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The authors examined the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) on academic self-concept (ASC) using different indicators of academic ability (i.e., achievement test, cognitive ability test, grades corrected for grading-on-a-curve effects, uncorrected grades). They investigated under what circumstances grades are suitable indicators of academic ability in BFLPE research. The sample comprised 730 sixth-grade students from 30 classes belonging to the top track of the German secondary high school system. Using multilevel models, all indicators of academic ability exhibited negative contrast effects on ASC at class level (i.e., BFLPE). The authors found the strongest effects for corrected grades, followed by achievement tests, cognitive ability, and, finally, uncorrected grades. Thus, the study provides evidence for the usage of grades within BFLPE research for investigating the BFLPE.

Recent federal investments in early childhood assessment systems are the result of a national need for developmentally appropriate, psychometrically sound instruments to monitor young children and evaluate the effectiveness of their learning programs. In this paper, we examined the association between teachers' perceptions of their students at the start of kindergarten and academic achievement in Grade 3 with hierarchical linear modeling using state-level data from nearly 30,000 students. The analyses showed that such an association exists even after accounting for student-level and school-level demographic variables and is moderated by the percentage of free-lunch-eligible students in a given school. Implications of these findings related screening and assessment at kindergarten entry are discussed.

Writing assessments have attended to the mechanics of writing, reflecting a value on the teaching of writing conventions. One quality of writing rarely assessed is authorial voice, a personal style that communicates the author's stance toward events reported and the author's relationship to the audience. The authors explore associations among authorial voice, writing mechanics, and academic performance. In the fall and spring of 1 academic year, 115 third- through fifth-grade students wrote personal narratives that were coded for 2 measures of mechanics and 4 measures of authorial voice. Students and teachers completed measures of academic performance. Mechanics, but not voice, predicted academic performance. The authors suggest that mechanics-focused state standards discourage authorial voice, and they propose attention to voice as a springboard to develop other writing skills.

The authors compared the performance of third-grade students testing on answer sheets with those testing on machine-scored test booklets. The 1,832 students in the nationally representative sample were assigned at the campus level to complete the Stanford Achievement Test Series, Tenth Edition in 1 of 4 conditions: (a) Form A answer sheet, (b) Form A booklet, (c) Form B answer sheet, and (d) Form B booklet. After controlling for scholastic ability, no significant differences in performance on total reading, total mathematics, and total language strands were found between students using booklets and those using answer sheets. The results of this study provide no evidence to support the need to use separate test booklets with general education third-grade students. States may consider using separate answer sheets with these students to realize potential cost and schedule efficiencies.

The authors examined how math track placement and gender affected 7th-grade students' self-esteem, self-concepts, and social comparisons. Participants were 170 students who completed surveys that assessed their self-esteem, academic self-concepts of ability, and the kinds of social comparisons they make. Results showed that higher track students had significantly higher ability self-concepts in math and school. Math track did not influence students' self-esteem. After controlling for students' grades in math, track placement no longer affected students' self-concepts of ability. Students stated that they most frequently compare themselves with other students who perform similarly to them in the same track. Direction of comparison did not affect students' academic self-concepts or general self-esteem, regardless of whether they compared upward or downward. (Contains 4 tables.)

The authors examined the way that teachers perceive the academic abilities of young boys before the start of formal schooling. Using a 1998 nationally representative sample of 10,956 boys assessed at the start of kindergarten, the authors showed that teachers perceive young boys who are shorter than the perceived norm as less academically capable than are boys of average or above-average height. The findings help expand one's understanding of the way that children, and subsequently adults, use body image to view ability and performance. (Contains 3 tables.)

Investigated differences in motivation to learn high school science related to science class type (biological versus physical), gender, and academic ability. Student surveys indicated that there were several differences between higher and lower achieving students and between students in biological versus physical science classes. Sex stereotypes affected motivation, and male and female students had unique motivational needs. (SM)

Self-report surveys of urban middle and high school students assessed changes in their motivation as they entered and exited an alternative learning program that emphasized academic skills, self-esteem, and social skills. Students who completed the program experienced increases in extrinsic motivation, self-esteem, and persistence toward learning tasks. (SM)

Researchers used data from 8,100 high school students participating in the High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study to test a model of at-risk students' school learning. Results indicated that ability, quality of schooling, student motivation, and enrollment in academic coursework were important predictors of academic achievement. (SM)

This study (N=75) examined the effects of student ability, locus of control, and type of instructional control on performance and the motivational outcome of confidence. Results indicated that student ability and locus of control significantly influenced both performance and confidence, whereas type of instructional control did not affect outcomes. (Author/IAH)

This longitudinal panel study investigated the relationship between ability and achievement among elementary school children in Taiwan. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and policy implications. (Author/MT)

Research findings suggest that cheating is situationally specific. Subjects cheat more under low risk than under high risk conditions. Cheating does not appear to be related to academic ability. (CJ)

A study of seventh-, ninth-, and eleventh-grade students' ability to apply letter-sound correspondence to synthetic words indicates that, although by seventh grade, students have largely mastered letter-sound correspondences, low ability students do not approach the same mastery as average and high ability students until the eleventh grade. (JMF)

Although testing accommodations for standardized assessments are available for students with disabilities, interpretation remains challenging. The authors explored resilience to see if it could contribute to the interpretation of academic success for students who are deaf or hard of hearing or blind or have low vision. High school students (30 deaf, 11 blind) responded to the Resiliency Scales and a schoolspecific resilience survey. Student ratings were within 1 SD of those who were not deaf or blind; resilience was positively correlated with academic success (grade point average). Resilience information may contribute to the interpretation of academic success in students who are deaf or blind and may provide insight into potential interventions. This is the first time students who are deaf or blind have been assessed on a published measure of resilience. Results defy stereotypes and affirm that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing or blind or have low vision have more in common with the hearing and seeing world than is often recognized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors compare three teachers' adaptations and implementation of a lunar modeling lesson to explain marked differences in student learning outcomes on a spatial-scientific lunar assessment. They used a modified version of the Practices of Science Observation Protocol (P-SOP; Forbes, Biggers, & Zangori, 2013) to identify ways in which features of inquiry were emphasized in each classroom. Additionally, classroom communities of practice were categorized as task-based or practice-based (Riel & Polin, 2004). The authors found that student learning outcomes were related to the fidelity with which the teachers implemented the lesson. Teachers with higher P-SOP scores fostered more of a practice-based learning community than task-based one, which also paralleled greater student learning gains. Although the students' scores did not differ by teacher on the preassessment, they did differ significantly on the postassessment, indicating that the curricular choices and learning communities developed by the teachers impacted what students were able to learn. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Executive functioning (EF) is a strong predictor of children's and adolescents' academic performance. Although research indicates that EF can increase during childhood and adolescence, few studies have tracked the effect of EF on academic performance throughout the middle school grades. EF was measured at the end of Grades 6–9 through 21 teachers' and 22 teacher assistants' assessments of 322 adolescents from disadvantaged backgrounds who attended an urban, chartered middle/high school. Assessment of EF was done through the completion of the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). BRIEF global executive composite scores (GEC) predicted both current and future English/language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and Spanish annual grade point averages (GPAs). The effect of BRIEF GEC scores often overshadowed the effects of gender, poverty, and having an individual education plan; the other, non–BRIEF-related effects retained slightly more impact among teacher assistant–derived data than teacher-derived data. The strong relationships between BRIEF GEC scores and these GPAs also remained constant over these 4 years: There was little evidence that EF changed over the measured grades or that the relationship between EF and grades itself regularly changed. The findings indicate that EF scores during early middle grades can well predict academic performance in subsequent secondary-school grades. Although methodological constraints may have impeded the abilities of other factors (i.e., poverty) to be significantly related to GPAs, the effects of EF were strong and robust enough to prompt us to recommend its use to guide long-term, academic interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors sought to better understand the relationship between students participating in the Advanced Placement (AP) program and subsequent performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). Focusing on students graduating from U.S. public high schools in 2010, the authors used propensity scores to match junior year AP examinees in 3 subjects to similar students who did not take any AP exams in high school. Multilevel regression models with these matched samples demonstrate a mostly positive relationship between AP exam participation and senior year SAT performance, particularly for students who score a 3 or higher. Students who enter into the AP year with relatively lower initial achievement are predicted to perform slightly better on later SAT tests than students with similar initial achievement who do not participate in AP. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Utilizing latent transition analysis and multidimensional scaling growth analysis, the authors studied the emerging developmental trajectories in word literacy (i.e., word-reading competence) of a group of 1,503 kindergarteners. Specifically, 3 hypotheses with respect to growth patterns in word literacy from kindergarten to Grade 2 were examined: (a) children come into kindergarten with different word literacy levels, and emerging differences would be likely to remain stable over time; (b) the differences in word literacy latent status would lead to differences in word literacy trajectories over time; and (c) students with a low growth level would lead to lower achievement in reading achievement at a later time. The results of the dynamic analyses support the hypotheses and are discussed in the context of word literacy development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Examines the effects of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in arithmetic to the socioeconomic status (SES), aptitude, and gender differences of students in the United States. Levels of CAI on higher grade equivalent; Benefits of using CAI in schools; Effects of aptitude on CAI performance; Suggestions for the evaluation of the students' CIA gains based on testing intervals of longer periods.