Determinants Of Academic Achievement Research Articles

Exploring the Interplay Between Reading Proficiency, the Dimensions of Adult Reading Motivation, and the Academic Achievement of a Diverse Cohort of EFL College Learners

This article investigates the role of reading proficiency and reading motivation in the academic achievement of a cohort of college students enrolled in a Middle Eastern university that follows the American model of liberal arts education. Forty-eight (n = 48) students from diverse academic majors completed the adults reading motivation scale, following which we tested their reading proficiency and determined their academic achievement as a composite score based on midterm and final examinations, a course project, and class participation. Results revealed that reading proficiency and overall reading motivation are positively linked to academic achievement. However, while the reading motivational dimension of self-efficacy emerged as a significant factor in academic achievement, the dimensions of reading as part of self, reading for recognition, and reading to do well in other realms did not reach statistical significance as determinants of academic achievement. The study implications and suggestions for further research are discussed.

Determinants of academic achievement among grade ten students at Menkorer secondary school, Ethiopia: the role of individual, familial and school characteristics

Determinants of academic achievement among grade ten students at Menkorer secondary school, Ethiopia: the role of individual, familial and school characteristics

A SCALE DEVELOPMENT TO DETERMINE UNIVERSITY STUDENTS' ATTITUDES TO ONLINE EXAMS ASSESSMENT

Purpose: This study aims to develop and validate a scale to determine university students' attitudes toward assessment and evaluation in online exams. Background: Measuring students' attitudes toward online exams is crucial, especially in the context of emergency transitions to online learning and the impact of external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Students' perspectives on online examination practices in higher education institutions are significant in understanding students' attitudes and perceptions of online exams for effective implementation. Method: During the developmental phase of the scale, 13 items were created and presented for expert opinion. The scale propositions are designed to question the compliance of the courses with the curricula in the online education process, the transparency of online exams, and the University's technological infrastructure for online exams. The participants in the study consist of 1095 students studying in different programs at the Vocational Schools of three foundation universities in Istanbul, and they were reached via e-mail. Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were conducted. Findings: The results obtained prove that the 13-question scale is valid and reliable and is a good measurement to determine university students' attitudes to online exams. Implications for Research and Practice: Attitudes are likely determinants of academic achievement. Furthermore, utilizing e-tests positively impacts higher education students' performance and participation in online testing. Therefore, it is essential to consider students' attitudes towards online exams to increase academic success in online courses and provide better learning outcomes. Thus, scale development plays a pivotal role in advancing knowledge within specific domains of social science research, and it is integral to ensuring the quality and reliability of online exam instruments used in higher education.

Determinants of academic achievement: How parents and teachers influence high school students’ performance

This study explores the contribution of various drivers of attainment in secondary education in Portugal. We propose a model explaining the influence of students, teachers, and parents' traits on high school achievement, measured by the self-reported Math and Portuguese final grades of 220 students. Using PLS-SEM, we show that previous achievement predicts current achievement in both subjects; however, noteworthy differences were found. Portuguese grades are significantly better for students whose parents have post-secondary education and communicate higher expectations about their offspring's school careers. At the same time, Math achievement is influenced by students' perception of teachers' involvement but not by parents' expectations or education. Previous retention and receiving educational allowance impair Math achievement, but not Portuguese. Results and implications are discussed.

Determinants of academic achievement in Japanese university students: gender, study skills, and choice of university

Determinants of academic achievement in Japanese university students: gender, study skills, and choice of university

A Weight and Meta-Analysis on the Academic Achievement of High School Students

Understanding the determinants of academic achievement (AA) is crucial for virtually every stakeholder interested in personal development and individual and societal wellbeing. Extensive research in several areas, such as education, economics, or psychology, has addressed this topic, identifying a vast number of determinants that impact high school students’ AA. In this work, we perform a meta-analysis, including a weight analysis of 49 quantitative studies that investigate this topic, exploring the best predictors of high school students’ academic success. We also explore moderation effects. Our results show that academic self-efficacy and socioeconomic status are the best predictors of AA, and they are statistically significant. Other statistically significant predictors, albeit less common in the analyses, are mastery avoidance, motivation, sleep habits, and work avoidance. Implications for theory and practice and directions for future research are discussed.

The Influence of Culture on the Development and Organisation of Self-Regulated Learning Skills

Self-regulated Learning (SRL) skills have been argued to be among the most important determinants of academic achievement. It has been observed that some cultural groups consistently exhibit higher achievement and cultural variation in SRL skills has also been observed. Understanding this variation could provide insight into how to promote SRL development in all children.This research examined how components of SRL are influenced by cultural variables, by testing models for individualist vs collectivist contexts, utilising constructs from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to capture predicted differences in the motivational components. 70 children (35 each from White British [individualist] and Chinese [collectivist] backgrounds) aged between 8 and 11 years, were drawn from UK primary schools.Data were collected through on-task observation, task-related interview, and self-report questionnaire. Cross-sectional and correlational analyses examined relationships between these components, and whether cross-component influences differed according to cultural background. The principal finding was that culture impacts on the nature and operation of the motivational components of SRL, not the cognitive ones, with White British children exhibiting motivation based on personal experience and attitude; while Chinese children were motivated more by family expectations. These differences fed through to on-task effort and performance. The findings provide an impetus to cross-cultural research in SRL development by providing a model (SRL+TPB) that operationalises the interaction of cultural influences with SRL; and point to ways in which classroom interventions might utilise the patterns of effects observed.

Determinants of Academic Achievement Among Secondary School Students in Kericho County, Kenya

A Research Project Submitted to the Department of Educational Management, Policy and Curriculum Studies in the School of Education in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Education, Administration, Kenyatta University

The Determinants of Academic Achievement in Medical Students: a Cross-Sectional Designed Multifactorial Approach

Objective: Medical students have a heavy academic burden, hence, various factors can directly and easily affect their academic performance. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of hemoglobin levels, body composition, nutritional status and physical activity on academic achievement in medical students.
 Methods: 121 students (69 males, 52 females) participated in the study. Body compositions were recorded; data concerning nutritional habits, food consumption frequency and physical activity was obtained using a survey. The hemoglobin and hematocrit values measured in the physiology practice were recorded and the scores obtained from the committee exam were considered as academic achievement criteria.
 Results: Female students were found to be more successful than males (p=0.012). Smokers (p=0.007) and sugary-beverage consumers (p=0.022) were also more unsuccessful. Males who did not consume coffee daily were more successful than those who did (p=0.015). Additionally, males with moderate physical activity levels were more successful than those who had low physical activity levels (p=0.04). Furthermore, there was a moderate positive correlation between academic achievement and sedentary behavior (p˂0.05, r=0.265).
 Discussion: Based on our findings, we determined that smoking, coffee and sugary-beverage consumption may negatively affect academic success in medical students. Studying theoretical lessons daily for a sufficient period and getting moderate physical activity in leisure time can be recommended as tools for medical students to increase academic achievement.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Self-Efficacy and Academic Motivation as Determinants of Academic Achievement

Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, Self-Efficacy and Academic Motivation as Determinants of Academic Achievement

Determinants of Academic Achievement in Turkey

The relationship of in-school and out-of-school factors with academic achievement has been subject to long-term discussion in the context of educational equality. In Turkey, the achievement gap between schools is relatively high, therefore, examining the factors related to achievement is crucial to the mitigation of these differences. Related studies often utilize international large-scale assessments and yield results for particular school types. Therefore, the current study aims to determine the factors related to academic achievement by using data from a student population who took the 2020 High School Transition System (LGS). Accordingly, this study is novel in that it examined the factors related to academic achievement in a high-stake test in Turkey. Data analysis used two-level hierarchical linear modeling. The results demonstrated that between-school variance in LGS achievement is relatively low compared with international large-scale assessments, such as the PISA and TIMSS. The variable with the most significant relationship with student achievement is socioeconomic status of the school followed by teacher seniority, school size, and class size. Moreover, the relationships of the student–teacher ratio and participation in in-service training to achievement are nonsignificant. The results highlight the importance of academic support for socioeconomically disadvantaged students.

Unpacking Underperformance: Learning Mindsets and the Challenge of Academic Achievement Among Filipino Students

The 2018 PISA report revealed that 71.8 percent of participating students from the Philippines have failed to reach minimum basic learning thresholds, raising doubts about the state of education in the country. While most East Asian economies lead the world in terms of their significant share of high-performing students, Filipino students are critically left behind by their peers. Before the PISA, the discourse on policies surrounding educational improvement processes lacked a strong evidence base, mainly due to the absence of a robust learner-centered evaluation mechanism. In addition, despite prior discussions on how the Philippines suffers from systemic issues of access and equity, learners’ characteristics and backgrounds were rarely considered. To contribute to the policy discussions, we unpack the primary sources of inequalities in science, mathematics, and reading achievement using the PISA data. We also explored how performance is construed by factors such as learners’ backgrounds, learning mindsets (such as the implicit beliefs about intelligence, i.e., growth vs. fixed mindset beliefs), reading difficulties, and other self-reported characteristics. Our results indicate that (1) inequalities are highly persistent among regions, between public and private schools; (2) significant gains in academic achievement are contingent on the interaction between students’ socioeconomic backgrounds and the possession of a growth mindset. However, the associated positive effect of growth mindset on test scores interacts only among higher-SES students and not among students with lower-SES. Further, (3) reading difficulties are prevalent among Filipino students, which are comorbid with science and mathematics achievement. Lastly, (4) students with a history of repetition are severely disadvantaged, particularly males from public schools. The paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of academic achievement through a large-scale assessment framework. Several actionable policy insights related to learning mindsets are also presented in the paper, particularly improving the curriculum and intensifying teacher training. Thus, the education sector needs to strategically commit to long-term education quality goals to prevent the otherwise late detection of learning comorbidities among Filipino students.

Perception of School Heads on Teachers’ Professionalism and Pupils’ Behavior as Determinants of Academic Achievement among Primary Schools in Central Nyanza, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to establish the perception of school heads on teachers’ professionalism and pupils’ behavior as determinants for academic achievement among primary schools in Central Nyanza Region, Kenya. The study employed the descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of heads of 1356 primary schools in the counties of Kisumu and Siaya which are found in Central Nyanza Region of Kenya. Stratified random sampling was used to select a sample of 136 heads of schools from the two counties which was 10% of the population. The instruments used to collect data were a questionnaire and an interview guide. Descriptive statistics in terms of means and standard deviations were used to analyze the quantitative data while the thematic approach was used to analyze qualitative data. The study concluded that teachers’ professionalism and pupils’ behaviors such as absenteeism and negative attitude towards the curriculum content contributed to poor academic achievement among the primary schools. The study recommended that teachers need to maintain high professional standards as they carry out their responsibilities. Likewise parents and teachers should help learners to develop positive attitude towards the curriculum content and attend school regularly.

“A Study of Intelligence as Determinant of Academic Achievement among Adolescents”

“A Study of Intelligence as Determinant of Academic Achievement among Adolescents”

University Students’ Communication Skills as a Determinant of Academic Achievement

This study investigates into the academic achievement of university students as determined by their communication skills. The differences in groups were measured on the basis of gender, locality, semester and program of the study. The researchers developed their research instrument by adapting from the two questionnaires. One was the research instrument used at the College of Physiotherapists of Ontario (n.d.); and the other was the “Questionnaire-Verbal Communication” (Pierrete Desrosiers, n.d.). Taking Sargodha district as the population, conveniently sampled 160 students from the University of Sargodha were surveyed through the questionnaire. The study was quantitative in nature. The findings of the study concluded that students’ communication skills yielded statistically no effect on their academic achievement. Also, the students at all levels (semesters) and in all programs were reported to have comparably equivalent level of communication skills. This is a unique study of insignificant differences at all levels and programmes; and statistically no interpretable effect of the communication skills of the students from University of Sargodha, on their academic achievement. It challenges previous research studies. It is further recommended to study the same phenomena in further detail to make decisive remark in the research literature.

Academic achievement and professional aspirations: between the impacts of family, self-efficacy and school counselling

ABSTRACT In this paper, we study several determinants of academic achievement and professional aspirations on a sample of 397 Romanian high schoolers. Our aim is to shed light on the family, individual and school related factors that contribute to the students’ academic achievement and professional aspirations. We focus on Romania, an ex-transition, Central Eastern European country, overlooked in the scholarly literature. We carry out the first empirical, causal analysis on the impact of school counselling on academic success and professional aspirations in Romania. We rely on Pierre Bourdieu's cultural capital theory [Bourdieu, 1986. The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Greenwood Press; Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977. Reproduction in education, society and culture. Sage] and Albert Bandura's self-efficacy theoretical framework [1989. Social cognitive theory. In R. Vasta (Ed.), Annals of child development (Vol. 6, pp. 1–60). JAI Press., 1995. Self-efficacy in changing societies. Cambridge University Press]. Our results confirm our expectations that academic achievement is positively influenced by family income and the time parents spend with their children during the weekends. Professional aspirations are positively influenced by students’ perceived self-efficacy, parental moral support and parental career guidance. We further discuss the implications of our results for Romanian teenagers, their families and Romanian educational policies.

Birth rank as a determinant of academic achievement:results from a European survey of primary school children

ABSTRACT The present study investigates the relationship between birth rank and academic achievement of children in a cross-country study to examine whether firstborn children perform better in primary school than later-born children when controlling for individual, social and parental characteristics. Data were drawn from the School Children Mental Health in Europe (SCMHE) study, which included samples from Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Lithuania, Romania and Turkey (n = 7,518). Children’s academic performance in reading and mathematics was evaluated by teachers and parents reported sociodemographic variables including birth rank and parental attitudes. Controlling for individual, sociodemographic variables and parental attitudes in multinomial regressions, first- or second-born children displayed greater performance in mathematics and in reading as compared to children whose birth rank was third or above. Children from large families, especially when they are not first- or second-born appear to be at greater risk for academic difficulties and should benefit from targeted prevention efforts.

Analyzing Transitions and Determinants of Academic Achievement and Career Maturity in Adolescents: An Application of Propensity Score Matching and Latent Transition Analysis

Analyzing Transitions and Determinants of Academic Achievement and Career Maturity in Adolescents: An Application of Propensity Score Matching and Latent Transition Analysis

School-Related and Individual Predictors of Subjective Well-Being and Academic Achievement.

Recent research in the educational context has focused not only on academic achievement but also on subjective well-being (SWB) as both play a major role in students’ lives. Whereas the determinants of academic achievement have been extensively investigated, little research has been conducted on school-related determinants of SWB in comparison with other students’ characteristics. In the present cross-sectional study, we set out to investigate whether perceived school climate predicts school grades and SWB above and beyond other variables that are important for SWB and academic achievement. A sample of 767 8th and 9th grade students (n = 361 female adolescents; age: M = 14.07 years, SD = 0.92) completed measures of SWB, perceived school climate, test anxiety, self-efficacy, and interest. Grade point average (GPA) indicated students’ academic achievement. Data were analyzed with latent structural equation models in which GPA and SWB were regressed on the school climate variables and students’ characteristics. Results indicated that a positive school climate as well as self-efficacy and the worry component of test anxiety predicted SWB and/or GPA after all other variables were controlled for. Directions for future research and the importance of school climate variables on adolescents’ SWB and academic achievement are discussed.

Identifying science students at risk in the first year of higher education: the incremental value of non-cognitive variables in predicting early academic achievement

Science students’ study success rates in the first year of higher education (FYHE) are problematic. Although a considerable amount of previous research has been carried out to investigate the determinants of students’ academic achievement in FYHE, there has been little discussion about the incremental value of non-cognitive factors over and above cognitive determinants in the prediction of early (after the first semester of FYHE) academic achievement in a science educational context. Furthermore, the complex nature of the relationships between determinants of academic achievement is frequently neglected. An investigation that addresses these gaps is important to provide the insights necessary to identify at-risk science students early in their academic career. Therefore, the main aim of this research was to examine the incremental value of non-cognitive variables (processing strategies, regulation strategies, academic motivation, self-concept, self-efficacy) in predicting students’ early academic achievement in a science FYHE context, over and above domain-specific prior knowledge (cognitive) and after controlling for gender, age and prior education. Hereto, path-analyses were used on the data of 781 first-year students within a faculty of science of a Belgian university college in the academic year 2016–2017. Results show that cognitive variables and pre-entry characteristics predict early academic achievement. However, after controlling for these characteristics, evidence for the assumption that non-cognitive variables are determinants of early academic achievement in science education contexts could not be found in this study. Implications for theory and research are discussed.