Research has suggested that the relationship between previous academic achievement and student variables is mediated by parent and teacher expectations of the child’s ability and future success. The ...goal of this study was to analyze the mediating role of teachers’ expectations and teachers’ perceptions of parents’ expectations between previous academic achievement and variables in students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) that are significant for school learning. The participants were 230 students with SLD from Spain, between 10 and 14 years old. Extrinsic variables influenced the students’ intrinsic variables even more than the students’ own experiences of academic success or failure. The way in which teachers in the child’s academic life respond to prior results and the expectations they form can affect their instruction and, ultimately, the children’s motivation, involvement, and persistence in learning.
Dropout from higher education is a worldwide phenomenon with negative consequences for students, families, institutions, and society. As student numbers increase, students become more heterogeneous ...in terms of academic competencies, motivation, and trajectories, creating new challenges for promoting student persistence. Higher education can pose difficulties for students, increasing their vulnerability and risk of underachievement or dropout. This study involved 2843 first-year students of a Portuguese public university. The aim was to identify the variables that predict the decision to persist or drop out, using the regression tree method. The results show a good model that classifies students into four groups and reveals that the decision to drop out is different for traditional and non-traditional students, suggesting higher vulnerability of older students. Some reflections are offered about institutional practices.
Dropping out of university has serious consequences not only for the student who drops out but also for the institution and society as a whole. Although this phenomenon has been widely studied, there ...is a need for broader knowledge of the context in which it occurs. Yet research on the subject often focuses on variables that, although they affect drop-out rates, lie beyond a university's control. This makes it hard to come up with effective preventive measures. That is why a northern Spanish university has undertaken a ex post facto holistic research study on 1,311 freshmen (2008/9, 2009/10, and 2010/11 cohorts). The study falls within the framework of the ALFA-GUIA European Project and focuses on those drop-out factors where there is scope for taking remedial measures. This research explored the possible relationship of degree drop-out and different categories of variables: variables related to the educational stage prior to university entry (path to entry university and main reason for degree choice), variables related to integration and coexistence at university (social integration, academic integration, relationships with teachers/peers and value of the living environment) financial status and performance during university studies (in terms of compliance with the program, time devoted to study, use of study techniques and class attendance). Descriptive, correlational and variance analyses were conducted to discover which of these variables really distinguish those students who drop-out from their peers who complete their studies. Results highlight the influence of vocation as main reason for degree choice, path to university entry, financial independency, social and academic adaptation, time devoted to study, use of study techniques and program compliance in the studied phenomenon.
An experimental study was designed to analyze the effect of school-based training in self-regulation learning strategies on academic performance (Mathematics, Sciences, Language, and English). ...Class-level variables (i.e., gender, the teacher's teaching experience, class size) were considered and the effects of the intervention were measured at the end of the intervention and 3 months later. A sample of 761 students from 3rd and 4th grades (356 in the control condition and 405 in the experimental condition), from 14 schools, participated in the study. Data were analyzed using three-level analysis with within-student measurements at level 1, between-students within-classes at level 2, and between-classes at level 3. Data showed a positive effect of the intervention on student performance, both at post-test (
= 0.25) and at follow-up (
= 0.33) considering the four school subjects together. However, the effect was significant just at follow-up when subjects were considered separately. Student performance was significantly related to the students' variables (i.e., gender, level of reading comprehension) and the context (teacher gender and class size). Finally, students' gender and level of reading comprehension, as well as the teacher's gender, were found to moderate the effect of the intervention on students' academic performance. Two conclusions were highlighted: first, data emphasize the importance of considering time while conducting intervention studies. Second, more teaching experience does not necessarily translate into improvements in the quality of students' instruction.
The increase in dropout rates in higher education is a phenomenon that has generated a lot of interest because of the need to deal with its economic, personal, and social consequences, and because of ...its prevalence, estimated around 30% in Spain. There is a similar interest in violent behavior in university classrooms, which has also been seen to have increased in recent years. Given that, and the fact that research has shown personal variables to be more influential in dropout from higher education, the aim of this study is to explore whether those students who are the victims of bullying (both traditional and cyberbullying) are closer to dropping out from their degree courses. To that end, 1,653 first-year students doing various degree courses in the north of Spain were asked to complete a questionnaire. The results of a Bayesian analysis showed that students who were victims of bullying were more likely to consider dropping out than students who were not victims of bullying. In addition, variables related to social integration (support from friends and teachers) exhibited a moderating effect. These findings raise the urgent need to include intervention strategies in relation to bullying in university plans to prevent dropout.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of technologies in all aspects of daily life, especially in educational contexts. Indeed, in most universities, using a virtual campus as a ...support for teaching is now a general practice, even in face-to-face teaching. However, although there are multiple studies on the quality of education and services provided by virtual campus platforms, as well as statistics on the use of the various tools and forums, very few studies have considered students’ perceptions of the quality perceived by students concerning the pedagogical use that teachers make of virtual campuses. Even fewer studies have examined this as a function of what year the students are in. In order to examine this more thoroughly, an ad hoc questionnaire was applied to 783 students enrolled in the first three years at various universities in Spain, covering all knowledge areas. The results show that first-year students had more positive opinions of the quality of their teachers’ virtual-campus practices than students in subsequent years. More specifically, those first-year students perceived greater encouragement and motivation from the teaching staff and more communication between teachers and students. These findings suggest the need for good teaching practices that consider motivation, communication and collaborative groups, not only during the first year, but also throughout university courses in order to ensure quality education.
S. Usami (2014) describes a method to realistically determine sample size in longitudinal research using a multilevel model. The present research extends the aforementioned work to situations where ...it is likely that the assumption of homogeneity of the errors across groups is not met and the error term does not follow a scaled identity covariance structure.
For this purpose, we followed a procedure based on transforming the variance components of the linear growth model and the parameter related to the treatment effect into specific and easily understandable indices. At the same time, we provide the appropriate statistical machinery for researchers to use when data loss is unavoidable, and changes in the expected value of the observed responses are not linear.
The empirical powers based on unknown variance components were virtually the same as the theoretical powers derived from the use of statistically processed indexes.
The main conclusion of the study is the accuracy of the proposed method to calculate sample size in the described situations with the stipulated power criteria.
The goal of this research was to study the weight of student variables related to homework (intrinsic homework motivation, perceived homework instrumentality, homework attitude, time spent on ...homework, and homework time management) and context (teacher feedback on homework and parental homework support) in the prediction of approaches to homework.
535 students of the last three courses of primary education participated in the study. Data were analyzed with hierarchical regression models and path analysis.
The results obtained suggest that students' homework engagement (high or low) is related to students´ level of intrinsic motivation and positive attitude towards homework. Furthermore, it was also observed that students who manage their homework time well (and not necessarily those who spend more time) are more likely to show the deepest approach to homework.
Parental support and teacher feedback on homework affect student homework engagement through their effect on the levels of intrinsic homework motivation (directly), and on homework attitude, homework time management, and perceived homework instrumentality (indirectly). Data also indicated a strong and significant relationship between parental and teacher involvement.
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