Factors Related to Differential Achievement Among Boys in Ninth-Grade Algebra

Abstract

A UNIVERSAL problem for secondary school counselors is the underachiever. The reason for the prevalence of this problem is that school per sonnel generally base their predictions of aca demic success solely on the results of intelligence tests. Some students enjoy a high degree of aca demic success which is explained on the basis of intelligence test results, while others of compara ble intellectual potential consistently achieve beI low their expected attainment. An analysis of j the literature and research pertaining to differi enees in achievement among students leads on to I a consideration of the non-intellective factors, i.e., those variables not measured by intelligence tests. One of these factors appears to be the student's self concept. Recently, a factor analysis (9) of tests measuring the self concept showed five inde pendent factors. Smith suggested that this helps to explain the poor correspondence between differ ent tests of the self concept and the low correla tion between tests of the self concept and external criteria of adjustment. The use of self concept as a construct is ques tionable because of the various meanings associ ated with it by different personality theorists. Hall and Lindsey (4: 545) describe two usages commonly given to the self concept: some per ceive the self concept as a group of psychological processes which serve as a determinant of be havior while others conceive it as a cluster of at titudes and feelings which the individual holds in regard to himself. Most measures of the self con cept gave scores which are treated as positive or negative points on a high to low value continum despite evidence which suggests that a meaning ful concept of the self comprises an aggregate of factors rather than an evaluation along one dimension (8). Much of the research in this area pertains to the personal correlates of achievement and under achievement. Morgan (7) in a study of high ability students at the college level found achieve ment related to a variety of personal and traits. Go wan (2), in an inquiry into the family backgrounds of high school achievers and under achievers with IQ 130 or higher, found differences in the ability to conduct themselves easily in situations and make easy adjustments. Hallock (5) studied the relationship between reading achievement and the attitudes which children hold about themselves and their achievement. His data indicate that feelings of personal worth contribute significantly to achievement in reading. Gowan (3) drew on related research to develop the con cept that achievement and underachievement in the gifted may be viewed as social and asocial responses of the individual to proper stimulation regarding developmental tasks either tendered or denied by the parental and educational environ ments. The purpose of this study was to ascertain if there are differences in self concept as measured by the eight scales of the Minnesota Counseling Inventory (MCI), (1), for those students who scored in the top quartile and those students who scored below the mean on the Seattle Algebra Achievement Test. It is assumed that Smith's (9) five factors comprising the self concept are meas ured by the MCI. This assumption is substanti ated by the nature of the findings of the other re searchers (7,2,3,5) and the descriptions of the eight scales of the MCI (1). Furthermore, Leton and Walter (6), in a factor analytic study of the MCI, found that this test in effect measures five separate factors. The major hypothesis for this study is that achievers will tend to demonstrate superiority on all scales of the Minnesota Counsel ing Inventory.