College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a ...4-year degree (continuing-generation students). In the study reported here, we tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior college students' real-life stories, we conducted a difference-education intervention with incoming students about how their diverse backgrounds can shape what they experience in college. Compared with a standard intervention that provided similar stories of college adjustment without highlighting students' different backgrounds, the difference-education intervention eliminated the social-class achievement gap by increasing first-generation students' tendency to seek out college resources (e.g., meeting with professors) and, in turn, improving their end-of-year grade point averages. The difference-education intervention also improved the college transition for all students on numerous psychosocial outcomes (e.g., mental health and engagement).
The underrepresentation of racial minorities and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines is a national concern. Goal theory provides a useful framework from ...which to understand issues of underrepresentation. We followed a large sample of high-achieving African American and Latino undergraduates in STEM disciplines attending 38 institutions of higher education in the United States over 3 academic years. We report on the science-related environmental factors and person factors that influence the longitudinal regulation of goal orientations. Further, we examine how goal orientations in turn influence distal academic outcomes such as performance and persistence in STEM. Using SEM-based parallel process latent growth curve modeling, we found that (a) engagement in undergraduate research was the only factor that buffered underrepresented students against an increase in performance-avoidance goals over time; (b) growth in scientific self-identity exhibited a strong positive effect on growth in task and performance-approach goals over time; (c) only task goals positively influenced students' cumulative grade point average, over and above baseline grade point average; and (d) performance-avoidance goals predicted student attrition from the STEM pipeline. We discuss the implications of these findings for underrepresented students in STEM disciplines.
John Ogbu has studied minority education from a comparative perspective for over 30 years. The study reported in this book--jointly sponsored by the community and the school district in Shaker ...Heights, Ohio--focuses on the academic performance of Black American students. Not only do these students perform less well than White students at every social class level, but also less well than immigrant minority students, including Black immigrant students. Furthermore, both middle-class Black students in suburban school districts, as well as poor Black students in inner-city schools are not doing well. Ogbu's analysis draws on data from observations, formal and informal interviews, and statistical and other data. He offers strong empirical evidence to support the cross-class existence of the problem.
The book is organized in four parts:
*Part I provides a description of the twin problems the study addresses--the gap between Black and White students in school performance and the low academic engagement of Black students; a review of conventional explanations; an alternative perspective; and the framework for the study.
*Part II is an analysis of societal and school factors contributing to the problem, including race relations, Pygmalion or internalized White beliefs and expectations, levelling or tracking, the roles of teachers, counselors, and discipline.
* Community factors --the focus of this study--are discussed in Part III. These include the educational impact of opportunity structure, collective identity, cultural and language or dialect frame of reference in schooling, peer pressures, and the role of the family. This research focus does not mean exonerating the system and blaming minorities, nor does it mean neglecting school and society factors. Rather, Ogbu argues, the role of community forces should be incorporated into the discussion of the academic achievement gap by researchers, theoreticians, policymakers, educators, and minorities themselves who genuinely want to improve the academic achievement of African American children and other minorities.
*In Part IV, Ogbu presents a summary of the study's findings on community forces and offers recommendations--some of which are for the school system and some for the Black community.
Black American Students in an Affluent Suburb: A Study of Academic Disengagement is an important book for a wide range of researchers, professionals, and students, particularly in the areas of Black education, minority education, comparative and international education, sociology of education, educational anthropology, educational policy, teacher education, and applied anthropology.
A theoretical model linking boredom and academic achievement is proposed. Based on Pekrun's (2006) control-value theory of achievement emotions, the model posits that boredom and achievement ...reciprocally influence each other over time. Data from a longitudinal study with college students (N = 424) were used to examine the hypothesized effects. The study involved 5 assessments of students' boredom and test performance during a university course spanning an entire academic year. Structural equation modeling was used to examine effects of boredom on achievement, and vice versa. The results show that boredom had consistently negative effects on subsequent performance, and performance had consistently negative effects on subsequent boredom, while controlling for students' gender, age, interest, intrinsic motivation, and prior achievement. These results provide robust evidence for the proposed links between boredom and achievement and support systems-theoretical perspectives on the dynamics of emotions and achievement. From a broader educational perspective, the findings imply that researchers and practitioners alike should focus attention on boredom as an important, yet often overlooked, academic emotion.
The current short-term longitudinal study investigated the role of college students' identity development and motivational beliefs in predicting their chemistry achievement and intentions to leave ...science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) majors. We collected 4 waves of data over 1 semester from 363 diverse undergraduate STEM students enrolled in a chemistry lab course. The results of analyses that examined the reciprocal relations among the variables over time (i.e., cross-lagged path analysis) suggested that identity development that involved exploration (e.g., information-seeking, reflection) was positively related to students' beliefs about their competence and value for the STEM major and negatively related to perceptions of effort cost (drawbacks associated with time and effort) for the major. Identity development that did not involve exploration was related to low competence beliefs and high perceptions of costs for the STEM major. Competence beliefs, values, and perceptions of cost for the major were dynamically related to chemistry achievement and to students' intentions to leave the STEM major over the semester, with different kinds of cost perceptions (drawbacks associated with effort, lost opportunities, and stress and anxiety) relating differentially to students' intentions. The results support the role of identity development in students' motivation for a STEM major and address a gap in the literature regarding the role of perceived cost in students' academic choices.
•A classroom-based intervention increases behavioral self-regulation for children.•A classroom-based intervention increases cognitive flexibility for children.•A classroom-based intervention is ...beneficial for English language learners’ math.
The present study examined the efficacy of a self-regulation intervention for children experiencing demographic risk. Utilizing a randomized controlled design, analyses examined if children (N=276 children in 14 Head Start classrooms; M age=51.69, SD=6.55) who participated in an 8-week self-regulation intervention demonstrated greater gains in self-regulation and academic achievement over the preschool year compared to children in a control group. In addition, indirect intervention effects on achievement outcomes through self-regulation were explored and differential intervention effects for English language learners within a sample of children from low-income families were tested. Results indicated that children in the intervention group demonstrated stronger levels of self-regulation compared to the control group in the spring of the preschool year. Group comparisons also revealed that the intervention was related to significantly higher math skills for children who were English language learners. In other words, English language learners who participated in the intervention demonstrated stronger levels of math in the spring of preschool in comparison to children in the control group and relative to English speakers who also participated in the intervention. The present study provides support for the efficacy of a school readiness intervention in promoting self-regulation and achievement in young children, especially English language learners.
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