Latin America: school bullying and academic achievement

Includes bibliography

Productivity differences in Brazilian manufacturing firms, by industrial sector: school bullying and academic achievement

Includes bibliography

Substance Use and Academic Outcomes among High School Seniors: Examining the Influence of Emotional Academic Engagement

Substance use is prevalent among adolescents, with two-thirds trying alcohol and half trying an illicit drug by twelfth grade (Miech et al., 2015). Substance use is known to affect academic performance. This study utilized nationally representative data from the 2013 Monitoring the Future twelfth grade survey to examine the relationships between substance use, skipping school, grades, and academic engagement. One-quarter of respondents (26%) had never used a substance. The majority (67%) had used at least one substance during the past year. Substance use during their lifetime but not during the past year was uncommon (7%). Lifetime non-users were less likely than past-year users to skip school during the past month and to have low grades. Lifetime non-users also had greater academic self-efficacy and emotional academic engagement relative to past-year users. These findings underscore the importance of screening and intervention for substance use to promote academic achievement and adolescent wellbeing.

A school algebra.

"With answers"--Cover.

A school algebra /

Mode of access: Internet.

Teacher Education, School Effectiveness and Improvement : A Study of Academic and Professional Qualification on Teachers' Job Effectiveness in Nigerian Secondary Schools

This academic work begins with a compact presentation of the general background to the study, which also includes an autobiography for the interest in this research. The presentation provides readers who know little of the topic of this research and of the structure of the educational system as well as of the value given to education in Nigeria. It further concentrates on the dynamic interplay of the effect of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness in secondary schools in Nigeria in particular, and in Africa in general. The aim of this study is to produce a systematic analysis and rich theoretical and empirical description of teachers' teaching competencies. The theoretical part comprises a comprehensive literature review that focuses on research conducted in the areas of academic and professional qualification and teachers' job effectiveness, teaching competencies, and the role of teacher education with particular emphasis on school effectiveness and improvement. This research benefits greatly from the functionalist conception of education, which is built upon two emphases: the application of the scientific method to the objective social world, and the use of an analogy between the individual 'organism' and 'society'. To this end, it offers us an opportunity to define terms systematically and to view problems as always being interrelated with other components of society. The empirical part involves describing and interpreting what educational objectives can be achieved with the help of teachers' teaching competencies in close connection to educational planning, teacher training and development, and achieving them without waste. The data used in this study were collected between 2002 and 2003 from teachers, principals, supervisors of education from the Ministry of Education and Post Primary Schools Board in the Rivers State of Nigeria (N=300). The data were collected from interviews, documents, observation, and questionnaires and were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods to strengthen the validity of the findings. The data collected were analyzed to answer the specific research questions and hypotheses posited in this study. The data analysis involved the use of multiple statistical procedures: Percentages Mean Point Value, T-test of Significance, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and Cross Tabulation. The results obtained from the data analysis show that teachers require professional knowledge and professional teaching skills, as well as a broad base of general knowledge (e.g., morality, service, cultural capital, institutional survey). Above all, in order to carry out instructional processes effectively, teachers should be both academically and professionally trained. This study revealed that teachers are not however expected to have an extraordinary memory, but rather looked upon as persons capable of thinking in the right direction. This study may provide a solution to the problem of teacher education and school effectiveness in Nigeria. For this reason, I offer this treatise to anyone seriously committed in improving schools in developing countries in general and in Nigeria in particular to improve the lives of all its citizens. In particular, I write this to encourage educational planners, education policy makers, curriculum developers, principals, teachers, and students of education interested in empirical information and methods to conceptualize the issue this study has raised and to provide them with useful suggestions to help them improve secondary schooling in Nigeria. Though, multiple audiences exist for any text. For this reason, I trust that the academic community will find this piece of work a useful addition to the existing literature on school effectiveness and school improvement. Through integrating concepts from a number of disciplines, I aim to describe as holistic a representation as space could allow of the components of school effectiveness and quality improvement. A new perspective on teachers' professional competencies, which not only take into consideration the unique characteristics of the variables used in this study, but also recommend their environmental and cultural derivation. In addition, researchers should focus their attention on the ways in which both professional and non-professional teachers construct and apply their methodological competencies, such as their grouping procedures and behaviors to the schooling of students. Keywords: Professional Training, Academic Training, Professionally Qualified, Academically Qualified, Professional Qualification, Academic Qualification, Job Effectiveness, Job Efficiency, Educational Planning, Teacher Training and Development, Nigeria.

Academic achievement among recently arrived Chinese adolescent migrants: The role of social support, school belonging, and acculturative stress

Factors contributing to academic achievement among recently arrived Chinese adolescents in Australia remains relatively underexplored. Previous studies focused on Asian migrants, including Chinese, but did not distinguish Chinese from other Asian migrants. The current study specifically looks at Chinese migrants who have recently arrived as opposed to Asian migrants. This study aims to explore the role of social support, school belonging, and acculturative stress on academic achievement of recently arrived Chinese adolescents (n = 55). Questionnaires were administered to this sample. The results indicated that school belonging, interestingly, was negatively associated with academic achievement. Perceived social support and acculturative stress were not significantly associated with academic achievement. The findings provide insights into risk and protective factors influencing academic achievement of Chinese migrants. Implications of the findings are discussed.

Early school-based parent involvement, children’s self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An Australian longitudinal study

Parent involvement is widely accepted as being associated with children’s improved educational outcomes. However, the role of early school-based parent involvement is still being established. This study investigated the mediating role of self-regulated learning behaviors in the relationship between early school-based parent involvement and children’s academic achievement, using data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (N = 2616). Family socioeconomic position, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander status, language background, child gender and cognitive competence, were controlled, as well home and community based parent involvement activity in order to derive a more confident interpretation of the results. Structural equation modeling analyses showed that children’s self-regulated learning behaviors fully mediated the relationships between school-based parent involvement at Grade 1 and children’s reading achievement at Grade 3. Importantly, these relationships were evident for children across all socio-economic backgrounds. Although there was no direct relationship between parent involvement at Grade 1 and numeracy achievement at Grade 3, parent involvement was indirectly associated with higher children’s numeracy achievement through children’s self-regulation of learning behaviors, though this relationship was stronger for children from middle and higher socio-economic backgrounds. Implications for policy and practice are discussed, and further research recommended.

Associations between Achievement Goal Orientations and Academic Performance Among Students at a UK Pharmacy School

Objective. To ascertain goal orientations of pharmacy students and establish whether associations exist between academic performance, gender, or year of study. Methods. Goal orientations were assessed using a validated questionnaire. Respondents were categorized as high or low performers based on university grades. Associations and statistical significance were ascertained using parametric and nonparametric tests and linear regression, as appropriate. Results. A response rate of 60.7% was obtained. High performers were more likely to be female than male. The highest mean score was for mastery approach; the lowest for work avoidance. The mean score for work avoidance was significantly greater for low performers than for high performers and for males than for females. First-year students were most likely to have top scores in mastery and performance approaches. Conclusion. It is encouraging that the highest mean score was for mastery approach orientation, as goal orientation may play a role in academic performance of pharmacy students.

Student’s Engagement in School: Conceptualization and relations with Personal Variables and Academic Performance

This article reviews the literature regarding Student’s Engagement in School (SES), its relationship with personal variables, as well as with academic performance. Although SES’ conceptualization may vary across studies, there is general agreement concerning the multidimensional nature of this construct, encompassing three dimensions – cognitive, affective and behavioural. It is seen as an antecedent of several required outcomes, at academic level, but also as a valorous construct itself, both as mediator and product. More particularly, this concept has been the focus of debate concerning academic success and school dropout. There can also be found a significant number of studies which suggest that personal (self-efficacy, self-concept), as well as contextual (peers, school, family) factors are related with school engagement; additionally, the lack of engagement is linked with low academic performance, behavioural problems and school dropout. Thus, Student’s Engagement in School is perceived as a potentially effective response to the problems affecting schools and their students, and an aspect to be considered in preventing problematic patterns related to scholary contexts.

Spontaneous Meta-Arithmetic as the First Step Toward School Algebra. 'La meta-aritmética espontánea como el primer paso hacia el álgebra escolar'.

Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Review of Native Americans in the School System: Family, Community, and Academic Achievement by Carol J. Ward

The title of this volume promises more than the content delivers. The heart of the book is information from Ward's 1992 University of Chicago doctoral dissertation, which focused on the social and cultural reasons leading to students dropping out of school. Her first two chapters provide a good review of research on dropouts and Indian education; the following six focus on the results of her 1987-1989 study of 698 Northern Cheyenne, Crow, and white high school students attending the Colstrip Public, St. Labre Catholic, and Busby Tribal Schools in Montana. Fifty-two percent of the students in this study were Indian, with a dropout rate of 45% .

Relationships among multiple intelligences, motor performance and academic achievement in secondary school children

This study examines the relationships between multiple intelligences, academic achievement and motor performance in a group of secondary school children. Four hundred and eighty schoolchildren participated in this study (171 female and 309 male) with an average age of 13.33 years (SD: 1.41). The Revised self-efficacy Inventory for Multiple Intelligences (IAIM-R) and the motor test Sportcomp were applied, and the average results of the academic year they had made were obtained. The analysis of the results showed how female scored significantly higher on the Linguistic, Spatial and Interpersonal intelligences, and older pupils scored significantly higher on the linguistic and naturalistic intelligences. It was the logical-mathematical intelligence which showed significant relationships with academic performance and it was the intelligence that better predicted this achievement. It was the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence that was significantly related to motor competence and the best intelligence that predicted its achievement. Finally, indicate that schoolchildren with better scores in the motor test were those who scored higher in both academic achievement and all the multiple intelligences, with the exception of musical intelligence.