The purpose of this study was to develop a rationale for the implementation of an in-service program that would aid in the development of judgmental abilities of teachers to identify the underachieving student. The underachiever was defined as any student whose academic performance, as measured by his total grade point standing, was significantly below his ability.A review of research studies on underachievement revealed a long list of factors concomitant to underachievement. These concomitant factors were generally identified as psychological, sociological, pedagogical, or physiological in nature. Judgmental evaluations of 206 selected ninth grade students were made by classroom teachers using a sixteen item check list that was representative of the concomitant factors of underachievement as determined from the research studies. These evaluations were then compared to a statistical evaluation of the 206 students that was designed to identify academic underachievers.The research procedure was two-fold. The initial procedures were designed to identify the underachieving students within the sample population. Data were collected on 206 selected ninth grade students. I.Q. scores as determined from the SRA Test of Educational Ability, and a numerical grade point total determined from letter grades received in English, mathematics, social studies, and science provided a basis for the determination of underachievement or normal achievement.Individual I.Q. and Total Grade Point scores were converted to stanines in order to facilitate the comparison of scores. Students whose Total Grade Point stanine was two or more stanines below their I.Q. stanine were considered to be underachievers. Twelve per cent of the sample were identified as underachievers.The data indicated that the underachievers identified in this study had a slightly higher mean I.Q. score and a considerably lower Total Grade Point than the sample population. The data also indicated that students with a low I.Q. are unlikely to be statistically identified as underachievers and that those students most likely to be underachieving are in the average to above average category.The second part of the research procedure concerned the establishment of criteria that would be valid in helping the teacher identify concomitant factors of underachievement characteristically exhibited by students. The teachers were provided a rating form composed of sixteen items that were descriptive and representative of the concomitants of underachievement. The teachers rated each student on each of the concomitant factors presented on the rating form. An ascending scale of 1 - 5 was used with a rating of 5 indicating that in the teacher's judgment the student's observed behavior or situational circumstances were highly characteristic of the concomitants under consideration.A product moment correlation was determined between each of the sixteen items on the rating sheet and a point biserial correlation was computed for each of the sixteen items and underachievement. Fifteen of the items were found to have a high intercorrelation; twelve of the items were found to have a significant point biserial correlation when used by teachers as criteria for making judgmental evaluations in identifying concomitant factors of underachievement. Two other items were slightly below the critical level of significance, and two of the sixteen items had a very low correlation.A correlation of performance of the 206 students over the four classes was computed to determine if there was a significant occurrence of underachievement across subject matter lines. A significant correlation was found to exist between the dependent variable of underachievement and subject matter grades from the four classes.The concomitant factors of underachievement, as identified by research studies and as represented on the teacher rating form, were found to be helpful when used by teachers as criteria for making differential judgments of students. Recommendations for further consideration of this study, for further studies relative to the data presented in this study, and suggestions for the implementation of the major findings into the instructional program of interested school systems were included.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/177362 |
| Date | January 1971 |
| Creators | King, Randall E. |
| Contributors | Ballou, Philip E. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | iii, 123 leaves ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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