High-performing Students Research Articles

Identification and cross-country comparison of students’ test-taking behaviors in selected eTIMSS 2019 countries

Unfavorable test-taking behaviors, such as speededness and disengagement, have long been a validity concern for large-scale low-stakes assessments. Understanding the presence and extent of such behaviors is important for ensuring the validity of inferences based on test scores. This study examined test-taking behaviors using item response time (RT), a process data-derived variable from the TIMSS 2019 database. Analyses compared the United States to three other countries (England, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates) that administered the digital version of TIMSS (eTIMSS) 2019 in English at grade 8. Test-taking behaviors were identified within each country and compared within and across countries. Specifically, to identify distinct types of test-taking behaviors, mixture modeling was employed on RT and item scores from Booklet 1, Part 1, of the eTIMSS 2019 eighth-grade assessment. The results indicated that each country had several latent classes of students with different pacing trajectories and performance. The test-taking behaviors of these latent classes were labeled as Steady; Disengaged or Very disengaged; Speeded or Very speeded; and Efficient and high-performing. Most of the students in each country had a Steady pace (medium to high sum score; steady RT throughout the test): 71% in England, 74% in both Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, and 84% in the United States. Disengaged or Very disengaged students (low sum score; short RT) were identified in each country but were more prevalent in England and the United Arab Emirates (above 20% in both) than in the United States and Singapore (both below 10%). The study also revealed small percentages of Speeded or Very speeded students (low to medium sum score; long RT at first but very short RT toward the end) in England, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States (1%, 5%, and 6%, respectively) but not in Singapore. A unique class of Efficient and high-performing students (high sum score; short RT) was identified only in Singapore (24%). This study demonstrated that mixture modeling is a useful technique for identifying distinct test-taking behaviors and highlighted the presence and extent of unfavorable test-taking behaviors within each selected country using data from Booklet 1, Part 1, of the eTIMSS 2019 eighth-grade assessment.

Analysis of Students' Higher Level Thinking Ability in Solving Mathematics Problems in View of Mathematical Logical Intelligence

High-level Thinking Ability (HOT) is an ability or way of thinking that requires students to seek information or ideas in a certain way in remembering and restating or referring to something. HOT ability is influenced by several factors, one of which is logical intelligence, so the purpose of this study is to describe students' high-level thinking skills in solving mathematical problems in terms of Mathematical Logical Intelligence. This type of research is descriptive research with a qualitative approach. This research uses instruments in the form of test questions and interview guidelines to obtain students' ability to solve math problems. The research subjects are students of class VIIIC who have studied the material of System of Linear Equations of Two Variables (SPLDV). Based on the results of the analysis of student answers, the researcher describes that high ability students at the analysis stage are able to analyze incoming information and classify or formulate information into small parts to find out patterns and relationships, able to understand and distinguish the cause and effect of a complex scenario and identify or formulate questions. high ability students at the evaluation stage are able to provide an assessment of solutions, ideas and methods by using appropriate criteria or standards in determining the value of their effectiveness or benefits. High-performing students at the creation stage are able to draw conclusions about a particular idea or perspective, plan ways to solve problems, and rearrange elements or parts into a new structure that is different from the previous structure.

Fuzzy clustering algorithm for university students' psychological fitness and performance detection

Students' psychological fitness is unavoidable, hindering personal development, social interactions, peer influence, and adolescence. Academic stress may be the most dominant factor affecting college students' mental well-being. Therefore, improving the monitoring of mental health issues among college students is a vital topic for study. However, identifying the student's stress level is challenging, leading to uncertainty. Hence, this paper suggests Heuristic Fuzzy C-means Clustering Algorithm (HFCA) for analyzing college students' stress levels, psychological well-being and academic performance detection. The data are collected from the Kaggle stress dataset for predicting student mental health. This study investigates the psychological factors affecting students' academic performance using the suggested HFCA. Students' performance may be predicted using the Fuzzy Cognitive Map (FCM) in this study. This study used fuzzy clustering algorithms to discover the most crucial aspects of student success, such as student involvement and satisfaction. A better understanding of the risk factors for and protective factors against poor mental health can serve as the basis for developing policies and targeted interventions to prevent mental health problems and guarantee that at-risk students can access the help they need. The experimental analysis shows the proposed method HFCA to achieve a high student performance ratio of 96.7%, cognitive development ratio of 97.2%, student engagement ratio of 97.5% and prediction ratio of 95.1% compared to other methods.

How effective is the professional development in which teachers typically participate? Quasi-experimental analyses of effects on student achievement based on TIMSS 2003–2019

This study examines the effect of teachers’ participation in mathematics and science professional development (PD) on student achievement in nationally representative settings. We use data from all OECD countries in the 2003 through 2019 cycles of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and apply student fixed effects to control for unobserved student characteristics and school quality. We find a small negative average effect of PD participation, with negative effects concentrated among high-performing students. We discuss potential explanations of these results and suggest ways PD studies may inform the PD in which teachers typically participate.

Compulsory class attendance versus autonomy

We estimate the effect of an increased autonomy policy for higher-performing students on short- and longer-term school outcomes. We exploit an institutional setting with high demand for autonomy. Identification comes from a nationwide natural experiment that allowed higher-achieving students to miss 44 percent more classes with parental approval. Using a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach, we find that allowing higher-achieving students to skip more classes increases their performance in subjects that matter for university admission and improves the quality of their enrolled college degree. Top-performing students and students in more academically diverse classrooms demand more autonomy when it is offered.

Impact of global text cohesion on students’ listening comprehension of informational listening texts

Abstract Listening comprehension serves as a basic means for communication and participation in society. Unfortunately, especially low-performing students have difficulties understanding informational content presented in a listening format, even more so than with the comprehension of printed texts. Based on empirical findings that text features, such as global text cohesion, have proven to be effective for promoting reading comprehension, and cognitive processes of reading and listening to academic texts share commonalities, the question arises as to how much global cohesion can support students’ listening comprehension. 140 ninth-grade students in German secondary schools listened to one of two informational listening texts which differed in their degree of global text cohesion (low vs. high in cohesion). Listening comprehension was assessed with a written test after listening. Regression analyses show that global text cohesion promotes listening comprehension and that the effect of cohesion remains significant and stable when controlling for topic-related prior knowledge and language-related background variables. Low-performing students profited more from the highly cohesive text than high-performing students. Thus, cohesion contributes to the comprehensibility of informational listening texts which can have implications for the construction of listening texts and listening comprehension instruction at school.

The Neural Correlates of Exact Calculation in Word and Numerical Formats in Low And High Math Performers: A fNIRS Study

The representation format of math problems can manifest dissimilarly in people with varying levels of math performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the neurocognitive underpinnings of two-digit exact calculation tasks in different formats: numerical and word. Fifty-three students were divided into groups with high and low levels of math performance based on their ability to solve math problems. They were asked to calculate addition problems with two-digit numbers and to read math problems that did not require calculations. Brain activation was recorded using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). General linear model (GLM) analysis revealed that reading math problems without calculation led to increased activation in the inferior temporal and fusiform gyri in a group of high-level performers, while a group of low-level performers demonstrated increased activation in Broca’s area and the inferior frontal gyrus in the same experimental condition, as well as during solving arithmetic problems in a word format of the exact calculation task. Analysis after bootstrapping revealed similar activation patterns in both groups. Both domain-specific and domain-general regions of the frontal and parietal brain areas were involved in the calculations. Right and left hemisphere activation was found both in low and high math performers. Comparing experimental conditions with resting state revealed significant activation in Broca’s area in all conditions in a group of high-level performers and in a word format of arithmetic problems in a group of low-level performers. Thus, the observed brain patterns suggest the involvement of complex sentence comprehension, especially in high-performing students. These results could be used in future to improve educational practice for students with varying levels of math competence.

Using process features to investigate scientific problem-solving in large-scale assessments.

This study investigates the process data from scientific inquiry tasks of fair tests [requiring test-takers to manipulate a target variable while keeping other(s) constant] and exhaustive tests (requiring test-takers to construct all combinations of given variables) in the National Assessment of Educational Progress program. We identify significant associations between item scores and temporal features of preparation time, execution time, and mean execution time. Reflecting, respectively, durations of action planning and execution, and execution efficiency, these process features quantitatively differentiate the high- and low-performing students: in the fair tests, high-performing students tended to exhibit shorter execution time than low-performing ones, but in the exhaustive tests, they showed longer execution time; and in both types of tests, high-performing students had shorter mean execution time than low-performing ones. This study enriches process features reflecting scientific problem-solving process and competence and sheds important light on how to improve performance in large-scale, online delivered scientific inquiry tasks.

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS STEAM VIA A THEMATIC 3D DESIGN PROJECT

The development of STEAM education has captured researchers’ attention due to its advantages for students’ learning and interest in related subjects, specifically in kindergarten to grade 12 (K-12) educational settings. However, there is limited research on the inclusion of STEAM in higher education, and what university students think as they are on the professional training track. This study aimed to examine university students’ attitudes towards STEAM via a 3D design project. Twenty-seven college students participated in this study. A questionnaire and focus group interviews were administered at the end of the course to uncover the students’ learning enjoyment, conceptions of STEAM learning, and intentions of STEAM future design/work involvement. The results show that the students enjoyed the 3D STEAM project regardless of their performance. High-performance students had higher conceptions of STEAM learning after the project. All of the students highly agreed that they could integrate interdisciplinary knowledge into their 3D designs. With regard to future intentions, they generally did not show an active attitude towards STEAM involvement. The students’ learning enjoyment in the STEAM project did not have a strong positive correlation with their future intentions. Findings from this study could offer inspiration for art-oriented courses that look for potential interdisciplinary integration and expression in STEAM. Keywords: attitudes towards STEAM, university students, STEM, 3D design

Who chooses fast-track programs in mathematics? The role of class origin, ethnicity, and gender among Norwegian lower-secondary students

ABSTRACT This article examines Norwegian lower-secondary students who enrol in fast-track programs in mathematics. These fast-track programs are designed to accommodate high-performing students who want a faster learning pace than the average student. In general, both educational performance and choice depend on class origin, ethnicity, and gender, according to research. Therefore, in studying the probability of entering the fast track, we focus on the role played by class origin, ethnicity, and gender. Our findings suggest that class origin and ethnicity affect students’ choice to enter the fast track or not, but after accounting for their prior performance on national tests in 8th grade the initial differences are considerably smaller. There are no differences in this choice between boys and girls. Our analyses rely on high-quality Norwegian administrative register data on 10th-grade students from 2010 to 2014.

Academic performance, performance culture, and mental health: an exploration of non-linear relationships using Swedish PISA data

ABSTRACT Higher academic performance is almost universally considered a good thing, and most quantitative studies show that performance is positively, although weakly, related to mental health. Simultaneously, however, qualitative studies consistently find that high-performing students and students attending high-performing schools report high levels of stress and other mental health problems. This study investigates a simple explanation for this puzzle – that the relationship between performance and mental health is not linear and is conditional on the performance culture of the school. Data on almost 5000 Swedish students from the Programme for International Student Assessment were used. The results show that the relationship between performance and mental health is generally not linear and that intermediate-performing boys have the best mental health, while both low- and high-performing girls and boys alike have poorer mental health. Although inconclusive, the results also suggest that low-performing students may be vulnerable to a strong school performance culture.

Gender gaps in Mathematics and Language: The bias of competitive achievement tests.

This research paper examines the extent to which high-stakes competitive tests affect gender gaps in standardized tests of Mathematics and Language. To this end, we estimate models that predict students' results in two national standardized tests: a test that does not affect students' educational trajectory, and a second test that determines access to the most selective universities in Chile. We used data from different gender twins who took these tests. This strategy allows us to control, through household fixed effects, the observed and unobserved household characteristics. Our results show that competitive tests negatively affect women. In Mathematics, according to both tests, there is a gender gap in favor of men, which increases in the university entrance exam, especially for high-performance students. As the literature review shows, women are negatively stereotyped in Mathematics, so this stereotype threat could penalize high-achieving women, that is, those that go against the stereotype. In Language tests, women outperform men in the standardized test taken in high school, but the situation is reversed in the university entrance exam. From our analysis of Chilean national data, we find no evidence that the gender effect observed in the competitive test depends on the students' achievement level. Following the literature, this gender gap may be linked to women's risk aversion, lower self-confidence, lower preference for competition, as well as the effect of answering a test under time pressure.

Interactive Learning with Student Response System to Encourage Students to Provide Peer Feedback

This study analyzed anonymous peer feedback among two groups of university students—a lower-performing class and a higher-performing class. Students used an audience response system to anonymously comment on each other’s work. Each peer feedback or comment was categorized into one of seven types: Praise+, Praise−, Criticism+, Criticism−, Combined Praise and Criticism, Opinion, and Irrelevant. The plus (+) and minus (−) signs were used to categorize the quality of the feedback. The learning performance of the two groups of students was also analyzed. The main result showed that the lower-performing class (based on the average midterm scores) provided more substantial Criticism+ and Opinion-type comments than the higher-performing students. Contrary to expectation, no significant difference was found between the two classes on the final exam, suggesting that anonymity allowed lower-performing students to express themselves more effectively than higher-performing students, leading them to improve their learning outcomes.

Private Tutoring Classes and Emotional Well-Being in China: Bidirectional Relationship and the Role of Academic Achievement

The Chinese education system is characterized as highly meritocratic and examination-oriented. Scores in high-stakes public standardized examinations mainly determine upward educational transitions. Private tutoring classes (PTCs) are a typical measure to boost students’ academic achievement. Mental health is also assumed to affect one’s behaviors and educational outcomes, playing a key role in the stratification process. However, few studies discuss (1) the bidirectional relationship between PTC attendance and emotional well-being, and (2) the role of academic achievement in determining PTC attendance and moderating the relationship between the two variables. This study fills these gaps by analyzing the 2013–14 and 2014–15 waves of data from the China Educational Panel Survey. Using a cross-lagged model, the author only finds a positive association between prior emotional well-being and later PTC attendance. Moreover, the positive association between students’ prior academic achievement and their later PTC attendance suggests that PTCs tend to serve higher-performing students. Examining the heterogeneity of the bidirectional relationship in terms of academic achievement, the author finds that only low-achievers follow a similar pattern as shown in the full sample model. This study will enrich the understanding on how mental health together with PTCs attendance contributes to the educational stratification process.

A diagnostic comparison of Spanish and Turkish middle school students’ proportional reasoning

This small-scale comparative study investigated Spanish and Turkish middle school students’ mastery of four core cognitive skills required for proportional reasoning using the log-linear cognitive diagnosis model. We compared students in the two samples for their proportional reasoning and provided a diagnostic assessment of their strengths and weaknesses. The study included 314 Spanish eighth grade and 282 Turkish seventh grade students. The students were administered a proportional reasoning test with 22 multiple-choice items. We found significant differences between the two samples in two of the cognitive skills. While the Spanish sample were better at understanding nonproportional relationships, the Turkish sample were better at understanding the concept of ratio. Furthermore, while the Spanish sample had a more dispersed distribution of students among different attribute profiles, the Turkish sample mostly consisted of either low-performing or high-performing students. To better understand the similarities and differences between the two samples, we compared students’ performance on some specific test items. The study shows how cognitive diagnostic models, which are not widely used in small-scale comparative studies, can be very useful in revealing similarities and differences between two samples that cannot be detected by traditional psychometric models.

International perspectives on teacher induction: A systematic review

We examine teacher induction programs through a systematic review of existing international literature from 2012 to 2022. Three of the most comprehensive online databases for educational research (Education Research Complete, ERIC EBSCO, ScienceDirect) were considered for the search, which resulted in eight documents being retrieved and considered in the analysis. We also review teacher induction programs in six jurisdictions (Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, South Korea) with consistently high-performing students on the PISA reading, mathematics, and science assessments over the past decade, summarize teacher induction best practices identified in prior international comparison studies, and compare these results with induction programs in jurisdictions with low-performing students on these same assessments. Finally, we summarize our results, discuss limitations in our findings, and identify ideas for further and future research.

Student active learning in a digital classroom: high-performing science students’ perceptions of their experiences

In March 2020 higher education institutions across Norway closed campuses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study explored five high-performing science students’ perceptions of their experiences with active learning in a digital physiology classroom. A thematic analysis explored the detailed first-person subjective experiences of learning in the digital classroom to add to the knowledge base about how science students can be supported to learn physiology in remote and digital learning contexts. Five superordinate themes central to the students’ experience were identified: ‘accountability and self-regulation’, ‘building strategy and structure’, ‘creating community and social learning’, ‘difficulty and discomfort essential’ and ‘efforts to reframe adversity’. The students recognised the importance of self-regulation, structure, social interactions, and challenge, explaining how aspects of the course helped or hindered their learning. Differential responses to the use of peer-evaluation and the ability of high-performing students to reframe adversity were evident. Active learning approaches in the digital classroom supported science students in gaining a deeper understanding of physiology.

Generalization of Patterns Drawing of High-Performance Students Based on Action, Process, Object, and Schema Theory

<p style="text-align: justify;">This study is qualitative with descriptive and aims to determine the process of generalizing the pattern image of high performance students based on the action, process, object, and schema (APOS) theory. The participants in this study were high performance eighth-grade Indonesian junior high school. Assignments and examinations to gauge mathematical aptitude and interviews were used to collect data for the study. The stages of qualitative analysis include data reduction, data presentation, and generating conclusions. This study showed that when given a sequence using a pattern drawing, the subjects used a number sequence pattern to calculate the value of the next term. Students in the action stage interiorize and coordinate by collecting prints from each sequence of numbers in the process stage. After that, they do a reversal so that at the object stage, students do encapsulation, then decapsulate by evaluating the patterns observed and validating the number series patterns they find. Students explain the generalization quality of number sequence patterns at the schema stage by connecting activities, processes, and objects from one concept to actions, processes, and things from other ideas. In addition, students carry out thematization at the schematic stage by connecting existing pattern drawing concepts with general sequences. From these results, it is recommended to improve the problem-solving skill in mathematical pattern problems based on problem-solving by high performance students', such as worksheets for students.</p>

Accurate, timely, and portable: Course-agnostic early prediction of student performance from LMS logs

In higher education, providing personalized feedback and support to students is a significant challenge. Early warning systems can help by identifying both at-risk and high-performing students, allowing for timely interventions and enhanced learning opportunities. In our study, we used a year's worth of data from an information management school to build predictive models for two binary classification problems: identifying at-risk students and high-performing students. We employed traditional machine learning classifiers and long-short term memory units (LSTM), testing them at various stages of course completion. The best performance was achieved using all course data, with an AUC of 0.756 for at-risk students and 78.2% accuracy for high-performing students using Random Forest and Extremely Randomized Trees, respectively. We found that early prediction was possible as early as 25% course completion. Although LSTM showed inferior performance, it offered practical advantages for early prediction. Our findings suggest that static LMS logs can be reliable indicators of student success early in a course, and a course-agnostic time-dependent representation of the number of clicks can offer a worthwhile tradeoff between predictive performance and simplicity in implementation in some instances. These findings have important implications as they suggest the potential for automated early warning systems that can help educators identify students of interest and allocate resources where they are most needed. However, implementing these systems in real-time requires clear protocols and responsible policies. Further research should explore the generalizability of findings across different contexts and continuously evaluate their real-world effectiveness.

Correlation between health status and academic achievement among elementary school students in North Jakarta.

High-performing students are essential investments in building the nation's future. In Indonesia, however, the correlation between students' health and academic achievement is rarely examined. This study aimed to evaluate primary school students' health status and its relation to their academic achievement. A survey was conducted on 1335 students from four primary schools in North Jakarta. Health assessments included nutritional status, hair, skin condition, dental, vision, and ear conditions. Parents filled sociodemographic questionnaire. Mid-exam scores in core subjects determined academic achievement. Data were analyzed using binomial logistic regression to determine the relation of health status with students' academic achievement. In the younger group, students who were stunted (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 2.23, 95% CI: 1.11-4.50), had dental caries (AOR 2.16, 95% CI: 1.15-4.04), hair problems (AOR 2.04, 95% CI: 1.15-3.59), and skin problems (AOR 1.49, 95% CI: 1.01-2.20) were more likely to have a low-performing index. In the older group, students with hair problems tend to have a low-performing index (AOR 3.05, 95% CI: 1.88-5.89). Meanwhile, the students who wore eye glasses were more likely to achieve a high-performing index in the older group (AOR 0.60, 95% CI: 0.50-0.78). This study shows a significant correlation between students' health status and academic achievement, where students with health problems were more likely to have lower grades compared to their counterparts. Regular health screening and examination are vital to maintaining students' health; therefore, their academic achievement can be increased.