High Performance Group Research Articles

Applying Data Mining to China’s Swine Farming Industry: A Compromise Perspective of Economic, Environmental and Overall Performances

The economic and environmental performances of the swine farming industry have always resulted in heated discussions in developing countries. Exploring the relationship between these features and the producers’ overall performance is the focus of this paper. For constructing multi-objective features that include the above features, a compromise approach for optimization is taken into consideration. For classifying the overall performance into different levels and detecting the effect of economic and environmental features on such features, an iteration scheme is developed in which the overall performance is treated as a target label. By neglecting this target label, a k-means clustering method is then used to help predict the producer’s overall performance given their economic and environmental features. In data pre-processing, correlation analysis for feature selection shows that the producer’s pollution emission and received regulation intensity largely affect its overall performance, while profit is found to be negatively correlated with pollution emission as regulation intensity is neglected. The classification result derived from the Silhouette Coefficient shows that the data set can be efficiently split into different groups in terms of the producer’s overall performance. The average distance between the objects in the low-performance group is larger than that of the high-performance group. The threshold position between the two groups is found to be largely dependent on the features of pollution emission and regulation intensity. The clustering result obtained by the k-means method shows good effectiveness and efficiency in separating the objects into different groups based on various features other than the overall performance. In 2- and 3-cluster cases, the result also shows evidence of the impact of economic and environmental features on the clustering result. The cross-validation analysis under a set of randomly chosen splitting points shows an increasing out-of-sample prediction quality with increases in training sample size. As one of the by-products of this paper, the geographical distribution in the clustering result is found partially consistent with the official report from Chinas central government regarding advantageous regions within the industry. In addition to current research, the ease of using the knowledge obtained in this paper for transfer learning is discussed.

Predicting Working Memory Capacity in Older Subjects Using Quantitative Electroencephalography.

ObjectiveWe utilized a spectral and network analysis technique with an integrated support vector classification algorithm for the automated detection of cognitive capacity using resting state electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. MethodsAn eyes-closed resting EEG was recorded in 158 older subjects, and spectral EEG parameters in seven frequency bands, as well as functional brain network parameters were, calculated. In the feature extraction stage, the statistical power of the spectral and network parameters was calculated for the low-, moderate-, and high-performance groups. Afterward, the highly-powered features were selected as input into a support vector machine classifier with two discrete outputs: low- or high-performance groups. The classifier was then trained using a training set and the performance of the classification process was evaluated using a test set. Results The performance of the Support Vector Machine was evaluated using a 5-fold cross-validation and area under the curve values of 70.15% and 74.06% were achieved for the letter numbering task and the spatial span task. Conclusion In this study, reliable results for classification accuracy and specificity were achieved. These findings provide an example of a novel method for parameter analysis, feature extraction, training, and testing the cognitive function of elderly subjects based on a quantitative EEG signal.

Inhibitory Mechanisms in Primary Somatosensory Cortex Mediate the Effects of Peripheral Electrical Stimulation on Tactile Spatial Discrimination

Selective afferent activation can be used to improve somatosensory function, possibly by altering cortical inhibitory circuit activity. Peripheral electrical stimulation (PES) is widely used to induce selective afferent activation, and its effect may depend on PES intensity. Therefore, we investigated the effects of high- and low-intensity PES applied to the right index finger on tactile discrimination performance and cortical somatosensory-evoked potential paired-pulse depression (SEP-PPD) in 25 neurologically healthy subjects. In Experiment 1, a grating orientation task (GOT) was performed before and immediately after local high- and low-intensity PES (both delivered as 1-s, 20-Hz trains of 0.2-ms electrical pulses at 5-s intervals). In Experiment 2, PPD of SEP components N20/P25_SEP-PPD, N20_SEP-PPD and P25_SEP-PPD, respectively, were assessed before and immediately after high- and low-intensity PES. Improved GOT discrimination performance after high-intensity PES (reduced discrimination threshold) was associated with lower baseline performance (higher baseline discrimination threshold). Subjects were classified into low and high (baseline) GOT performance groups. Improved GOT discrimination performance in the low GOT performance group was significantly associated with a greater N20_SEP-PPD decrease (weaker PPD). Subjects were also classified into GOT improvement and GOT decrement groups. High-intensity PES decreased N20_SEP-PPD in the GOT improvement group but increased N20_SEP-PPD in the GOT decrement group. Furthermore, a greater decrease in GOT discrimination threshold was significantly associated with a greater N20_SEP-PPD decrease in the GOT improvement group. These results suggest that high-intensity PES can improve somatosensory perception in subjects with low baseline function by modulating cortical inhibitory circuits in primary somatosensory cortex.

Group Role Assignment With Cooperation and Conflict Factors

Collaboration is complex. To solve a problem occurring in collaboration, using computers, we must first define and specify the problem. This paper presents a challenging problem in collaboration, called group role assignment with cooperation and conflict factors (GRACCFs). This problem’s solution aims at creating a high-performance group by role assignment with consideration of cooperation and conflicts between agents. The contribution of this paper is the formalization of the proposed problem, a confirmation of the complexity of the problem, a practical solution that uses the IBM ILOG CPLEX optimization package (ILOG), a verification of the benefits of solving the GRACCF problem by simulations and a practical way of collecting the required factors to support decision makers in solving such a problem within a real-world scenario. Experiments are used to verify the efficiency of the proposed ILOG solution.

Effects of Self-Regulation Strategies Training on Secondary Students’ Attitude and Self-Reflection Toward Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to examine whether practicing self-regulation strategies involved setting goals, self-evaluation and self-correction on formative tests improved students’ positive attitudes toward learning mathematics. The students’ attitudes toward mathematics were measured of the factors in their perceived confidence, motivation, usefulness of the subject, and perception about teacher’s attitude toward their learning. The study also aimed at exploring self-regulation characteristics of different performing groups of mathematics achievement so that appropriate instructional design can be introduced and imposed within the mathematics classroom. The study utilized a one-group pretest-posttest design for exploratory purposes. The self-regulation strategies were introduced to 46 tenth-grade secondary students. Their perceived motivation, confidence, anxiety, usefulness of the subject, and perception about teacher’s attitude were measured as the pretest measures before they were trained with setting goals, self-evaluation, and self-correction strategy training. These measures of the factors were compared at the end of the academic year. The study found that students’ perceived confidence, motivation, usefulness of the subject, and perception about teacher’s attitude toward student learning were significantly different after they underwent the training. The high-performing group of students was more confident, motivated, less anxious, and highly engaged in self-reflection as compared to their counterparts, low-performing group of students. In addition, students’ confidence, motivation, anxiety, and engagement in self-reflection were found significantly correlated with mathematics performance.

Exploring Students’ Engagement Patterns in SPOC Forums and their Association with Course Performance

With the popularity of Small Private Online Courses (SPOCs) in higher education, a plentiful of discussion data has been increasingly generated in SPOC forums. With 752 undergraduates’ discussion posts, this study aims to investigate students’ engagement patterns within SPOC forums in terms of engagement behaviors and emotions. Firstly, we designed a behavioral code rule to identify posting- and content-level behaviors, and examined their association with course performance. Secondly, we built an emotion lexicon including positivity, negativity and confusion word sets, and adopted an emotion calculation approach to visualize emotional evolutionary trends and to examine emotional differences in registration types and course performance. The results show that, (1) the high-performing group was more active in the most engagement behaviors except for interactive postings. (2) The registered group delivered more threads and wrote richer vocabulary in post content. (3) Whether students were registered for a course or not did not have a significant effect on their emotional expressions, but the registered group exhibited more confusion in forum interactions at the end of the semester. (4) Positive emotion was prevailing for the entire population. Furthermore, compared with the low-achieving group, the high-performing group had higher emotion densities in three types of emotions.

What Matters from Admissions? Identifying Success and Risk Among Canadian Dental Students.

The aims of this study were to determine whether different student profiles would emerge in terms of high and low GPA performance in each year of dental school and to investigate the utility of preadmissions variables in predicting performance and performance stability throughout each year of dental school. Data from 11 graduating cohorts (2004-14) at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, Canada, were collected and analyzed using bivariate correlations, latent profile analysis, and hierarchical generalized linear models (HGLMs). The data analyzed were for 616 students in total (332 males and 284 females). Four models were developed to predict adequate and poor performance throughout each of four dental school years. An additional model was developed to predict student performance stability across time. Two separate student profiles reflecting high and low GPA performance across each year of dental school were identified, and scores on cognitive preadmissions variables differentially predicted the probability of grouping into high and low performance profiles. Students with higher pre-dental GPAs and DAT chemistry were most likely to remain stable in a high-performance group across each year of dental school. Overall, the findings suggest that selection committees should consider pre-dental GPA and DAT chemistry scores as important tools for predicting dental school performance and stability across time. This research is important in determining how to better predict success and failure in various areas of preclinical dentistry courses and to provide low-performing students with adequate academic assistance.

Innovation and entrepreneurship for competitiveness in the EU: an empirical analysis

Abstract The nexus of innovation, entrepreneurship and competiveness represents a real challenge for the European economy, and not only, taking into account the important role of these determinants of inclusive and sustainable development in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The aim of this article is to explore the relation between innovation, entrepreneurship and national competitiveness, at the EU level, in order to highlight how innovation and entrepreneurship can influence the level of competitiveness and inclusive development in these countries. The results of the comparative analysis based on means-testing using independent samples t-test, at EU level, show that there are significant differences between low-medium innovation performance countries group and high and very high innovation countries performance group in terms of competitiveness, innovative entrepreneurship, productive entrepreneurship and economic and inclusive development, fact which emphasizes the need to take specific actions to improve EU innovation performance, especially in the EU countries included in the low-medium innovation performance countries group for improving national competitiveness and implicitly increasing the level of development. The correlation and regression analysis results suggest that the high level of national competitiveness in some EU countries can be mainly explained by high level of innovation performance, high level of innovative and productive entrepreneurship. The findings of the study can be useful for policymakers to formulate policies for improving national competitiveness within an inclusive development.

Locomotor stereotypies and racing performance in thoroughbred horses

Abstract Among the consequences credited to locomotor stereotypies in horses is the reduction of sport performance; however, there is a lack of studies on this topic. The objective of this study was to determine if racing performance was negatively affected by weaving and stall walking in thoroughbred racehorses. Three hundred eighty-nine animals were randomly chosen from those residing at the Club Hipico de Santiago, all of which had a handicap and had run at least 5 races. The horses were divided into 2 groups according to their handicap criteria: the low performance group, with handicap from 1 to 29 (n = 333) and the high performance group, with handicap from 30 to 56 (n = 56). Handicap is an index that is assigned to all thoroughbreds that participate in turf events, according to their performance (1 = poor to 56 = excellent performance). The presence or absence of weaving and/or stall walking was observed by visual inspection of each horse. Results were expressed as percentages. Fisher's exact test was used to analyze the data, with a significance level of P

Exploring college English language learners’ self and social regulation of learning during wiki-supported collaborative reading activities

Students’ regulation has been conceptualized as an important impetus for effective and efficient collaborative learning. However, little empirical evidence has been reported about language learners’ regulatory behaviors in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). The purpose of this study is to investigate the occurrence of self and social aspects of regulation during wiki-supported collaborative reading activities in the context of learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Sixty Chinese college students organized in twelve groups participated in this study over a sixteen-week semester. Using an integrated method of content analysis and sequential analysis, students’ chat logs were coded and analyzed to explore the characteristics of students’ self and social regulatory behaviors in terms of regulation type, regulation process, and regulation focus. Results indicate that all groups demonstrated active social regulation in the collaborative activities. Compared with low-performing groups, high-performing groups displayed distinctively different patterns of regulatory behaviors in “social regulation,” “evaluating,” “content monitoring,” and “social emotional regulation.” Moreover, the analysis further reveals a more continuous and smooth regulation in the high-performing groups, while low-performing groups tended to be lost in a single repeated regulatory behavior pattern such as “self-regulation” or “organizing”. This study not only fills a gap in the current collaborative English learning literature, but also contributes to our knowledge of social regulation in CSCL. Pedagogical implications and future research are also addressed.

Preservice Teachers’ Mathematics Teaching Competence: Comparing Performance on Two Measures

This exploratory study examines the relationship between preservice teachers’ performance on a teaching performance assessment for licensure in elementary mathematics and a measure of knowledge that, in studies of practicing teachers, was found to predict effective mathematics teaching. A sample of 89 preservice teachers completed the Performance Assessment for California Teachers (PACT) and the classroom video analysis (CVA) instrument. Correlation analyses found overall weak associations between measures for the whole group. For groups of high, medium, and low performers on PACT, average scores on the CVA measure and its subscales varied in the predicted direction. However, individuals within the PACT performing groups had a relatively broad range of scores on the CVA, and several preservice teachers who performed poorly on PACT had average or better than average performance on the CVA. Similarly, several of the PACT high performers scored below the whole group CVA average. In addition to suggesting areas for future research, the findings raise questions about assessing preservice teachers’ readiness to teach mathematics and the use of a single measure to make licensing decisions.

ASSESSMENT OF AGGRESSION AND ANXIETY IN DIFFERENT LEVELS OF VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to assess the aggression and anxiety in different levels of volleyball players. For the purpose of the study, two groups namely higher and lower performance group were created. The higher performance group was composed of those players who had participated in senior state championship. Whereas lower performance group was composed of those players, who had participated in open district championship but could not be selected to represent the district team. Sports aggression inventory & competitive state anxiety inventory-2, Questionnaire tests were selected to collect the data. The C.S.A.I. questionnaires were administered to each player prior to the competition. Whereas sports aggression questionnaires were distributed to the athletes for their response immediately after the competition. To find the significance difference between high and low performance volleyball players on aggression and anxiety, the ‘t’ ratio was applied. The level of significance was set at .05. The result revealed that the high performance volleyball players had significantly more aggressive attitude than those of low performance volleyball players. The result also revealed that there is no significant difference between high and low level performance ability volleyball players in the dimension of anxiety. Article visualizations:

ERP variation may be negatively correlated with P300 speller performance

ERP variation may be negatively correlated with P300 speller performance

Explaining the entrepreneurial orientation–performance relationship in emerging economies: The intermediate roles of absorptive capacity and improvisation

Research has established the relevance of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) to firm performance but skepticism remains because of the ambiguity surrounding how EO might improve firm performance. We examine the key concepts of absorptive capacity and improvisation as two alternative learning modes serving as intermediate steps between EO and firm performance. Locating our study within manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia, we find that absorptive capacity enhances the EO–performance relationship, both as a moderator and a mediator. In contrast to expectations, however, improvisation showed no such effects but conferred its own separate benefits instead. We further discuss the different effects of these learning modes on high performance and low performance groups.

Emotional Intelligence Profile of High Academic Performance Students in Computer Engineering

Several studies have documented the benefits of emotional intelligence particularly in the workplace. The main objective of universities is to educate in terms of acquiring capacities, abilities, competencies, and values, with the ultimate aim of promoting employment. In some Spanish universities, High Academic Performance Groups (HAPs) have been launched to strengthen the potential of the most outstanding students. This study is aimed to know the differences in the emotional intelligence profile of the HAP students. The study shows no significant differences, being recommendable to consider providing aid and support for HAP students in the development of this type of intelligence.

한국과 일본 화학산업에서 사업 포트폴리오와 R&D가 경영성과에 미치는 영향

The Korean chemical industry has been one of the heavy industrial sectors to boost Korean economy during the past three decades. In the early 2010s, the Korean chemical firms faced significant challenges due to global overcapacity and rising competition from China and Middle East countries. The current downturn of Korean chemical industry comes from internal factors on strategic choice, not from global business cycle. In September of 2016, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy recommended the necessity of cutting the production of four items - Terephthalic acid(TPA), polystyrene(PS), synthetic rubber(SBR) and PVC. Meanwhile, in 1959, Japan, known as the Triad with the US and Western Europe controlled the global chemical industry. However, by the 1990s, with the emergence and growth of companies based in Korea, Taiwan and China, Japan struggled through a lost decade that continued into the 2000s. Although Japanese chemical companies have lagged behind companies in the West in adjusting to new business realities, many companies have already taken significant steps to increase their competitive advantage through restructuring, consolidation and new research. Industry level change inevitably requires a company to fundamentally rethink its strategy and business model. What is the value strategy for the Korean chemical firms to sustain their competitive advantages under uncertainty associated with a strategic infection point (SIP)? A SIP is a critical period during which major threats as well as new opportunities come about. This paper addresses this key question by examining the following issues. Firstly, our study diagnoses whether the current chemical industry in Korea and Japan confronts a SIP on the basis of adapted seven forces model consisting of market forces - the five forces framework of traditional industry analysis and complementors - as well as nonmarket forces associated with technology and government regulation. Secondly, we examine the different adaptation strategies between the most profitable and non-profitable chemical companies in Korea and Japan in light of segment portfolio and R&D using case studies. Lastly, we conduct an empirical study to classify Korean and Japanese chemical companies into three groups by application of cluster analysis. Segment portfolio and R&D are of interest as independent variables because they have been linked to value creation, whereas operating income, as a dependent variable is an external signal to indicate each firm`s financial performance. The data set used in descriptive statistics and cluster analysis comes from DART (Data Analysis, Retrieval and Transfer System) and annual reports of 44 Korean and Japanese chemical firms from 2000 to 2016. Our results show that there exists a significant gap of operating income among three groups, i.e. a high performance group makes known by diversifying segment portfolio into high value-added specialty materials with strong R&D capability. This group consists of most Japanese firms specialized in chemical materials. However, no Korean firm was found there. Our findings suggest that Korean chemical firms are called for in the process of strategic transformation to improve portfolio with value-added specialty by enhancing in-house R&D capability and acquiring specialty business. In order to step out of the pending crisis, Korean chemical companies should shift their growth strategy paradigm in the global market. A SIP signals the timing to change. Transformation involves rapidly and radically changing each firm`s strategy. A key task of top management is to recognize ambiguous and conflicting signals of a SIP, adapt to a new business model and develop new value strategy. Their new resolve must be followed by changes in resource allocation. It is expected that this study can be applied to other heavy industries, e.g. shipbuilding, automobile and steel that underpinned Korea`s past growth.

Are Clinical Vignette Questions Harder than Traditional Questions in Gross Anatomy Course?

The increased integration of clinical scenarios throughout the first-year gross anatomy course is widely supported in the USA. This early introduction of clinically relevant material has created a need for new assessments of relevant knowledge that include questions based on clinical vignettes. However, little is known about how dental/medical students handle these clinical vignette questions (CVQ) in gross anatomy examinations. Thus, using meaningful ways to compare CVQ with traditional questions (TQ) could justify validation of the CVQ assessment format for this course. This study compared student performance on matched sets of CVQ and TQ test items before and after training on CVQ items in a summer 2014 and 2015 pre-matriculation program gross anatomy course. The subject matter for this course consisted of two blocks (back and upper limb; head and neck), accompanied by cadaveric dissection. Our data show that, in comparison with the TQ format, students fared poorly in the CVQ format (P < 0.05) under two conditions: (1) no advanced training on this format, or (2) unprepared for the test. However, an encouraging finding of our study suggests that training on CVQ items before testing may greatly improve student performance on this specific format for high-performing groups (grades ≥ 70). Training did not seem to exert any beneficial effect on low-performing groups (grades < 70) in this study. Thus, our current study recommends the early familiarization/training on CVQ items in the gross anatomy course and possibly other basic science courses.

Designing Interfaces that Stimulate Ideational Super-fluency

Current graphical keyboard and mouse interfaces are better suited for handling mechanical tasks, like email and text editing, than they are at supporting focused problem solving or complex learning tasks. One reason is that graphical interfaces limit users’ ability to fluidly express content involving different representational systems (e.g., symbols, diagrams) as they think through steps during complex problem solutions. We asked: Can interfaces be designed that actively stimulate students’ ability to “think on paper,” including providing better support for both ideation and convergent problem solving? In this talk, we will summarize new research on the affordances of different types of interface (e.g., pen-based, keyboard-based), and how these basic computer input capabilities function to substantially facilitate or impede people’s ideational fluency. We also will show data on the relation between interface support for communicative fluency (i.e., both linguistic and non-linguistic forms) and ideational fluency. In addition, we’ll discuss the relation between interface support for active marking (i.e., both formal structures like diagrams, and informal ones such as “thinking marks”) and successful problem solving. Finally, we’ll present new data on interfaces that improve support for learning and performance in lower-performing populations, and we will discuss how these new directions in interface media could play a role in improving their education and minimizing the persistent achievement gap between low- versus high-performing groups

Action research in the physics classroom: the impact of authentic, inquiry based learning or instruction on the learning of thermal physics

Students experience thermal physics phenomena from a very young age, but in Singapore their formal science instruction occurs in Primary 3 or 4 (aged 9 or 10) and again in secondary school (aged 13 to 16). Hence, students often form alternative or incomplete scientific conceptions related to thermal physics well before they begin learning it in the science classroom. The team of teachers involved in this study, therefore, believed that traditional instruction would be largely ineffective because it does not take into account students’ existing beliefs about thermal physics. An action research process was undertaken to investigate if a more interactive and engaging pedagogical approach, such as authentic, inquiry based learning, could make students’ thinking more explicit through discussions and other social interactions. Three intact classes of Secondary-3 students were selected: a high-performing control group and a low-performing control group using Traditional Physics Instruction (TPI) and an experimental group using Authentic Inquiry-Based Instruction (AIBI). Students in the experimental group demonstrated significant gains in conceptual understanding and student self-efficacy, although students in the high-performing control group continued to outscore students in the experimental group. Further analysis of the data revealed a correlation between students’ achievement on a standardised test and conceptual understanding of the subject matter in the AIBI classroom. Traditional forms of instruction are inadequate because they do little to develop students’ self-efficacy and interest in the subject matter. More emphasis should be placed on embedding authentic and formative assessment tasks within the curriculum, rather than end-of-unit standardised tests.

A (des)igualdade de conhecimento no ciclo de alfabetização

&lt;p&gt;Este trabalho busca contribuir para o debate acerca do tema das desigualdades educacionais, por meio da investigação da (re)produção da desigualdade de conhecimento. Com base nos dados da avaliação longitudinal da alfabetização do Espírito Santo, das edições de 2012, 2013 e 2014, o estudo analisou a variação do percentual de acerto entre turmas de alto e baixo desempenho nos testes de Leitura do 1º e 3º ano do ensino fundamental. O principal resultado aponta que a aquisição das habilidades é mais heterogênea no 1º ano, o que permite supor que, ao longo do ciclo de alfabetização, os alunos podem ter passado por processos de reorganização intraescolar que tornaram seus resultados mais homogêneos, ou seja, menos desiguais. A despeito disso, há determinadas habilidades que não estão consolidadas até o fim do 3º ano, o que evidencia a ineficácia das políticas atuais para fazer com que os alunos adquiram habilidades imprescindíveis ao processo de alfabetização.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Palavras-chave:&lt;/strong&gt; Alfabetização; Avaliação da Educação; Conhecimentos; Desigualdades Educacionais.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;La (des)igualdad de conocimiento en el ciclo de alfabetización&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Este trabajo intenta contribuir con el debate acerca del tema de las desigualdades educacionales, por medio de la investigación de la (re)producción de la desigualdad de conocimiento. En base a los datos de la evaluación longitudinal de la alfabetización del estado de Espírito Santo en las ediciones de 2012, 2013 y 2014, el estudio analizó la variación del porcentual de acierto entre grupos de alto y bajo desempeño en las pruebas de Lectura del 1er y 3er año de la educación básica. El principal resultado señala que la adquisición de las habilidades es más heterogénea en el 1er año, lo que permite suponer que, a lo largo del ciclo de alfabetización, los alumnos pueden haber pasado por procesos de reorganización intraescolar que hicieron que sus resultados fueran más homogéneos, es decir, menos desiguales. A pesar de ello, hay determinadas habilidades que no se consolidan hasta fines del 3er año, lo que pone de manifiesto la ineficacia de las actuales políticas para que los alumnos aprendan habilidades imprescindibles al proceso de alfabetización.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Palabras clave:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt; Alfabetización; Evaluación de la Educación; Conocimientos; Desigualdades Educacionales.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt; &lt;/em&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;The (in)equality of knowledge in the literacy cycle&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The present study seeks to contribute to the debate about educational inequalities, using the study of the (re)production of the inequality of knowledge. Based on data from the longitudinal evaluation of literacy in Espírito Santo, from the 2012, 2013 and 2014 publications, this study has analyzed the percentage of variation between the high and low performance groups in the Reading Tests of the 1st and 3rd years of high school. The main results point out that the acquisition of skills is more heterogenous in the 1st year, which supports the hypothesis that, during the literacy cycle, students may have gone through intrascholastic reorganization processes which make their results more homogeneous. That is, less unequal. Despite this, there are certain skills that are not consolidated by the end of the 3rd year, which provides evidence of the ineffectiveness of the current policies for students to learn essential skills throughout the literacy process.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Keywords:&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt; Literacy; Educational Evaluation; Knowledge; Educational Inequalities.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;