The roles of ethnic identity,anti-white attitudes,and academic self-concept in African American student achievement

Conventional wisdom in much of the educational and psychological literatures states that the ethnic and racial identity of African American students is related to their academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether ethnic identity and anti-white attitudes predicted the academic achievement of African American students at a historically Black university. A hypothesized path model was proposed that included ethnic identity, attitudes toward other ethnic groups, anti-white attitudes, perceptions of caring faculty, academic self-concept, and devaluing academic success. The path analysis model explained 27% of the variance in grade point average and revealed three direct effects on grade point average: (a) academic self-concept (positive), (b) devaluing academic success (negative), and (c) anti-white attitudes (negative). Ethnic identity was indirectly linked with grade point average (GPA) through academic self-concept and devaluing academic success. Tests of two alternative nested models suggest that even in an indirect role, ethnic identity may be more important than anti-white attitudes in a model of African American academic achievement.

University and student segmentation: Multilevel latent‐class analysis of students’ attitudes towards research methods and statistics

Background. It is often claimed that psychology students’ attitudes towards research methods and statistics affect course enrolment, persistence, achievement, and course climate. However, the inter‐institutional variability has been widely neglected in the research on students’ attitudes towards research methods and statistics, but it is important for didactic purposes (heterogeneity of the student population). Aims. The paper presents a scale based on findings of the social psychology of attitudes (polar and emotion‐based concept) in conjunction with a method for capturing beginning university students’ attitudes towards research methods and statistics and identifying the proportion of students having positive attitudes at the institutional level. Sample. The study based on a re‐analysis of a nationwide survey in Germany in August 2000 of all psychology students that enrolled in fall 1999/2000 (N= 1,490) and N= 44 universities. Methods. Using multilevel latent‐class analysis (MLLCA), the aim was to group students in different student attitude types and at the same time to obtain university segments based on the incidences of the different student attitude types. Results. Four student latent clusters were found that can be ranked on a bipolar attitude dimension. Membership in a cluster was predicted by age, grade point average (GPA) on school‐leaving exam, and personality traits. In addition, two university segments were found: universities with an average proportion of students with positive attitudes and universities with a high proportion of students with positive attitudes (excellent segment). Conclusions. As psychology students make up a very heterogeneous group, the use of multiple learning activities as opposed to the classical lecture course is required.     

Interrelationships among students' study activities,self-concept of academic ability,and achievement as a function of characteristics of high-school biology courses

This investigation focused on the interrelationships among students' study activities, students' self-concept of academic ability ratings, students' academic achievement, and instructional practices in 12 high school biology courses. Using a framework derived from a previous investigation, course features were classified into those that appear to (a) place demands on, (b) support, or (c) compensate for student engagement in particular study activities. Students' study activities, self-concept of academic ability ratings, and achievement were measured with experimenter-developed instruments. Results are reported for (a) characteristics of instruments and course features, (b) relationships between central factors of the investigation, and (c) multi-level relationships between course features and student variables. Results at the student level indicated that self-concept of academic ability and, to a lesser extent, students' study activities were positively associated with student achievement. Students' self-concept of academic ability ratings were also linked to students' engagement in generative, proactive study activities. At the course level the supportive practices of providing challenging homework assignments and extensive feedback on student coursework were associated with student engagement in effortful, generative, proactive study activities. The provision of extensive feedback was also associated with high student achievement. Multi-level relationships were analysed using hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) analyses. These analyses revealed, for example, that in courses in which little or no feedback is given on homework assignments, the relationship between achievement and student engagement in diligent effort management activities was enhanced. Other HLM analyses were conducted to examine the mediating role of course features on the relationship between students' self-concept of academic ability and their study activities and achievement. For example, the presence of challenging course demands was associated with an enhancement of the relationship between self-concept of academic ability and achievement whereas the presence of instructor provisions (supports and compensations) designed to reduce course demands was associated with a reduction in this relationship.     

Student Characteristics Associated with Girls�� Success in a Single-sex School

Given the mixed results of previous studies on the benefits of single-sex schooling, scholars have called for research on differences in the effects of single-sex schooling based on student and school characteristics. We sought to examine the associations of a range of student characteristics with attitudes and achievement among students attending an all-girls public middle school in the southwestern United States. Predictor variables included demographic factors (i.e., race, family income), prior academic achievement, gender stereotyping, and gender identity (i.e., gender typicality, peer preferences). Prior academic achievement predicted later achievement and persistence in the single-sex school. School-related stereotyping was associated with success in and connection to the single-sex school; school connection was also a significant moderator of the relation between stereotyping and academic performance. Gender-typed peer preferences were associated with school connection and persistence. Overall, results indicate that student characteristics, as well as issues of ??fit?? with the specific school, are associated with students?? connection to and success in single-sex educational environments.     

The Impact of Constructive Controversy on Moral Development

We examined the effects of a constructive controversy compared with individualistic learning on 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th‐grade students' (N = 56) moral development, ethical skills, academic achievement, and attitudes toward social interdependence. The results indicated that participating in constructive controversy (compared with individualistic learning) resulted in greater moral development (i.e., moral reasoning, moral motivation, moral character), greater ethical skills (i.e., perspective taking, perception of self as a moral person, rule orientation), higher academic achievement, and more positive attitudes toward competition. These results extend constructive controversy theory, as well as Piagetian and social interdependent theories. They also provide guidance as to how discussions of moral dilemmas and conflicts among students should be structured and conducted.     

The Effects of Dysphoria and Personality on Negative Self-Referent Attitudes and Perceptions of the Attitudes of Others

The cognitive model of depression posits that depressed individuals harbor more dysfunctional self-referent attitudes, but little is known about how depressed individuals perceive the attitudes and perceptions of others in their social arena. This study examined whether dysphoric individuals perceive others to hold equally negative attitudes about themselves, and whether such perceptions depend on sociotropic (i.e., highly invested in social approval and relationship success) and autonomous (i.e., highly invested in vocational or academic achievement and goal attainment) personality styles. A sample of undergraduate students (N = 197) was recruited, and after the assessment of their depression symptoms and personality style, participants read vignettes that described negative scenarios, and imagined that these scenarios occurred to themselves or the general university student. After reading each vignette, participants also rated their agreement with a number of statements that assessed dysfunctional attitudes. Results indicated that elevated dysphoria (i.e., showing signs of depression) scores were positively associated with dysfunctional self-referent attitudes. Further, moderational analyses examining the interaction of sociotropy and dysphoria did not support the hypothesis that individuals higher on dysphoria and sociotropy were less likely to perceive others as harboring negative attitudes about themselves in comparison to those with elevated dysphoria and lower levels of sociotropy. Last, individuals showing elevated dysphoria and higher scores on subdomains of autonomy were more likely to perceive others as exhibiting negative attitudes about themselves than those with low levels of the trait. These findings, their implications, and strengths and limitations of the current investigation are further discussed.     

Bingeing,purging, and estimates of parental attitudes regarding female achievement

A questionnaire measuring respondents' beliefs about the attitudes regarding female achievement held by their parents was distributed to 326 women attending a state university. Women who report frequent bingeing are more likely than other women to report that (1) their parents believed a woman's place is in the home (2) their mothers were unhappy with their own careers, (3) their fathers thought the respondents' mothers were not intelligent, and (4) their fathers treated a male as the most intelligent sibling in the family. Reports of fathers' attitudes regarding mothers' intelligence and the proper role for women are related to respondents' self-reports of purging, but only among those women who are much more concerned with academic achievement than with household skills.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD READING EXPRESSED BY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS DIAGNOSED WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Attitude toward reading affects student's achievement. While conventional wisdom and comparisons with low-skilled, non-disabled students suggest that students with learning disabilities have negative attitudes toward reading, few studies exist to support these inferences. The present study uses the Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (McKenna & Kear, 1990) to describe elementary students' diagnosed with learning disabilities attitudes toward academic and recreational reading and to compare their attitudes with those expressed by their non-disabled peers. The findings show that students with learning disabilities who received reading instruction in special-education, resource rooms expressed reading attitudes that equaled or exceeded those expressed by low and average non-disabled students in a nationwide study conducted by McKenna and Kear (1990). The findings also indicated that the students' diagnosed with learning disabilities attitudes remained more stable across grades 1 through 5 than those expressed by their non-disabled students in the McKenna and Kear (1990) study.     

Ethnicity,school attitudes,intelligence and academic achievement

Regression surface analysis was used to examine relations between school-related attitudes and measures of academic achievement at different levels of intellectual ability, for children from different Australian ethnic groups. The sample included 660 eleven-year-old children from lower social status families, with 250 Anglo Australian children, 170 Greek, 120 Southern Italian, and 120 English children. Regression surfaces were constructed from models that examined possible linear, interaction, and curvilinear relations between the variables. The findings suggest the propositions that: (a) at each level of intelligence, increases in the affective component of school attitudes are not associated with changes in academic achievement, (b) at each level of the affective component of school attitudes, increments in intelligence test scores are related to increases in academic achievement scores, and (c) the relations between academic achievement, intelligence, and the cognitive-behavioral component of school attitudes vary for children from different ethnic groups. The results suggest that the manipulation of the cognitive-behavioral aspects of school attitudes may influence the academic performance of low social status children from different ethnic groups but educational programs that focus on the affective components of school attitudes may not be effective in changing children's academic achievement.     

Do relational and structural characteristics of negative school environments independently predict immigrant adolescents’ academic achievement?

A critical issue facing the majority of immigrant adolescents in U.S. public schools is persistent academic underperformance. Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, this study investigates the extent to which negative social environments in U.S. public schools predict the academic achievement of immigrant adolescents. Importantly, we simultaneously examine the roles of both the relational (individual-level) and structural (school-level) characteristics of these negative social environments. Multilevel structural equation modeling revealed that immigrant students who are embedded in more negative relationships (e.g., having peers who discriminate against them) have lower levels of academic achievement. These predictive effects of individual-level negative social environments on academic achievement are mediated by both perceived school safety and educational expectations. Furthermore, we find double mediation effects (i.e., three-pathway mediations) via perceptions of school safety and educational expectations. The existence of these double mediation effects implies that relational characteristics strongly predict immigrant adolescents’ perceptions, attitudes, and school outcomes. Finally, we find that structural characteristics of negative social environments in U.S. public schools (i.e., total student enrollment and school-level dropout rate) also negatively predict immigrant adolescent achievement. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving immigrant adolescents’ achievements in U.S. public schools.     

School Mobility and Achievement: Longitudinal Findings From an Urban Cohort

This study investigated the effects of school mobility on reading and math achievement for 1,087 low-income Black children in the Chicago Longitudinal Study. Between kindergarten and seventh grade, 73% of the students changed schools at least once during elementary school and 21% changed schools three or more times. The prospective longitudinal design of the Chicago Longitudinal Study allowed for controlled analyses of both the predictors and the consequences of school mobility. The significant predictors of the number of moves included prior achievement, the number of years of preschool participation in an education intervention program, and parent education. Although the students who changed schools frequently between kindergarten and seventh grade performed approximately one year behind their nonmobile peers on reading and mathematics achievement tests taken at the end of seventh grade, only one half of this difference appears attributable to frequent mobility. The remaining portion is due to the fact that the mobile students were lower achieving even before they started to change schools. The negative consequences of past school mobility are lower for students who moved into better quality schools such as magnets or academic academies. Findings indicate that it is frequent, rather than occasional, mobility that significantly increases the risk of underachievement.     

Working Together: Perceived Self- and Collective-Efficacy at the Workplace1

Collective efficacy is the extension of Bandura's (1977) self-efficacy concept to groups (Bandura, 1982, 1986). Self-efficacy refers to judgments that people make about their personal or individual competency. Collective efficacy concerns judgments that people make about a group's level of competency. This paper contributes to the theory and measurement of collective efficacy and to an understanding of its relationship to self-efficacy and performance. Elementary school teachers' collective- and self-efficacy were measured. The academic domain is well suited to the study of collective-efficacy because the organizational units (schools) all perform the same function (education). The findings supported the hypothesis that, in at least some domains, self-efficacy and collective-efficacy are related but independent constructs. As hypothesized, it was also found that the socioeconomic composition of a school's student body, was a strong predictor of teachers' collective-efficacy. Although teachers' collective-efficacy was associated with school level achievement, this relationship was no longer significant when prior achievement levels were controlled. It was suggested that future research should examine individual behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs that might serve as mediators between efficacy and performance. It was also suggested that the relationship between collective efficacy and organizational culture should be explored.     

Secondary student motivation orientations and standards‐based achievement outcomes

Background Individual student characteristics such as competence motivation, achievement values, and goal orientations have been related in meaningful ways to task attainment. The standards‐based National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) was developed in New Zealand with the intention of strengthening connections between student learning behaviours and achievement outcomes. Aim This study investigates interrelationships between self‐reported motivation orientations and achievement outcomes on the NCEA, a standards‐based, criterion‐referenced assessment system for senior secondary students. Sample Participants were 3,569 Year 11–Year 13 students at 20 nationally representative secondary schools in New Zealand. Method Survey data were factor analysed followed by regression analyses to examine relationships across demographic factors, self‐report survey results, and NCEA achievement outcomes. Results Several theoretically meaningful self‐reported motivation orientations were strongly related to actual achievement including doing my best (high achievement) and doing just enough (low achievement). These dimensions varied by gender, ethnicity, and school zone decile. Conclusions These findings illustrate how particular design features of a standards‐based assessment system relate to student attitudes and achievement. They also highlight the need for longitudinal research to investigate patterns over time as well as the possible impact of interventions to alter motivation and/or academic task performance.     

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.     

感知社会支持与学生学业成就关系的元分析：学习投入的中介作用

学业成就是衡量学生学习认知能力和检测其学习效果的重要指标,受到感知社会支持和学习投入等因素的显著影响,先前的研究已经考察了这两个因素对学业成就的共同作用机制,但感知社会支持与学业成就的关系强度不明,且尚不完全清楚中介效应、调节效应对二者关系的影响。因此当前研究采用元分析方法检验效应量的可靠性、学习投入的中介效应以及一系列调节效应。研究共纳入符合要求的原始文献41篇,含78个研究。结果发现：(1)感知社会支持及子类型与学业成就呈现显著的正相关,但效应值偏小,即二者之间存在的是弱相关。此外,感知社会支持及子类型显著正向预测学习投入,且对学习投入的效应量高于对学业成就的效应量。(2)学段仅对感知教师支持的调节效应显著,学业成就指标调节了感知社会支持及子类型与学业成就之间的关系,而经济水平和文化背景的调节效应不显著。(3)学习投入在感知社会支持及子类型对学业成就的影响中起到部分中介作用,且中介效应只存在于初中群体,在高中群体中介效应不显著。     

Metacognitive Ability and Test Performance Among College Students

We studied college students' metacognitive ability to see whether or to what extent it would be correlated with actual test grades. We hypothesized that higher metacognitive ability would correlate with higher exam marks and that lower metacognitive ability would correlate with lower exam marks. College students (N = 109) were asked to guess the grade they expected to receive at the completion of a regular classroom exam. We found a significant negative correlation between the actual grade received, a measure of cognitive ability, and the difference between the actual grade and the expected grade, a measure of metacognitive ability.     

Academic press and sense of community: Conflict,congruence, and implications for student achievement

This paper examines tensions between two visions of schooling. One stresses social cohesion (i.e., common beliefs, shared activities, and caring relations between members). The other emphasizes strong academic mission (i.e., values and practices that reinforce high standards for student performance). Though not incongruous, numerous organizational studies reveal the potential for social cohesion and communality to be achieved at the expense of academic demand or “press.” To examine their separate and joint effects, measures of academic press and communality are developed from NELS:88 First Follow-up data. Results of hierarchical regression analyses indicate (1) significant links between academic press and student achievement; (2) that academic press has its greatest achievement effect among low-SES schools; (3) that strong sense of community may have a negative impact on achievement in low-SES schools with weak academic press; and (4) that for low- and middle-SES schools, the greatest achievement effects follow from strong combinations of communality and academic press. These findings highlight an important additional component of the “school as community” model, indicating that for most schools, academic press serves as a key prerequisite for the positive achievement effects of communality. The author wishes to express appreciation to National Science Foundation for it support under the grant “Improving Mathematics and Science Learning: A School and Classroom Approach” (RED-9255880). The views expressed here are those of the author, and no official endorsement by the National Science Foundation is intended or should be inferred. Correspondence concerning this article should be sent to Roger C. Shouse, The Pennsylvania State University, 315 Rackley Building, University Park, PA 16803, U.S.A.     

Is there a case for the freshman women's residence hall?

Because most institutions are experiencing student migration from residence halls, the educational function of the halls is being promoted, resulting in numerous variations in design and staff organization. The purpose of this study was to investigate the merits of one of these variations—the all-freshman women's residence hall. Freshman women in three types of halls (all-freshman women, all-undergraduate women, and coeducational) were compared on the basis of academic achievement, attitudes about the campus environment, and conduct. Results indicated that on those factors, no case can be built in support of housing women in an all-freshman women's hall.     

Academic Pathways and Children of Immigrant Families

In this study, we examined the relationships between family, school, and community contexts and academic achievement during middle childhood among children of Portuguese, Dominican, and Cambodian immigrant families. We interviewed approximately 350 children from 2 age cohorts spanning first through third and fourth through sixth grades annually across 3 years. Additionally, we collected interviews with parents, measures from teachers, school administrative information, and community ethnographies to understand the various contexts of children's academic achievement. Using a "mixed-methods" approach, we qualitatively coded children's academic success from school records and teacher's responses about the student into 1 of 5 pathways representing children who were "excelling, positive, neutral, negative, or abysmal" across all 3 years of the study. We then used ordinal regression modeling to examine the relationships between child, family, school, and community factors and child academic pathway. Commonalities in findings across the 3 immigrant groups reveal the importance of good school attendance. Divergences between the 3 immigrant groups highlighted family and cultural influences on positive child academic achievement such as synchronicity between child and school values, the children's own academic self-concepts, and academic aspirations. We integrated quantitative findings with the profiles from ethnographic research of the study's communities for an in-depth examination of the mechanisms behind early educational success among children of immigrants.