踪研究。结果表明:(1)学业拖延在儿童的数学态度与数学成就之间发挥着即时和纵向中介作用;(2)不同水平数学元认知个体在纵向中介模型中“数学态度→数学成就”这一路径上存在差异。这意味着较积极的数学态度有利于减少小学儿童的学业拖延行为,进而提高其数学成就,而高数学元认知则能够监控和调节个体的数学态度,使其发挥积极作用,从而提高数学成就。该发现为有效促进儿童的数学学习提供了重要实践启示。     

Peer rejection, negative peer treatment, and school adjustment: Self-concept and classroom engagement as mediating processes

Data gathered from a short term longitudinal study within fifth grade classrooms (n = 378) were used to evaluate two process-oriented models linking peer rejection and negative peer treatment to children's self-concept, school engagement and adjustment. Both structural models linked peer rejection, victimization, and exclusion to children's self-concept, classroom engagement, and change in achievement (fall of fifth grade to the spring). The model evaluations indicated that peer rejection predicted both exclusion and victimization and that these forms of peer treatment, in turn, predicted academic self-competence. Academic self-competence, however, only partially mediated linkages to achievement change. Parallel (i.e. direct) linkages from exclusion and victimization to both academic self-competence and engagement were required for adequate model fit, as were direct links from academic self-concept and engagement to achievement change. An alternative model representing the hypothesis that academic self-concept fully mediated the relationships between the forms of negative peer treatment and children's engagement and achievement did not fit the data well.     

The promotive effects of family educational involvement for low-income children's literacy

Longitudinal data for 167 low-income children were analyzed to examine associations between family educational involvement during kindergarten, children's feelings about literacy, and children's literacy achievement from kindergarten through fifth grade. The promotive effect of family educational involvement for feelings about literacy and literacy achievement was moderated by maternal education such that involvement was more positively associated with literacy outcomes for children whose mothers were less educated compared with children whose mothers were more educated. In addition, children's feelings about literacy mediated associations between family educational involvement and literacy achievement. Implications for intervention efforts are discussed.     

Cognitive abilities, sociocultural background and academic achievement

The influence of students' sociocultural background on academic achievement is a well established fact. Research also points out that sociocultural background is related to students' cognitive abilities and these have an effect on their academic achievement. However, the mediator role of cognitive abilities on the relationship between sociocultural background and academic achievement is less well known. A structural equation model that represents these relationships was tested in a sample (N= 728) of Portuguese junior high school students. Multigroup analysis of the model showed the importance of the cognitive ability mediation effect between sociocultural background and academic achievement in the 7th and 9th grades, but not in the 8th grade. This difference may be the result of the academic transition experienced in the 7th and 9th grades in the Portuguese educational system, which requires parents' higher involvement in school.     

Inattention-Hyperactivity and Reading Achievement in Children from Low-Income Families: A Longitudinal Model

This study examined how preschool inattention-hyperactivity is related to elementary school reading achievement. Prereading skills were hypothesized to be a link between them. This link was explored using longitudinal data on 105 low-socioeconomic-status (SES) children's inattentive-hyperactive behavior and prereading skills in Head Start and in kindergarten and their inattentive-hyperactive behavior and reading skills in first grade. A model of this relationship was tested using structural equation modeling. The results failed to show a significant path between inattention-hyperactivity and prereading skills at both the Head Start and kindergarten levels. A significant path was found between first grade inattention-hyperactivity and reading skills, confirming that the strong relationship between inattention-hyperactivity and poor reading achievement commonly found in children from other SES levels was also significant in this low-SES sample. Strong relationships were found between pre-reading skills and reading skills, as well as among hyperactivity levels at the three grades. The issue of the direction of the path of influence between attention-behavior and reading achievement is addressed briefly; however, the results indicate that further longitudinal work is necessary to resolve this issue.     

Temperamental attention and activity, classroom emotional support, and academic achievement in third grade

The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay of children's temperamental attention and activity (assessed when children were 4-and-a-half years old) and classroom emotional support as they relate to children's academic achievement in third grade. Particular focus is placed on the moderating role of classroom emotional support on the relationship between temperament (attention and activity level) and academic achievement. Regression analyses indicated that children's attention and activity level were associated with children's third grade reading and mathematics achievement, and classroom emotional support was associated with children's third grade reading and mathematics achievement. In addition, classroom emotional support moderated the relation between children's attention and reading and mathematics achievement, such that attention mattered most for reading and mathematics achievement for children in classrooms with lower emotional support. Findings point to the importance of understanding how children's temperament and classroom emotional support may work together to promote or inhibit children's academic achievement.     

The role of trait emotional intelligence in academic performance during the university transition: An integrative model of mediation via social support,coping, and adjustment

The authors propose conceptual models linking trait emotional intelligence (TEI) with achievement both directly and indirectly via perceived social support (PSS), engagement coping (EC), and adjustment, in the context of the university transition. The models were tested in a multiwave design with a sample of incoming Australian undergraduates (N = 470). In structural equation analyses, TEI was found to be a direct predictor of higher PSS and the greater use of EC strategies. Further, mediation analyses revealed that TEI was indirectly associated with academic adjustment via EC and psychological adjustment via EC and PSS operating in parallel. TEI was also found to be indirectly associated with achievement via EC and academic adjustment linked serially in a three-path mediated sequence. These direct and indirect relations were robust when controlling for known confounding influences. The empirically supported mediating processes extend the literature by elucidating some of the pathways through which TEI is linked with better adjustment and achievement.     

朋友的学业成就会影响我的学业成就吗？——成对友谊关系中成就目标取向的中介作用

尽管朋友是影响青少年学业成就的重要因素,但对于朋友之间双向影响的方式和途径尚缺乏研究。本研究采用同伴提名和自我报告问卷收集了8年级青少年在两个学期末的数据,获得在一个学期中稳定的同性别朋友对216对;使用主客体互倚性模型,探究朋友之间学业成就的影响效应,以及成就目标取向在朋友相互影响间的中介作用以及性别差异。结果发现：（1）青少年朋友之间在学业成就上的相似性既源于选择效应,也源于影响效应;（2）掌握目标取向不仅在个体自身当前和后续学业成就的关系中发挥中介作用,而且朋友一方的学业成就还能通过自身或对方的掌握目标取向影响对方或自己后续的学业成就,男生的中介路径多于女生;（3）对于男生而言,表现-接近目标取向在个体当下学业成就和自己后续学业成就的关系中发挥负向中介作用,但对朋友后续的学业成就有积极影响。研究结果支持了成对友谊关系是青少年学业发展的重要情境之一,并突显了成就目标取向在朋友之间学业成就相互影响中的关键作用和性别差异模式。     

Role of resilient personality on lower achieving first grade students' current and future achievement

This study investigated a measurement model of personality resilience and the contribution of personality resilience to lower achieving first grade students' academic achievement. Participants were 445 ethnically diverse children who at entrance to first grade scored below their school district median on a test of literacy. Participants were administered an individual achievement test in first grade and 1 year later. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a second-order latent construct of resilient personality defined by teacher-rated conscientiousness, agreeableness, and ego-resiliency that was distinct from measures of externalizing behaviors and IQ. Using latent structural equation modeling and controlling for baseline economic adversity, IQ, and externalizing symptoms, resilient personality predicted children's concurrent and future achievement (controlling also for baseline achievement in the prospective analyses). Model fit was invariant across gender.     

Piaget's data and spearman's theory—An empirical reconciliation and its implications for academic achievement

A hierarchical simple structure factor solution was obtained for item scores from a psychometrized battery of Piagetian-type tasks individually administered to 660 kindergarten children. At the first level of factors were the Piagetian theoretical entities of seriation, classification, conservation of number, and temporal and spatial reasoning, with numeration loading on seriation and classification as indicated by the theory. At the second level were two factors identified as Piaget's logicomathematical and infralogical operations. A third-level factor was identified as a g factor. The association of the Piagetian-type tasks with kindergarden and first grade academic achievement was through the third-level g factor. The second-level factors appeared to be similar to Vernon's k:m and v:ed but, like the first level factors, made no important contribution to predicted achievement above that contributed by the g factor. A socioeconomic factor made no unique contribution to predicted first grade achievement. It was concluded that the Piagetian concrete operations variables have no unique role in the prediction of kindergarten or first grade academic achievement.     

Sensori-motor spatial training of number magnitude representation

An adequately developed spatial representation of number magnitude is associated with children's general arithmetic achievement. Therefore, a new spatial-numerical training program for kindergarten children was developed in which presentation and response were associated with a congruent spatial numerical representation. In particular, children responded by a full-body spatial movement on a digital dance mat in a magnitude comparison task. This spatial-numerical training was more effective than a non-spatial control training in enhancing children's performance on a number line estimation task and a subtest of a standardized mathematical achievement battery (TEDI-MATH). A mediation analysis suggested that these improvements were driven by an improvement of children's mental number line representation and not only by unspecific factors such as attention or motivation. These results suggest a benefit of spatial numerical associations. Rather than being a merely associated covariate, they work as an independently manipulated variable which is functional for numerical development.     

The effect of school-based kindergarten transition policies and practices on child academic outcomes

This study examined the effect of school-based kindergarten transition policies and practices on child outcomes. The authors followed 17,212 children from 992 schools in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten sample (ECLS-K) across the kindergarten school year. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that the number of school-based transition practices in the fall of kindergarten was associated with more positive academic achievement scores at the end of kindergarten, even controlling for family socioeconomic status (SES) and other demographic factors. This effect was stronger for low- and middle-SES children than high-SES children. For low-SES children, 7 transition practices were associated with a .21 standard deviation increase in predicted achievement scores beyond 0 practices. The effect of transition practices was partially mediated by an intervening effect on parent-initiated involvement in school during the kindergarten year. The findings support education policies to target kindergarten transition efforts to increase parent involvement in low-SES families.     

Parent Involvement in Early Intervention for Disadvantaged Children: Does It Matter?

This study investigated the association between parent involvement in early intervention and children's later school competence. Parents (N = 704) of children participating in the Chicago Longitudinal Study were interviewed retrospectively about their school involvement in preschool and kindergarten. Parents reported on the activities in which they participated and their frequency of program participation. Results indicated that even after controlling for family background, the number of activities in which parents participated in preschool and kindergarten was significantly associated with higher reading achievement, with lower rates of grade retention at age 14 (eighth grade), and with fewer years in special education. The frequency of parent involvement was only marginally associated with reading achievement but was associated with lower rates of grade retention and fewer years in special education. A confirmatory analysis indicated that teacher ratings of parent involvement in first and second grade were significantly associated with higher reading achievement in eighth grade, lower grade retention rates, and lower rates of special education placement through eighth grade. Findings support the benefits of parent involvement in early childhood programs.     

Kindergarten self-control mediates the gender reading achievement gap: A population-based cohort study

Could superior self-control explain the gender difference in reading achievement favoring girls? To test this idea, we drew on a unique population-based sample (N = 11,336) where self-control was measured in kindergarten using a multimethod battery of assessments. Girls showed substantially higher levels of self-control in kindergarten (β = 0.47) and outperformed boys on standardized tests of reading achievement in third/fourth grade (β = 0.20). Further, kindergarten self-control prospectively predicted reading achievement throughout elementary school (β = 0.37). Connecting these findings, our mediation analyses revealed that the female self-control advantage in kindergarten could account for subsequent gender differences in reading achievement. Our results suggest that early gender differences in self-control may represent a key pathway through which gender disparities in reading skills, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension occur.     

Mental abilities and school achievement: A test of a mediation hypothesis

This study analyzes the interplay of four cognitive abilities - reasoning, divergent thinking, mental speed, and short-term memory - and their impact on academic achievement in school in a sample of adolescents in grades seven to 10 (N = 1135). Based on information processing approaches to intelligence, we tested a mediation hypothesis, which states that the complex cognitive abilities of reasoning and divergent thinking mediate the influence of the basic cognitive abilities of mental speed and short-term memory on achievement. We administered a comprehensive test battery and analyzed the data through structural equation modeling while controlling for the cluster structure of the data. Our findings support the notion that mental speed and short-term memory, as ability factors reflecting basic cognitive processes, exert an indirect influence on academic achievement by affecting reasoning and divergent thinking (total indirect effects: β = .22 and .24, respectively). Short-term memory also directly affects achievement (β = .22).