This study supports the development of the Attributions for Scholastic Outcomes Scale--Latino (ASO-L). Previous research has shown that people believe that it is important to close the achievement gaps that exist between racial/ethnic minorities and Whites (Rose & Gallup, 2004). Despite the fact that the general public has taken an interest in this area, there are currently no instruments for measuring how people reason about these issues. Consequently, there is little knowledge as to why people continue to support policies that have been unsuccessful in bringing racial/ethnic minority academic performance up to the level of Whites. This study takes steps in that direction by providing educators and school reform advocates with a useful instrument for understanding how people reason about the causes for the Latino-White achievement gap. The ASO-L measures the extent to which people believe in two different explanations for the Latino-White achievement gap. I have termed the explanation that I believe is most pervasive in US society "culture-blaming." It is consistent with the dominant racial story about Latino underachievement, which focuses primarily on the presumed limitations of Latino families and Latino culture. I refer to what I believe to be the second most common explanation as "structure-blaming." It challenges the dominant racial story because it places blame on schools and the schooling system rather than the limitations of Latinos. Confirmatory factor analyses provide evidence for the factorial validity of the ASO-L. In addition, structural equation modeling performed on sample data indicates that the two primary explanations--culture-blaming and structure-blaming--are meaningfully related to attitudes towards resource redistribution, English-only initiatives, parent education, and standardized testing above and beyond what can be accounted for by measures of attributional complexity (G. Fletcher, Danilovics, Fernandez, Peterson, & Reeder, 1986) and political orientation (Kerlinger, 1984). Finally, a comparison of latent means revealed that Latinos are more likely than Whites to endorse structure-blaming attributions, but no less likely to endorse culture-blaming attributions. Recommendations for further research and academic activism are included. / text

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The problem investigated is the contribution of non-intellectual factors, in particular the level of psychosocial maturity, to the academic achievement of the high school pupil. It has generally been shown that Intelligence and Achievement correlate. (Robbertse 1968; Moerdyk 1973). However, according to Ausubel (1968) this correlation is only moderate and he suggests that this can be attributed to the influence of other variables, such as personality traits, adjustment and interests. Robbertse (1968) has stated that Intelligence alone is not a good predictor of school achievement for all pupils, that personality is an integral part of an individual's psychological make-up and it is, therefore, imperative to look at its contribution to the prediction of achievement. Eysenck (1969) and Cattell (1966) have found low but significant correlations between various personality scales and achievement. Verhage (1977) mentioned that relatively little research has been done in South Africa to determine the relationship between non-academic factors, such as personality characteristics, and academic achievement. Psychosocial maturity as conceived in this thesis is the outcome of the process of personality development with the emphasis on the person as a healthy individual in his interaction with society. A multiple correlation technique is used to relate academic results, intelligence scores and psychosocial maturity in an attempt to improve the prediction of achievement from Intelligence by using maturity scores. Results that are generally supporting of the hypothesis are presented, and factors that emerge and their implications are discussed. The characteristics of the maturity scale as found in a South African sample are also discussed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, 1977.

This study modifies Cummins' (1997) theoretical framework of minority student achievement and social power relations to account for differences in educational achievement among different identifiable subgroups of the ESL population. This framework provides the conceptual structure for a multidimensional understanding of ESL academic achievement (e.g. Gonzales, 2001) whereby the mediating influence of the broad social power relations between dominant and minority groups, students' individual characteristics, including personal abilities, experiences and socio-demographic backgrounds, interacts with ecologies, including educational structures such as curricula, curricular organization, school populations and the policy environment to influence educational trajectories. This study employs descriptive, bi-variate, and logistic and multiple regression to perform secondary analysis on data describing the academic trajectories of the ESL students (n=7 527) of British Columbia's 1997 grade eight cohort (n=48 265). It compares the results to a native English speaker (NES) baseline. ESL students are disaggregated by ethno-cultural background, English proficiency, gender, age on entry to the BC school system, and socio-economic status. School population effects are also considered. The dependent variables are five and six-year graduation rates, and participation and performance across academic subjects. Results show that identifiable ethno-cultural subgroups of ESL students navigate widely varying academic trajectories. English proficiency and gender differences also affect achievement, more so in already under-achieving ethno-cultural groups. Later ages of entry generally prove advantageous for some groups in mathematics and the sciences but predict diminished outcomes in the humanities for all groups. Socio-economic effects only partially account for differences among ethno-cultural groups. School composition also has minimal effect. Most ethno-cultural groups have higher academic participation rates but lower performance scores than NESs. ESL graduation rates are more stable across socio-economic strata than NES graduation rates. The need to disaggregate data for research and decision-making, and to target support toward under-performing student groups is discussed. While ESL students perform well in aggregate, lower outcomes of identifiable subgroups are masked. The study concludes with a call for more refined data, and for further methodologically advanced research.

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to better understand the relationship between physical activity and academic achievement of girls in grades three to seven participating in a community-based physical activity program. Seventeen of eighteen possible participants were involved in this study. Findings revealed that there was no relationship found between the intensity, duration, and frequency of physical activity and English grades. There was also no relationship between the intensity, duration, and frequency of physical activity and mathematics grades. Parents were found to be the largest influence on girls’ physical activity behaviours. This study contributed to health promotion research by building upon findings from past projects that have found no significant negative relationship to exist between physical activity and academic achievement. Future research may want to focus on providing interventions at the family level to support parents’ and girls’ participation in physical activity.

The unfortunate disparity in achievement among minority and low income students is well-documented. Multiple social, structural, and psychological variables have been presented to try to explain the achievement gap. Researchers have also considered an individual’s racial-ethnic identity (REI) as an important variable that contributes to achievement outcomes. Oyserman and colleagues developed a model of REI that emphasizes three key factors of one’s racial-ethnic identity that have a direct impact on achievement. Further, her model posits that the interaction between two key REI variables, feelings of connectedness to one’s REI group (connectedness) and the perception that one’s racial-ethnic group values achievement (embedded achievement), contributes to positive achievement outcomes. Although research has suggested that REI significantly impacts achievement, the specific processes by which this occurs are less known. Considering the social-cognitive literature, it is plausible that different psychological and motivational beliefs mediate the relationship between REI and achievement-related outcomes. This dissertation study examines the mediating effect of sense of school belonging and perceived sense of school engagement on the relationship between REI (embedded achievement and connectedness) and academic achievement of minority middle school students longitudinally through the use of structural equation modeling. Results indicate that embedded achievement significantly predicts academic achievement. Furthermore, sense of belonging to school mediates this relationship for all racial and gender groups. Results also revealed that embedded achievement significantly predicted student perceived engagement for Hispanic students. Strategies to promote sense of belonging and embedded achievement at the personal, structural, community, peer, and family levels are discussed.

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The concept of racially-desegregated state schooling in South Africa was officially implemented in 1991. This change to racially-mixed schooling was not without problems. There are, to date, few known studies on this theme in South Africa although there are many overseas studies. The focus of the present study is on the implications of racially-desegregated schooling for the disadvantaged African population. The study examines African secondary school pupils' and their teachers' perceptions of their performance in the context of racially-desegregated schools. It also aims to study these perceptions in the context of striving for 'equality of opportunity' in the light of current educational refonns in South Africa. This study is located in the sociology of education framework, using a symbolic interactionist approach of analysis. Six schools in the suburb of Phoenix in Durban, originally designed for the Indian population, were used. A sample of 150 pupils belonging to both the middle and working class groups in the senior and junior phases of schooling was calculated. A sample of 68 teachers who teach pupils in the sample was also chosen. Questionnaires were administered to and interviews were conducted with both teachers and pupils. Objective data was also collected in the form of pupils' examination results over a period of a year. The Chi-square test of significance was used to establish if there were differences in performances of pupils within the social groups and within the phases of schooling. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1999.

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between credit hour load and academic achievement of selected undergraduate college students. The study was designed to determine the relationship between credit hour load and grades earned by undergraduate college students in selected required courses and overall scholastic ratio during the specified quarters. Specifically, the study was designed to determine the additional contribution of the independent variable credit hour load to the overall relationship between academic achievement of the students in selected required courses, as measured by course grade, and overall scholastic ratio, and the independent variable set consisting of sex and ability as measured by SAT Verbal and SAT Quantitative scores.The population included all Ball State University undergraduate secondary education students enrolled during the academic years 1976/77, 1977/78 and 1978/79. The sample consisted of 1,007 students identified as having enrolled in and completed credit hour loads of twelve or more hours for at least one quarter. Students selected for inclusion had enrolled in either of two required secondary education courses, EDSEC 299 or EDSEC 420. The study was designed to control for sex differences and variations in ability.To accomplish specific purposes of the study, four null hypotheses were tested using multiple regression procedures. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SFSS) program was used in conducting the analyses. Two regression models were used to determine the statistical significance of the addition of the independent variable, credit hour load, to a set of predictors consisting of sex, SAT Verbal and SAT Quantitative scores. In the first model only sex, SAT Verbal and SAT Quantitative scores were used as predictors of the dependent variable (reduced model). The second model involved the addition of the independent variable, credit hour lead, to the predictor set. The difference between the obtained squared multiple correlation (R2) was then computed and tested for statistical significance at the .05 level using an F statistic.The findings regarding statistical significance of the contribution provided by credit hour load to a relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable set were:1. The level of prediction of course grades in EDSEC 299 provided by sex of student and ability data was not improved by the addition of credit hour load data.2. The level of prediction of scholastic ratio for students enrolled in EDSEC 299 provided by sex of student and ability data was improved by the addition of credit hour load data. The degree of improvement however, was so slight as to be of little importance in idiographic predictions.3. The level of prediction of course grades in EDSEC 420 provided by sex of student and ability data was improved by the addition of credit hour load data. The degree of improvement however, was so slight as to be of little practical importance in idiographic predictions.4. The level of prediction of scholastics ratio for students enrolled in EDSEC 420 provided by sex of student and ability data was not improved by the addition of credit hour load data.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree of concurrence between teachers' judgments of the academic achievement of students and the results of standardized,norm-referenced achievement tests. Although this issue had been addressed before, results reported in the literature lacked a sensitivity to the informational needs of educational policy makers and were obfuscated by significant differences in research design and analytical techniques. This study attempted to address the potential moderating effect of teachers' pre-established notions of students' knowledge, academic subject area, grade level, and student gender on the agreement level between teachers' judgment of student achievement and test results, while focusing on the ever increasing use of test scores to make decisions regarding student readiness for promotion/graduation and overall school accountability.Approximately 670 teachers were asked to rate their students as "not ready to succeed at the next grade level without remedial assistance" (non-masters) or "ready to succeed without additional instruction or intervention" (masters). Ratings were obtained in both English/language arts and mathematics for 15,935 students in grades 1, 2, 3, 6, and 8. The sample utilized was representative of the demographics of the state of Indiana. While appropriate statistical tests of significance were performed when appropriate, this study focused on effect size as the final determinant of "educational significance."Analyses revealed no practical reason to believe that teachers' judgments were influenced by their initial ratings of students as masters or non-masters, student gender, grade level, or subject matter. On the average, teachers' mastery/non-mastery ratings were found to agree with "cutscores" established through discriminant analysis in about 78% of the cases. These results were seen as encouraging, in that test results could be used to support teacher judgment, which seemed unaffected by moderating variables, while not offering information completely redundant with pre-existing teacher knowledge of student achievement. / Department of Educational Psychology