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Background: Academic success is a measure of students' ability to attain their educational objectives, often assessed through regular evaluations or examinations. To establish effective policies and programs that align with academic accomplishments, conducting comprehensive data analysis is pivotal. Hence, this systematic review aimed to synthesize the factors impeding the academic achievements of Ethiopian students in higher education. Methods: A comprehensive review was conducted on studies involving Ethiopian university students from 2013 to 2022. The review encompassed 24 papers that were gathered from different databases like PubMed, Google Scholar, African Journals Online, Scopus, and Web of Science. Results: The findings of this research revealed that inadequate classroom environments, experiencing dysmenorrhea, and engaging in excessive social media usage were all linked to a decline in academic performance. Conversely, adopting healthy sleep habits, achieving high scores in entrance exams, and avoiding recent substance abuse were all factors positively influencing academic success. In addition, there was a positive correlation between academic excellence and being a health science college student and age range of 20 to 24 years old. Conclusion: To enhance academic performance, it is crucial to address the negative factors identified, such as inadequate classroom environments, dysmenorrhea, and excessive social media usage, while promoting positive factors like healthy sleep habits, high scores in exams, and avoiding substance abuse. Additionally, being a health science college student and belonging to the age range of 20 to 24 were found to be associated with academic excellence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the effects of parenting styles on academic performance and how unequal are these effects on secondary school students from different gender and socioeconomic status families constitute the theme of this paper. A cross-sectional and purposive sampling technique was adopted to gather information from a sample of 448 students on a Likert scale. Chi-square, Kendall's Tau-c tests and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to determine the extent of the relationship among the variables. Chi-square and Kendall's Tau-c (Tc) test results established that the socioeconomic status of the respondent's family explained variation in children's academic performance due to parenting style; however, no significant difference was observed in the academic performance of students based on gender. Furthermore, hierarchal multiple regression analysis established that the family's socioeconomic status, authoritative parenting, permissive parenting, the interaction of socioeconomic status and authoritative parenting, and the interaction of socioeconomic status and permissive parenting were significant predictors (P<0.05) of students' academic performance. These predictor variables explained 59.3 percent variation in the academic performance of children (R2 = 0.593). Results of hierarchal multiple regression analysis in this study ranked ordered the most significant predictors of the academic performance of children in the following order. Family socioeconomic status alone was the strongest predictor (β = 18.25), interaction of socioeconomic status and authoritative parenting was the second important predictor (β = 14.18), authoritative parenting alone was third in importance (β = 13.38), the interaction of socioeconomic status and permissive parenting stood at fourth place in importance (β = 11.46), and permissive parenting was fifth (β = 9.2) in influencing academic performance of children in the study area. Children who experienced authoritative parenting and were from higher socioeconomic status families perform better as compared to children who experienced authoritarian and permissive parenting and were from low socioeconomic status families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has identified that school absences harm children's academic achievement. However, this literature is focused on brief periods or single school years and does not consistently account for the dynamic nature of absences across multiple school years. This study examined dynamic trajectories of children's authorised and unauthorised absences throughout their compulsory school career in England. It investigated the consequences of these absence trajectories for children's achievement at the end of compulsory schooling. We analyse linked administrative data on children's absences and achievement from the National Pupil Database and survey data from the Millennium Cohort Study for a representative sample of children born in 2000/2001 in England (N = 7218). We used k-means clustering for longitudinal data to identify joint authorised-unauthorised absence trajectories throughout compulsory schooling and a regression-with-residuals approach to examine the link between absence trajectories and achievement. We identified five distinct absence trajectories: (1) 'Consistently Low Absences', (2) 'Consistently Moderate Authorised Absences', (3) 'Moderately Increasing Unauthorised Absences', (4) 'Strongly Increasing Unauthorised Absences', and (5) 'Strongly Increasing Authorised Absences'. We found substantial differences between trajectory groups in GCSE achievement, even when accounting for significant risk factors of school absences. Compared to 'Consistently Low Absences', 'Strongly Increasing Unauthorised Absences' reduced achievement by -1.23 to -1.48 standard deviations, while 'Strongly Increasing Authorised Absences' reduced achievement by -0.72 to -1.00 SD for our continuous outcomes. 'Moderately Increasing Unauthorised Absences' (-0.61 to -0.70 SD) and 'Consistently Moderate Authorised Absences' (-0.13 to -0.21 SD) also negatively affected achievement compared to 'Consistently Low Absences'. Our research underscores the critical importance of examining entire trajectories of absenteeism and differentiating between types of absences to fully grasp their associations with academic outcomes and design targeted interventions accordingly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to better understand the importance of a long-erased border between two empires that once partitioned Poland and its ongoing effect on regional educational achievement. Previous research has indicated that inherited norms towards education may explain the observed gap in the achievement of students in the former Austrian and Russian partitions of Poland. Findings suggest that although a gap in favour of the former Austrian partition does indeed exist in four school subjects, there is no convincing evidence of the causal effect of historically rooted norms on the achievements of today's students. If such an effect exists, it is probably indirect and works through the accumulated educational attainments of adult generations and quality of instruction rather than by directly influencing the attitudes of today's students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of visual art and other extracurricular activities to children's sustainable development is predominantly discussed in Western countries. Consequently, non-Western society could not cherish the benefit of visual art on their children's cognitive and non-cognitive skill development due to a lack of evidence that would revive the community, educators, and policy-makers' impressions about visual art activities, in addition to its amusement use. Thus, the present study adopted a cross-sectional study comprised of a large-scale survey (N = 1624) taken from the southwest part of China to assess the impact of out-of-school visual art activities on children's academic attainment across economically advantaged and disadvantaged children. Astonishingly, the study's findings shed light on current Chinese parents' dedication to purchasing out-of-school activities regardless of their social class difference; notwithstanding, lower-class parents ought to learn that spending time with their children during their activities is more beneficial. The study's implication calls for curriculum policy reform involving aesthetic education and expanding community youth centers for different extracurricular activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite several attempts to provide a definite pattern regarding the effects of personality traits on performance in higher education, the debate over the nature of the relationship is far from being conclusive. The use of different subject pools and sample sizes, as well as the use of identification strategies that either do not adequately account for selection bias or are unable to establish causality between measures of academic performance and noncognitive skills, are possible sources of heterogeneity. This paper investigates the impact of the Big Five traits, as measured before the beginning of the academic year, on the grade point average achieved in the first year after the enrolment, taking advantage of a unique and large dataset from a cohort of Italian students in all undergraduate programs containing detailed information on student and parental characteristics. Relying on a robust strategy to credibly satisfy the conditional independence assumption, we find that higher levels of conscientiousness and openness to experience positively affect student score. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introductory biology for majors is one of the most consequential courses in STEM, with annual enrollments of several hundred thousand students in the United States alone. To support increased student success and meet current and projected needs for qualified STEM professionals, it will be crucial to redesign majors biology by using explicit learning objectives (LOs) that can be aligned with assessments and active learning exercises. When a course is designed in this way, students have opportunities for the practice and support they need to learn, and instructors can collect the evidence they need to evaluate whether students have mastered key concepts and skills. Following an iterative process of review, revision, and evaluation, which included input from over 800 biology instructors around the country, we produced a nationally endorsed set of lesson-level LOs for a year-long introductory biology for major's course. These LOs are granular enough to support individual class sessions and provide instructors with a framework for course design that is directly connected to the broad themes in Vision and Change and the general statements in the BioCore and BioSkills Guides. Instructors can implement backward course design by aligning these community endorsed LOs with daily and weekly learning activities and with formative and summative assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Academic achievement is crucial for the social and economic development of young people and determines the quality of education of a nation. According to different studies, food insecurity adversely affects children's health, nutrition, and subsequent decline in academic performance by impairing students' ability to learn and therefore affects the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. To provide evidence on the association of food insecurity with academic performance is necessary. The current study assessed household food insecurity and its association with academic performance among primary school adolescents in Hargeisa City, Somaliland. Methods: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 630 primary school adolescents from December 2021 to March 2022. Students were selected using a multistage sampling technique. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on household food security and socio-demographic variables and entered into Epi data version 3.1. The data was exported to SPSS version 26 for descriptive and multivariable logistic regression analysis. Odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals together with p <0.05 were utilized to declare statistical significance. Results: The prevalence of food insecurity among school adolescents was 59.21%. The majority (55.40%) of the school adolescents were poor academic performers. The frequency of adolescents' poor academic performance was significantly high (71.05%) among food insecure households (P < 0.001) as compared to their counterparts whose households were food secure (32.68%). On multivariable analysis, household food insecurity (AOR = 5.24, 95%CI = 3.17–8.65), school absenteeism (AOR = 3.49, 95%CI = 2.20–5.53), spending >2h/day watching TV / screen media use (AOR = 9.08, 95%CI = 4.81–17.13), high and middle wealth households (AOR = 0.51, 95%CI = 0.30–0.88) (AOR = 0.40, 95%CI = 0.21–0.76) and habitual breakfast consumption (AOR = 0.08, 95%CI = 0.03–0.20) had shown statistically significant association with academic performance among primary school adolescents. Conclusion: The present study revealed that household food insecurity has a high association with adolescents' academic performance. The prevalence of food insecurity is moderate, based on the household food insecurity access scale. The results indicate the need for policies and programs intended to improve household income by developing income-generation programs for lower-income families and enhance feeding programs such as national school lunch and school feeding across schools in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participating in mentored research is an enormous benefit to undergraduate students. These immersive experiences can dramatically improve retention and completion rates, especially for students from traditionally underserved populations in STEM disciplines. Scientists typically do not receive any formal training in management or group dynamics before taking on the role of a lab head. Thus, peer forums and shared wisdom are crucial for developing the vision and skills involved with mentorship and leading a successful research lab. Faculty at any institution can help improve student outcomes and the success of their labs by thoughtfully including undergraduates in their research programs. Moreover, faculty at primarily undergraduate institutions have special challenges that are not often acknowledged or addressed in public discussions about best practices for running a lab. Here, we present 10 simple rules for fostering a successful undergraduate research lab. While much of the advice herein is applicable to mentoring undergraduates in any setting, it is especially tailored to the special circumstances found at primarily undergraduate institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on students' perceptions and expectations during physical education (PE) online learning remain scarce. Centered on self-determination theory, the present cross-sectional study aims to identify gender differences and predictors affecting motivation, psychological needs satisfaction (PNS), and academic achievement during PE online learning. Data were collected from Saudi students' (N = 308, 161 females and 147 males) responses to the PE autonomy, relatedness, competence, and motivation questionnaires. Welch's t-test for unequal sample sizes, multiple linear regression, and binary logistic regression were used to compare means and to predict the relationships between the independent and dependent variables. The results showed higher autonomy and competence perceptions in female than in male students, but no differences were observed in relatedness. Female students presented higher intrinsic motivations, lower amotivation perceptions than males. However, no gender differences were recorded in extrinsic motivation. Students with less experience in online learning and weak grade point averages (GPAs) are more susceptible to having a high level of amotivation. Gender, GPA, and prior experience with online learning are the common predictors for all PNS and amotivation, while GPA and prior experience with online learning are the determinants of intrinsic motivation. GPA is affected by prior experience with online learning, autonomy, competence, intrinsic motivation, and amotivation. Therefore, teachers are encouraged to adapt their didactic-pedagogical behaviors during PE online learning according to students' motivation and autonomy perceptions. Structuring teaching activities with more individualized support for autonomy, competence, intrinsic motivation, and students' online skills/competencies ensures better learning efficiency and academic achievements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having a secure sense of belonging at school supports students' academic achievement and well-being. However, little research has examined how students' personalities relate to their feelings of school belonging. We address this gap in the literature by leveraging data from a large sample of first-year college students (N = 4,753) from a diverse set of North American colleges and universities (N = 12). We found that both extraversion and agreeableness were positively associated with belonging, while neuroticism was negatively associated with belonging. In an exploratory analysis, we examined differences between large and small schools. Students who were more extraverted, less neurotic, and less open were more likely to attend large schools. Additionally, the association between extraversion and belonging was stronger for students at large schools. These findings advance our understanding of who comes to feel like they belong at college and how school context may influence these relationships. We emphasize the need for continued research on the relationship between personality and belonging. Additionally, we highlight the implications of these results for higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Personality traits and social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) skills share the same behavioral referents, but whereas traits refer to a person's typical or average performance, skills refer to their capacity or maximal performance. Given their shared behavioral foundations, an important question to address is whether personality traits and SEB skills independently predict important outcomes. In this study (N = 642), we examined whether subscales of the Behavioral, Emotional, and Social Skills Inventory (BESSI), a measure of SEB skills, provided incremental validity in the prediction of the ACT composite score, an important academic outcome for American adolescents, over the Big Five personality traits. Consistent with our expectations, on average, SEB skills showed stronger associations with ACT achievement scores than personality traits. Moreover, SEB skills added incremental validity over and above personality traits in predicting ACT achievement scores. The findings reinforce the importance of conceptually distinguishing and measuring traits and skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative problem-solving (CPS) competency is critical for 21st century students. However, reports from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2015 have revealed significant deficiencies in this competency among young students globally, indicating a critical need for the cultivation of CPS skills. Therefore, it is essential for educators and researchers to examine the factors that influence CPS competency and understand the potential role of CPS in secondary education. The present study aims to investigate the relationship between collaboration dispositions and students' CPS competency as well as the relationships of CPS competency and inquiry-based science instruction (IBSI) with science achievement using the PISA 2015 data. A total of 408,148 students from 52 countries and economies (i.e., regions) were included in our analysis. Unlike most previous studies that only investigated one country at a time and neglected the multilevel data structure of PISA, this study provided a global view through adopting multilevel modeling to account for the cluster effect at the school and country levels. Our findings revealed that valuing relationship was positively associated with CPS, whereas valuing teamwork was negatively associated with CPS. Furthermore, CPS competency was found to be a dominant and positive predictor of science achievement among all study variables, underscoring the importance of integrating CPS into teaching practices to promote student success in science. Additionally, different IBSI activities show varying relationships with science achievement, indicating that caution should be taken when recommending any specific practices associated with IBSI to teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discussed the issue of low PA levels among school-aged children and highlights the promising approach of school-based interventions, including physically active learning (PAL), to increase PA levels. The study aimed to co-design and to assess the implementation of a PAL program for 8 weeks in 4 elementary classrooms (82 students and 7 teachers), emphasizing the potential of integrating PA with academic learning and the importance of co-designing programs with teachers to maximize their effectiveness. Technology was found to support PAL practices in promoting PA and academic achievement. The study underscores the need for further research to explore the societal implications of PAL programs, including their potential to improve the health and well-being of children while promoting positive academic outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recess provides a key physical activity opportunity for students in school, yet a wide range of recess requirements exist. To design optimal recess policies, the effect of recess on students' educational outcomes must be better understood. Therefore, the purpose of this mixed-method systematic review is to identify and systematically evaluate research on the effects of recess on student educational outcomes, including behavior, cognitive performance and academic achievement. Methods: A systematic search of the literature in ERIC (EBSCO), ProQuest Central, PsycINFO, Teacher Reference Center, MEDLINE Complete (EBSCO), and CINAHL Complete was performed through September 2022. Data was extracted from quantitative studies, and reported themes with exemplar quotes were extracted from qualitative studies. The Mixed Method Appraisal Tool (MMAT) was used to assess study quality. Results: The search identified 932 articles, of which 13 were included in the review, including 8 quantitative and 5 qualitative studies. Eleven studies were conducted in the United States, and reported sample size of studies ranged from 12 to 11,624. Studies found mixed effects on student behavior, discipline referrals and academic achievement. Qualitative studies reported multiple benefits of recess including increased focus, improved problem solving and academic achievement. Conclusions: Overall, evidence suggests positive benefits for behavior and either positive or null benefits of recess on academic achievement. However, evidence is limited by non-controlled study designs and diversity in outcome assessments. Additional quantitative evidence is needed to convince policymakers of the specific evidence supporting recess, but also to advise on the optimal recess policies and practices to improve student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the mediating effect of personality traits in the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and student academic performance. The sample comprised 175 students from a top-ranked Tamil Nadu, India university. Data was collected using a survey questionnaire as the research instrument. A descriptive research design was employed to understand the variables under investigation comprehensively. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and SPSS v25 was utilized as the statistical analysis tool. This study used the Theory of Planned Behaviour as a theoretical framework to explore the mediating effect of personality traits in the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and academic performance among university students. The study's findings revealed essential insights into the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions, personality traits, and academic performance. The results showed that personality traits significantly mediate the relationship between entrepreneurial intentions and academic performance. This finding suggests that a student's personality traits influence the impact of entrepreneurial intentions on academic performance. Furthermore, the study found that while entrepreneurial intentions did not have a significant direct effect on academic performance, they did have a substantial indirect effect through personality traits. This indicates that personality traits act as a crucial mechanism through which entrepreneurial intentions can influence academic performance among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting student performance automatically is of utmost importance, due to the substantial volume of data within educational databases. Educational data mining (EDM) devises techniques to uncover insights from data originating in educational settings. Artificial intelligence (AI) can mine educational data to predict student performance and provide measures to help students avoid failing and learn better. Learning platforms complement traditional learning settings by analyzing student performance, which can help reduce the chance of student failure. Existing methods for student performance prediction in educational data mining faced challenges such as limited accuracy, imbalanced data, and difficulties in feature engineering. These issues hindered effective adaptability and generalization across diverse educational contexts. This study proposes a machine learning-based system with deep convoluted features for the prediction of students' academic performance. The proposed framework is employed to predict student academic performance using balanced as well as, imbalanced datasets using the synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE). In addition, the performance is also evaluated using the original and deep convoluted features. Experimental results indicate that the use of deep convoluted features provides improved prediction accuracy compared to original features. Results obtained using the extra tree classifier with convoluted features show the highest classification accuracy of 99.9%. In comparison with the state-of-the-art approaches, the proposed approach achieved higher performance. This research introduces a powerful AI-driven system for student performance prediction, offering substantial advancements in accuracy compared to existing approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergraduate students studying Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) often fail to persist in critical "gateway" courses, resulting in students leaving the STEM pathway. Community college students leave STEM pathways at higher rates than students at universities. Implementation of a program designed to engage community college STEM students and faculty in a community of support was associated with increased persistence in STEM gateway courses and associate degree completion. Program elements included support staff, a STEM study room with peer tutors, faculty advisors, and transfer assistance. Over seven years, 415 students joined this opt-in support program. The majority of students in this program were economically disadvantaged and many were nontraditional college students. Using institutional data we tested the hypothesis that participation in this program was associated with increased student success and persistence in STEM courses and at the college. The mean GPA for students in the program in the ten courses with the highest STEM enrollments was higher (2.89) than that for other students (2.76). Quarter-to-quarter persistence was 87% for program students compared to 67% for non-program students in a matched student population. In STEM gateway courses, program students had between 1.2x to 3.5x greater likelihood than non-program students of progressing to precalculus-2 controlling for first-attempt GPA in precalculus-1. Similar persistence patterns were observed for other gateway STEM courses. Observed persistence for students in the program was higher than comparable groups of students, including persistence for those who experienced early failure in STEM courses. These data suggest students should be supported through early failure to enable persistence in critical STEM sequences, especially in gateway Math and Chemistry courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grade point average in "other" courses (GPAO) is an increasingly common measure used to control for prior academic performance and to predict future academic performance. In previous work, there are two distinct approaches to calculating GPAO, one based on only courses taken concurrently (term GPAO) and one based on all previous courses taken (cumulative GPAO). To our knowledge, no one has studied whether these methods for calculating the GPAO result in equivalent analyses and conclusions. As researchers often use one definition or the other without comment on why that choice was made, if the two calculations of GPAO are different, researchers might be inducing systematic error into their results and publishing potentially inaccurate conclusions. We looked at more than 3,700 courses at a public, research-intensive university over a decade and found limited evidence that the choice of GPAO calculation affects the conclusions. At most, one in seven courses could be affected. Further analysis suggests that there may be situations where one form of GPAO may be preferred over the other when it comes to examining inequity in courses or predicting student grades. However, we did not find sufficient evidence to universally recommend one form of GPAO over the other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Depressive symptoms have been shown to be negatively related to academic achievement, as measured by grade point average (GPA). Grit, or the passion for and the ability to persevere toward a goal despite adversity, has been linked to GPA. Thus, grit may potentially buffer against the negative effects of depressive symptoms in relation to academic achievement. However, social desirability may might impact the validity of grit when assessed by self-report measures, so how these constructs are all related is unknown. The current study explored the relationship between depressive symptoms, grit, social desirability, and GPA among University students (N = 520) in the United States using a cross-sectional design. We conducted a moderated-moderation model to examine how social desirability moderated the relationship between depressive symptoms, grit, and GPA. Findings replicated prior work and indicated negative relationships between depressive symptoms and social desirability with GPA and a positive relationship, albeit non-significant, between grit and GPA. However, results suggest that grit did not moderate the relationship between depressive symptoms and GPA when including social desirability in the model. Future research should investigate this relationship in a longitudinal setting to further examine how grit and depressive symptoms influence one another in academic domains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent longitudinal research using the random-intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM), which disentangles the within and between variances, has afforded greater insights than previously possible. Moreover, the impact of reading enjoyment and reading for fun on subsequent school achievement, and vice versa, has only recently been scrutinized through this lens. This study's longitudinal data (grades 3, 5, 7, and 9) comprised 2,716 Australian students aged 8 to 16 years, with school reading achievement measured by the National Assessment Program: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). The RI-CLPMs' within-person effects were not trivial, accounting for approximately two-thirds and one-third of the variance in enjoyment/fun and achievement, respectively, with between-person effects accounting for the balance. Here, we highlight a reversing direction of reading achievement's cross-lagged effect on subsequent reading enjoyment but note that the evidence for this over a reciprocal directionality was marginal. In mid-primary school, achievement at grade 3 predicted enjoyment at grade 5 more than the converse (i.e. enjoyment at grade 3 to achievement at grade 5). By secondary school, however, the directionality had flipped: enjoyment at grade 7 predicted achievement at grade 9 more so than the reverse. We termed this pattern the skill-leisure-skill directionality (S-L-S), as it concurred with the only two former studies that modelled equivalent instruments with the RI-CLPM. This model's cross-lagged estimates represent deviations relative to a student's average (i.e., within-person effect). In other words, students who enjoyed reading more (or less) in grade 7 achieved reading scores that were higher (or lower) than their average in grade 9. The implications for reading pedagogy are further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequality research has found that a college education can ameliorate intergenerational disparities in economic outcomes. Much attention has focused on how family resources impact academic achievement, though research continues to identify how mechanisms related to social class and structural contexts drive college attendance patterns. Using the Education Longitudinal Study and multilevel modeling techniques, this study uniquely highlights how extracurricular activities relate to family socioeconomic status and school contexts to influence college attendance. Altogether, sport and non-sport extracurricular participation, college expectations, and academic achievement scores, situated within unique school contexts that are driven by residential social class segregation, contribute to the cumulative advantages of children from higher SES families. The results from this study show that these cumulative advantages are positively associated with college attendance and an increased likelihood of attending a more selective school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides the profiles and success predictions of students considering data before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a field experiment of 396 students and more than 7400 instances, we have analyzed students' performance considering the temporal distribution of autonomous learning during courses from 2016/2017 to 2020/2021. After applying unsupervised learning, results show 3 main profiles from the clusters obtained in the simulations: students who work continuously, those who do it in the last-minute, and those with a low performance in the whole autonomous learning. We have found that the highest success ratio is related to students that work in a continuous basis. However, last-minute working is not necessarily linked to failure. We have also found that students' marks can be predicted successfully taking into account the whole data sets. However, predictions are worse when removing data from the month before the final exam. These predictions are useful to prevent students' wrong learning strategies, and to detect malpractices such as copying. We have done all these analyses taking into account the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, founding that students worked in a more continuous basis in the confinement. This effect was still present one year after. Finally, We have also included an analysis of the techniques that could be more effective to keep in a future non-pandemic scenario the good habits that were detected in the confinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional teaching practices in undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses have failed to support student success, causing many students to leave STEM fields and disproportionately affecting women and students of color. Although much is known about effective STEM teaching practices, many faculty continue to adhere to traditional methods, such as lecture. In this study, we investigated the factors that affect STEM faculty members' instructional decisions about evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs). We performed a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with faculty members from the Colleges of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Engineering who took part in a professional development program to support the use of EBIPs by STEM faculty at the university. We used an ecological model to guide our investigation and frame the results. Faculty identified a variety of personal, social, and contextual factors that influenced their instructional decision-making. Personal factors included attitudes, beliefs, and self-efficacy. Social factors included the influence of students, colleagues, and administration. Contextual factors included resources, time, and student characteristics. These factors interact with each other in meaningful ways that highlight the hyper-local social contexts that exist within departments and sub-department cultures, the importance of positive feedback from students and colleagues when implementing EBIPs, and the need for support from the administration for faculty who are in the process of changing their teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying can be very stressful leading to a decreased academic efficacy. In this exploratory longitudinal study, we analysed a wide range of students' leisure activities and their effects on students' academic efficacy. Further, we identified the personality types of students who choose specific leisure activities as a strategy to stress reduction and determined how the use of leisure behaviours affects academic performance among students with different personality types. Students were asked about their personality (Neo-FFI), leisure time behaviour (self-generated items), and academic efficacy (MBI-SS) at three measurement points. Multivariate regression analyses were applied to estimate the moderation effects. In total, 331 students were included in the study. Social activities were found to have a direct effect on academic efficacy. The students' personality moderated the effects of leisure behaviour on efficacy, suggesting a negative effect on academic efficacy for some personality traits. Since our results suggest that the effectiveness of stress management through the use of leisure behaviour depends on the students' personality, universities offering stress management services should pay attention to precise targeting to attract the specific students who might benefit the most from the offered services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A minority of children in the United Kingdom meet the recommended physical activity guidelines. One initiative which has been introduced to try and increase the physical activity levels of school children is The Daily Mile™ (TDM). The aim of this review was to determine the effect of TDM on children's physical activity levels, physical health, mental health, wellbeing, academic performance and cognitive function. Methods: Six databases were systematically searched from TDM's inception (2012) to 30th June 2022. Studies were included if they involved school-aged children (aged 4–12 years), taking part in TDM and measured at least one pre-defined outcome. Results: Thirteen studies were included from the 123 studies retrieved. Longer-term participation in TDM was found to increase moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and physical fitness. None of the studies reported a significant change in Body Mass Index or academic performance. An acute bout of TDM was not found to improve cognitive function, however one good-quality study reported that longer-term participation in TDM increased visual spatial working memory. There was evidence from one fair-quality design study that TDM can improve mental health in the short term. There were no significant effects on wellbeing, however scores on self-perceptions improved mainly for children with low baseline self-perceptions. Conclusion: There is evidence to show that TDM can increase physical activity and physical fitness. However, higher-quality research, with adequate participant randomisation and longer-term, post-intervention follow-up is needed to ensure that any changes accurately reflect the components of TDM and are sustained beyond an intervention time frame. Policy recommendations of TDM increasing PA levels in the short term are supported by the evidence in this review. However, long-term improvement on mental health, wellbeing, academic performance and cognitive function requires further good-to excellent quality research. Promisingly, several protocol articles that include randomised controlled trials with long term follow-up have been published. These higher-quality design studies may provide a stronger evidence-base on the effects of TDM on children's health and should underpin future recommendations in public health policy. Systematic review registration: PROSPERO CRD42022340303. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) variant named Elastic Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm (EGWO) with shrinking, resilient surrounding, and weighted candidate mechanisms. Then, the proposed EGWO is used to optimize the weights and biases of Multi-Layer Perception (MLP), and the EGWO-MLP model for predicting student achievement is thus obtained. The training and verification of the EGWO-MLP prediction model are conducted based on the thirty attributes from the University of California (UCI) Machine Learning Repository dataset's student performance dataset, including family features and personal characteristics. For the Mathematics (Mat.) subject achievement prediction, the EGWO-MLP model outperforms one model's prediction accuracy, and the standard deviation possesses the stable ability to predict student achievement. And for the Portuguese (Por.) subject, the EGWO-MLP outperforms three models' Mathematics (Mat.) subject achievement prediction through the training process and takes first place through the testing process. The results show that the EGWO-MLP model has made fewer test errors, indicating that EGWO can effectively feedback weights and biases due to the strong exploration and local stagnation avoidance. And the EGWO-MLP model is feasible for predicting student achievement. The study can provide reference for improving school teaching programs and enhancing teachers' teaching quality and students' learning effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value-added (VA) models are used for accountability purposes and quantify the value a teacher or a school adds to their students' achievement. If VA scores lack stability over time and vary across outcome domains (e.g., mathematics and language learning), their use for high-stakes decision making is in question and could have detrimental real-life implications: teachers could lose their jobs, or a school might receive less funding. However, school-level stability over time and variation across domains have rarely been studied together. In the present study, we examined the stability of VA scores over time for mathematics and language learning, drawing on representative, large-scale, and longitudinal data from two cohorts of standardized achievement tests in Luxembourg (N = 7,016 students in 151 schools). We found that only 34–38% of the schools showed stable VA scores over time with moderate rank correlations of VA scores from 2017 to 2019 of r =.34 for mathematics and r =.37 for language learning. Although they showed insufficient stability over time for high-stakes decision making, school VA scores could be employed to identify teaching or school practices that are genuinely effective—especially in heterogeneous student populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research suggests that disruptive events, such as shocks induced by family instability, neighborhood violence, or relocation, tend to be detrimental for children's educational outcomes, but findings are heterogeneous depending on the type of event. Limited evidence is available on how shocks resulting from immigration enforcement impact educational outcomes among targeted minority groups. This study contributes to the literature by assessing how a policy implementation in the US–Secure Communities–is related to the school district level achievement of Hispanic students. The Secure Communities program is a national level immigration enforcement policy that was rolled out on a county-by-county basis. The program has increased the risk of deportation and led to rising apprehension and insecurity among undocumented migrants and the wider Hispanic community. Using detailed information on the implementation of Secure Communities, data from the Stanford Education Data Archive, and the Current Population Survey, this study estimates dynamic difference in differences exploiting regional variation in the timing of the policy change to assess its impact on educational outcomes. Results show that the activation of Secure Communities is negatively associated with Hispanic students' subsequent English language arts achievement, while white and black students' achievement does not change. Findings further suggest that Hispanic students living in the South, rural areas, and areas with high proportions of likely undocumented migrants are disproportionately impacted by the program's activation. Whereas, Hispanic students in sanctuary jurisdictions, which reduce the likelihood of deportation, are not impacted. These findings indicate that immigration enforcement can have negative consequences for educational and social inequalities in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of influential linguistic analyses hold that African American English (AAE) has no verbal–s, the–s that, for example, turns drink into drinks in more mainstream English varieties.On such accounts, sentences like Mary drinks coffee are ungrammatical in AAE. Previous behavioral studies suggest that in addition to being ungrammatical, AAE speaking children find these sentences cognitively demanding, and that their presence in mathematical reasoning tests can depress scores. Until now, however, no online sentence processing study nor investigation of neurophysiological markers has been done to support these findings. Aimed at addressing this gap in the literature, the auditory ERP experiment described herein revealed two different processes associated with AAE speaking 2nd graders listening to this type of sentence: a morphosyntactic structure building problem, reflected in a bilateral early anterior-central negativity; and an increase in working memory load, indicated by a bilateral late long-lasting anterior-central negativity. Study participants also took an orally administered test of math word problems. Consistent with previous findings, results showed they answered fewer questions correctly when those questions contained verbal–s than when they did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the validity of path models in which interpersonal motivation positively predicts behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement, and behavioral engagement positively predicts superior performance in collaborative learning in university classes. The path model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results of the analyses showed that weak positive paths from identified regulation to all three aspects of engagement were substantial. In addition, a weak positive path from intrinsic motivation was significant for emotional engagement. For performance, the weak positive path from behavioral engagement was statistically significant. Based on these results, the implications of the motivation theory and practice in higher education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the cultural characteristics of subcontinent students and maps the characteristics to the challenges to their academic success. Interviews of fifty staff from an Australian university indicated that both teaching and professional staff held similar views on the characteristics of subcontinent students. Significant characteristics included respect for teachers, the need for continual guidance, a tendency to group, and a propensity to negotiate. The identified challenges to the academic success of subcontinent students were a lack of engagement with staff, inadequate critical thinking, poor communication skills, academic integrity issues and unrealistic expectations. Armed with a better understanding of the subcontinent student cohort, this study encourages teaching and professional staff to find ways to develop a more inclusive educational environment that builds students up for success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds (e.g., Black, Indigenous, and people of color [BIPOC], members of the Deaf community, people with disabilities, members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, from low-income backgrounds, or underrepresented genders) continue to face exclusion and marginalization in higher education. In this piece, authored and edited by a diverse group of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) scholars, we present 10 simple rules for succeeding as an underrepresented STEM undergraduate student, illuminating the "hidden curriculum" of STEM specifically as it relates to the underrepresented undergraduate experience. Our rules begin by encouraging students to embrace their own distinct identities and scientific voices and explain how students can overcome challenges unique to underrepresented students throughout their undergraduate degrees. These rules are derived from a combination of our own experiences navigating our undergraduate STEM degrees and the growing body of literature on improving success for underrepresented students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence-based teaching practices are associated with improved student academic performance. However, these practices encompass a wide range of activities and determining which type, intensity or duration of activity is effective at improving student exam performance has been elusive. To address this shortcoming, we used a previously validated classroom observation tool, Practical Observation Rubric to Assess Active Learning (PORTAAL) to measure the presence, intensity, and duration of evidence-based teaching practices in a retrospective study of upper and lower division biology courses. We determined the cognitive challenge of exams by categorizing all exam questions obtained from the courses using Bloom's Taxonomy of Cognitive Domains. We used structural equation modeling to correlate the PORTAAL practices with exam performance while controlling for cognitive challenge of exams, students' GPA at start of the term, and students' demographic factors. Small group activities, randomly calling on students or groups to answer questions, explaining alternative answers, and total time students were thinking, working with others or answering questions had positive correlations with exam performance. On exams at higher Bloom's levels, students explaining the reasoning underlying their answers, students working alone, and receiving positive feedback from the instructor also correlated with increased exam performance. Our study is the first to demonstrate a correlation between the intensity or duration of evidence-based PORTAAL practices and student exam performance while controlling for Bloom's level of exams, as well as looking more specifically at which practices correlate with performance on exams at low and high Bloom's levels. This level of detail will provide valuable insights for faculty as they prioritize changes to their teaching. As we found that multiple PORTAAL practices had a positive association with exam performance, it may be encouraging for instructors to realize that there are many ways to benefit students' learning by incorporating these evidence-based teaching practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numeracy is of critical importance for scholastic success and modern-day living, but the precise mechanisms that drive its development are poorly understood. Here we used novel experimental training methods to begin to investigate the role of symbols in the development of numeracy in preschool-aged children. We assigned pre-school children in the U.S. and Italy (N = 215; Mean age = 49.15 months) to play one of five versions of a computer-based numerical comparison game for two weeks. The different versions of the game were equated on basic features of gameplay and demands but systematically varied in numerical content. Critically, some versions included non-symbolic numerical comparisons only, while others combined non-symbolic numerical comparison with symbolic aids of various types. Before and after training we assessed four components of early numeracy: counting proficiency, non-symbolic numerical comparison, one-to-one correspondence, and arithmetic set transformation. We found that overall children showed improvement in most of these components after completing these short trainings. However, children trained on numerical comparisons with symbolic aids made larger gains on assessments of one-to-one correspondence and arithmetic transformation compared to children whose training involved non-symbolic numerical comparison only. Further exploratory analyses suggested that, although there were no major differences between children trained with verbal symbols (e.g., verbal counting) and non-verbal visuo-spatial symbols (i.e., abacus counting), the gains in one-to-one correspondence may have been driven by abacus training, while the gains in non-verbal arithmetic transformations may have been driven by verbal training. These results provide initial evidence that the introduction of symbols may contribute to the emergence of numeracy by enhancing the capacity for thinking about exact equality and the numerical effects of set transformations. More broadly, this study provides an empirical basis to motivate further focused study of the processes by which children's mastery of symbols influences children's developing mastery of numeracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the pending implementation of the Closing the Gap 2020 recommendations, there is an urgent need to better understand the contributing factors of, and pathways to positive educational outcomes for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. This deeper understanding is particularly important in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, in which the majority of Aboriginal children lived in remote communities and have language backgrounds other than English (i.e. 75%). Methods: This study linked the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to the attendance data (i.e. government preschool and primary schools) and Year 3 National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the pathway from self-regulation and executive function (SR-EF) at age 5 to early academic achievement (i.e. Year 3 reading/numeracy at age 8) for 3,199 NT children. Result: The study confirms the expected importance of SR-EF for all children but suggests the different pathways for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. For non-Aboriginal children, there was a significant indirect effect of SR-EF (β = 0.38, p<0.001) on early academic achievement, mediated by early literacy/numeracy skills (at age 5). For Aboriginal children, there were significant indirect effects of SR-EF (β = 0.19, p<0.001) and preschool attendance (β = 0.20, p<0.001), mediated by early literacy/numeracy skills and early primary school attendance (i.e. Transition Years to Year 2 (age 5–7)). Conclusion: This study highlights the need for further investigation and development of culturally, linguistically and contextually responsive programs and policies to support SR-EF skills in the current Australian education context. There is a pressing need to better understand how current policies and programs enhance children and their families' sense of safety and support to nurture these skills. This study also confirms the critical importance of school attendance for improved educational outcomes of Aboriginal children. However, the factors contributing to non-attendance are complex, hence the solutions require multi-sectoral collaboration in place-based design for effective implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While past empirical studies have explored associations between types of primary and secondary schools and student academic achievement, outcomes beyond academic performance remain less well-understood. Using longitudinal data from a cohort of children (N = 12,288, mean age = 14.56 years) of nurses, this study examined associations between the types of schools participants attended in adolescence and a wide range of subsequent psychological well-being, social engagement, character strengths, mental health, health behavior and physical health outcomes. Results in this sample suggested little difference between attending private independent schools and public schools across outcomes in young adulthood. There were, however, notable differences in subsequent outcomes comparing homeschooling and public schools, and possibly some evidence comparing religious schools and public schools. Specifically, there was some evidence that attending religious schools versus public schools was associated with a higher likelihood of frequent religious service attendance and becoming registered voters, a lower risk of overweight/obese, fewer lifetime sexual partners, and a higher risk of subsequently being binge drinkers; however, these associations were not robust to correction for multiple testing. Homeschooling compared with public schooling was associated with subsequently more frequent volunteering (ß = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.15, 0.52), greater forgiveness (ß = 0.31, 95% CI = 0.16, 0.46), and more frequent religious service attendance (Risk Ratio [RR] = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.27, 1.80), and possibly also with greater purpose in life, less marijuana use, and fewer lifetime sexual partners, but negatively associated with college degree attainment (RR = 0.77, 95% CI: 0.67, 0.88) and possibly with greater risk of posttraumatic stress disorder. These results may encourage education stakeholders to consider a wider range of outcomes beyond academic performance in decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by the self-determination theory of psychology, we investigate how simple school practices can forge students' engagement with the academic aspect of school life. We carried out a large-scale preregistered randomized field experiment with a crossover design, involving all the students of the University of Szeged in Hungary. Our intervention consisted of an automated encouragement message that praised students' past achievements and signaled trust in their success. The treated students received encouragement messages before their exam via two channels: e-mail and SMS message. The control students did not receive any encouragement. Our primary analysis compared the treated and control students' end-of-semester exam grades, obtained from the university's registry. Our secondary analysis explored the difference between the treated and control students' self-efficacy, motivation, and test anxiety, obtained from an online survey before students' exams. We did not find an average treatment effect on students' exam grades. However, in the subsample of those who answered the endline survey, the treated students reported higher self-efficacy than the control students. The treatment affected students' motivation before their first exam—but not before their second—and did not affect students' test anxiety. Our results indicate that automated encouragement messages sent shortly before exams do not boost students' exam grades, but they do increase self-efficacy. These results contribute to understanding the self-efficacy mechanism through which future encouragement campaigns might exert their effect. We conclude that encouraging students and raising their self-efficacy might create a school climate that better engages students with the academic aspect of school life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]