School Performance Of Children Research Articles

Effectiveness of a Physical Education Program on the Motor and Pre-literacy Skills of Preschoolers From the Training-To-Health Project: A Focus on Weight Status.

Many studies reported a positive relationship between motor skills, cognitive functions, and school performance in school-age children; however, little is known in preschool children. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of a physical education program (PEP) on locomotor, object control skills, and pre-literacy cognitive functions in a wide population of preschoolers and verify whether weight status could influence these abilities. In the context of the Training-to-Health Project, a sample of 1,029 preschoolers was recruited in kindergartens from the urban area of Palermo (Italy). Their gross motor and pre-literacy skills were tested before (PRE) and after (POST) following 16 weeks (2 h/week) of a PEP, which included ludic-motor activities aimed at developing body awareness and fundamental motor and perceptual-sensory skills. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) were performed to assess the skills before and after the intervention and to evaluate the effect of different categories of weight status on the examined variables. Regression analyses were conducted to confirm the hypothesized interrelationship between motor and pre-literacy skills in the considered sample. Both locomotor/object control and pre-literacy skills were significantly higher in children after the PEP (p < 0.05). We found 23% of overweight children and no significant difference between weight status classes in both PRE and POST PEP groups. In the POST group, higher locomotor and object control skills were mostly associated with better pre-literacy skills. This study shows that PEP was effective in improving both motor and pre-literacy skills in preschoolers independently from age and gender, while weight status did not affect these skills suggesting that this program can be administrated indifferently in children with different categories of weight status. Therefore, PEP could be a decisive education strategy to enhance motor and cognitive learning in preschool children and to achieve successful academic outcomes.

Parental stress and children's school performance: Are locals doing better than rural‐to‐urban migrants in Beijing?

AbstractThis study provides the first empirical evidence on whether parental stress is associated with children's school performance (measured by academic performance and peer relations) for rural‐to‐urban migrants (n = 499) and local residents (n = 299) in Beijing, China. Results from regression analyses showed that children of local families systematically scored better than those of migrants on measures of school performance. Correlation between parental stress and academic performance was found among locals but not among migrant households. Further, although children's peer relations were negatively associated with parental stress among migrant families, the duration of their residence in Beijing did not moderate this association. This study probed the structural origins of stressors for migrant parents and discussed implications for community‐based social work services in urban China for migrant families.

To what extent does punishment insensitivity explain the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and academic performance in secondary school students?

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are related to low achievement but not to deficits in verbal ability, commonly regarded as a major risk factor for poor academic outcomes in antisocial youth. This suggests that CU traits may have utility in explaining heterogeneous risk pathways for poor school performance in antisocial children. Reduced sensitivity to teacher discipline has been suggested as a potential explanation for the association between CU traits and low achievement, given its importance in facilitating engagement in learning. This study is the first to examine punishment insensitivity as a potential mechanism explaining the relationship between CU traits and poor achievement. The current study investigated the indirect pathway from CU traits via the predictor of punishment insensitivity to English, Maths, and Science grades. A total of 437 English secondary school students aged 11 to 14years (49% girls). We conducted a mediation analysis within a structural equation modelling framework. CU traits and punishment insensitivity were assessed using child report questionnaires and academic grades were obtained from school records. CU traits were indirectly associated with low academic grades in Maths and Science, but not English, via punishment insensitivity, controlling for child age, gender, single parent household status, free school meals eligibility, externalizing problems, and classroom effects. Findings indicated that reduced sensitivity to discipline forms a pathway linking CU traits to poor performance in Maths and Science. Teachers may therefore need additional support to implement discipline effectively with children high in CU traits in order to prevent poor academic outcomes.

Status of Ethnic Minority Children's Emotional and Social Skills in the Northern Regions of Vietnam

In the content of child development and capacity building, the most important content is emotional education - social skills for children. Emotional competencies - social skills are the most important segments in forming personality for preschool children, contributing to promoting the positive development of young individuals and society. Emotional- social skills of preschool children play an important role and are a prerequisite for the comprehensive development of the child's personality, helping children to have feelings, moral standards, and experiences in knowing what to do and should not do in order to have a correct and standard manners. However, the performance of children in schools in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam is still at a low level. The article also reveals difficulties affecting children's emotional-social skills such as the lack of attention from parents, the environment for children to practice, the lack of experience and children's underdeveloped common language. This article is completed based on the survey results and face-to-face interviews to find out the most effective solutions to educate children in the northern mountainous areas of Vietnam. The paper found that children's social and emotional skills need to be fostered by parents as well as by school because they play an important role in their development.

Family's Subjective Economic Status and Children's Matrix Reasoning: Blacks' Diminished Returns.

Due to a pattern known as Marginalization-related Diminished Returns (MDRs), historically oppressed non-Hispanic Black Americans show weaker effects of economic status on health and development, when compared to socially privileged non-Hispanic White Americans. Such MDRs are also documented for the effects of economic status on the school performance of non-Hispanic Black children. However, the existing knowledge is minimal on similar diminished returns on children's intelligence. To compare racial and ethnic groups for the effect of subjective economic status on children's cognitive performance, we compared non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black children for the effects of subjective economic status on children's matrix reasoning. This cross-sectional study included 7898 children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. The predictor variable was subjective economic status, which was treated as a continuous measure. The primary outcome was children's matrix reasoning, a domain of cognitive performance, measured by the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children-IV (WISC-V) matrix reasoning total score. Overall, high subjective economic status was associated with higher matrix reasoning score. Race showed a statistically significant interaction with subjective economic status on children's matrix reasoning score. This interaction suggested that high subjective economic status has a smaller boosting effect on increasing matrix reasoning score for non-Hispanic Black children relative to non-Hispanic White children. The degree by which subjective economic status correlates with matrix reasoning score, an important domain of cognitive performance, depends on race and racialization. Non-Hispanic Black children may show weaker gains in matrix reasoning from their subjective economic status than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. To minimize the racial gap in cognitive performance, we need to address diminished returns that occur as a result of the racialization of racial and ethnic minority children. Not only should we equalize economic status, but also increase the marginal returns of economic status for racial minorities, particularly non-Hispanic Black families. Such efforts require public policies that go beyond access and also consider how we can empower non-Hispanic Black communities and families so they can more effectively leverage and utilize their economic resources to secure measurable and tangible outcomes. Structural and societal barriers such as residential and school segregation may hinder non-Hispanic Black children from receiving the full effects of their family-level economic status on a variety of outcomes, including their cognitive performance.

What are the factors influencing the school functioning of children in residential care: A systematic review

Abstract This systematic review focuses on the education of children in residential care, the in-care population subgroup at greater risk of school failure and dropout, with the aim of gathering evidence for associations between different variables and their impact on school functioning. It seeks to give an answer to what the factors influencing the educational pathways of school age children in residential care are. We identified 1,663 studies through the searches and 26 were earmarked for inclusion following the PRIMSA guidelines. Over 60 factors involved in the educational pathways of children in residential care were identified concerning children and their families, care and school contexts, and structural-level factors. A discussion on the findings has been provided, the strengths and limitations of the review have been identified, and the implications for policy, practice and research have been discussed.

Association of type 1 diabetes with standardized test scores of Danish school children

Type 1 diabetes (T1DM) is clearly associated with higher risks for cardiovascular disease and late complications, such as retinopathy and nephropathy. A putative impact of T1DM on neurocognitive development is less clear. For example, it is unclear whether T1DM is associated with school performance in children.

Parents' investments in the quality of education: the case of Ghana

ABSTRACT While school enrollment at the primary level has been rising in developing countries rapidly, international measures of education quality do not exhibit a parallel improvement. Since parents' expenditure is an important determinant of children's school performance, we investigate parents' investments on quality measured by their spending on books and other school materials. We develop an overlapping generations model in which parents use children's human capital as a screening measure for adjusting their investment. Our main hypothesis is that families consider better school performance to be a reliable predictor of future return, and this will incentivize them to invest more.

Does Parental Separation Lower Genetic Influences on Children's School Performance?

AbstractObjectiveA behavioral genetics approach is used to test whether parental separation lowers the importance of genes for children's school performance.BackgroundThe Scarr–Rowe hypothesis, which states that the relative importance of genes on cognitive ability is higher for advantaged compared to disadvantaged children, has been expanded to educational outcomes. However, advantage/disadvantage is predominantly conceptualized as parental socioeconomic status and neglects other important factors. This study expands upon the literature to include family structure as an indicator for advantage/disadvantage.MethodData from TwinLife, a new population‐register‐based sample of twins and their families in Germany, and ACE variance decomposition models are used to estimate the heritability of cognitive ability (NPairs = 896), school grades (NPairs = 740), and academic self‐concept (NPairs = 949) separately for single‐parent and two‐parent households.ResultsFindings show that the relative importance of genes on children's cognitive ability and academic self‐concept is lower for children in single‐parent households compared to two‐parent households (32–47% and 23–50%, respectively), but differences are negligible for math grades (41–43%). ACE models adjusted for mothers' education and household income retrieve substantively similar results.ConclusionThe quality of the family environment that is important for the realization of children's genetic potential is not just shaped by socioeconomic status, but also family structure.

Evaluation of blood lead levels by atomic absorption spectrometry in school going children of northern areas of Pakistan.

To evaluate blood lead levels and assess their correlation with academic performance in school children. The cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Chemical Pathology and Endocrinology, Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, from January to December, 2017, and comprised school children in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and Hajira, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. About 5 ml of venous blood was collected in potassium-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid tubes for lead levels, haemoglobin and plasma ferritin. The preceding three years' academic performance, rated as excellent, good, fair and poor, of the subjects was categorised on a specifically-designed proforma. Data was analysed using SPSS 24. Of the 400 subjects, 205 (50.25%) were females. The overall mean age was 9.15±2.8 years. Mean level of lead was 4.3±2.6 µg/dL, and difference in values was significant between children of Hajira and Rawalpindi (p<0.05). Mean haemoglobin was 12.9±0.919g/dL and mean ferritin was 49.17±16.0ng/ml. Of the total, 85(21.3%) showed excellent school performance, 162(40.5%) good, 113(28.3%) fair and 40(10%) showed poor performance. Significant negative association was found between school performance and mean blood lead level (p>0.05). No significant difference was found in terms of gender and age with school performance of both regions. Majority of school going children in northern Pakistan were found to have lead levels ≤ 5µg/dL which is a level of concern as it is inversely related to academic performance.

Hygienic substantiation of the daily regimen and weekly dynamics of the working capacity of middle-level students

The article presents the results of a study of the daily and weekly dynamics of the level of mental performance of studentsmiddle classes. Aim: creation of scientifically based recommendations for improving the daily routine of middle-level students. Mental performance was determined by the method of lesson timing and by the method of proofreading (according to the tables of V. Ya. Anfimov). Analysis of the dynamics of students' mental performance the middle level showed that the maximum efficiency was revealed on Wednesday, by Friday there is a sharp decrease in efficiency, which leads to an increase in the degree of student fatigue. In the first three days of the week, mental performance in most students develops in a favorable manner. At the same time, the introduction of dynamic pauses into the school routine of the day has a positive effect on the preservation of mental performance in schoolchildren. The data obtained from the results of the proofreading test allow us to conclude that the period of stable performance falls on only Tuesday and Wednesday, from Thursday working capacity is low, and by Friday fatigue develops after the first lesson.

Adverse health effects of lead exposure on physical growth, erythrocyte parameters and school performances for school-aged children in eastern China

We conducted a cross-sectional study with 395 completely matched student samples enrolled from a public primary school in Nanjing of eastern China, including questionnaires, blood samples, growth indexes and school performances, all of which were used for the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and general linear model (GLM). The results showed that factors, such as gender, age, parents’ education, residential passive smoking and picky eaters, had significant impacts on the blood lead levels (BPbs). As for the linear and non-linear dose-response relationship between BPbs and erythrocyte parameters, we found a positive association between BPbs and red blood cell count (RBC count) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) but a negative association between BPbs and hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH). When BPbs increased by 10 μg/L, the RBC count increased by 0.18 × 1012/L, while HGB and HCT decreased by 1.19 g/L and 0.41% for boys, respectively. As for girls, corresponding increases in RBC count was 0.05 × 1012/L, while HGB and HCT decreased by 0.82 g/L and 0.23%. Meanwhile, for both boys and girls, MCHC increased by 2.55 g/L, while MCV and MCH levels decreased by 0.41 fL and 0.12 pg each. Furthermore, a remarkable adverse effect (p < 0.05) was observed on children’s school performances as a result of increased BPbs. As BPbs increased by 10 μg/L, children’s scores for Chinese, Math and English decreased by 0.42 points, 0.39 points and 0.87 points, respectively. In summary, our study indicated that lead exposure can have adverse health effects on children's erythrocyte parameters, BMI, and school performances.

Quantitative and qualitative results from implementation of a two-item food insecurity screening tool in healthcare settings in Connecticut.

Millions of Americans face food insecurity, yet a universal screening tool is not in place. Food insecurity is known to be associated with poor health outcomes such as heart disease, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension in adults, and low school performance and mental illness in children. From January 2017 through February 2017, we utilized a validated two-item screening tool to assess the prevalence of households at risk for food insecurity and conducted a focus group of pediatricians. Patients at a Federally Qualified Health Center in New Haven, Connecticut were screened. Pediatricians of the American Academy of Pediatricians comprised the focus group. 534 of 1272 screening tool respondents were at risk for food insecurity (41.4%). Male respondents had higher prevalence than females (46.3% vs 38.9%, p=0.009), and Hispanics (34.4%) less than Whites (54.4%) and Blacks (53.8%) (p<0.001). Moreover, we executed a qualitative study of pediatricians' perception of food insecurity screening via a focus group. Themes that emerged from the focus group were agreement on the high importance of food insecurity screening, concern from caregivers about child neglect, and the difficulty of implementing the screening tool due to time constraints. We achieved successful implementation of the screening tool into the electronic medical record with a high completion rate of 97.9%. Identified barriers to universal screening for food insecurity include lack of efficient methods to direct food-insecure patients to resources and continued stigma regarding food insecurity.

Features of the quality of life of achievers with different levels of cognitive development

One of the urgent problems of medicine is the relationship between the main aspects of the quality of life and the cognitive abilities of primary school children. This problem also covers issues of pedagogy, psychology and social aspects of the life of the child population. The results of the study led to the conclusion about the main aspects of the quality of life (PedsQL 4.0 questionnaire), interrelated with the level of intellectual development (D. Wexlers method modified by A.Yu. Panasyuk (1973)) and academic performance (questionnaire) of first-graders at the beginning and at the end school year. The material was processed using the Mann Whitney U-test and the Wilcoxon W-test, for dependent and independent variables. A significant tendency towards a decrease in social and school functioning, psychosocial health, as well as emotional functioning at the end of the school year is shown, which indicates a decrease in adaptive mechanisms in younger students. The discrepancy between the level of IQ indicators and school performance of children was revealed. It was determined that children doing well at school had higher quality of life indicators. The most vulnerable for all the children studied was the psychosocial aspect of health. It was shown that in children with a high level of cognitive development, the emotional aspect of health decreased during the year, in primary school children with a low level of cognitive development, school functioning, and with an average, an increase in indicators of physical functioning. Given the identified features of the quality of life, which depend on the level of cognitive development, it is important to observe an individual approach to training, with the involvement of specialists from the psychological level.

Behavioral, social and school functioning in children with Pompe disease

PurposeTo improve our understanding of the behavioral, social, and emotional functioning of children and adolescents with Pompe disease. MethodParents/guardians of 21 children (age 5-18y) with infantile (IPD) or late-onset (LOPD) Pompe disease on long-term enzyme replacement therapy completed three standardized checklists regarding their child's behavior: the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Conners 3 Parent (Conners-3), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-2 (BRIEF2), and a survey of their child's educational services. ResultsDescriptive statistics were used to summarize the findings for each behavior checklist. Age standard scores from each checklist were reported for the IPD (n = 17, 9 females, mean age = 9y, 4 mo; SD = 3y, 8mo) and LOPD (n = 4, 1 female; mean = 11y, 2mo; SD = 2y, 1mo) groups. The majority of children with Pompe exhibited age-appropriate behavior and emotional functioning on these standardized checklists. However, negative mood symptoms, learning problems, decreased participation in structured social activities, and attentional difficulties were more frequently reported in children with IPD in comparison to same-aged peers. Parents of children with LOPD reported fewer problematic behaviors but endorsed negative mood symptoms and difficulties with peer relations. Most children received accommodations in regular education classrooms at school. ConclusionsThese standardized behavior checklists are useful screening tools for the early identification and treatment of behavior, emotional, and social concerns in children with Pompe disease.

Social-ecological predictors of school functioning in Hispanic children treated for cancer with central nervous system-directed therapies.

Children with brain tumor or acute leukemia are at risk for neurotoxic side effects associated with their cancer therapies. These long-term deficits include poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in school and lower educational achievement. Although social-ecological factors may impact these outcomes, it is not known which factors play a role. Our objective was to evaluate the factors affecting school HRQOL in Hispanic childhood cancer survivors, an important at-risk group. Multivariable regression analyses examined whether selected social-ecological factors contribute toward suboptimal school HRQOL in 73 Hispanic children treated with central nervous system (CNS)-directed cancer therapies after accounting for effects associated with established cancer-related risk factors. Consistent with expectations from prior research, in our multivariate analysis, the cancer-related factors of having a brain tumor diagnosis and being younger at cancer diagnosis were significant predictors of reduced parent-reported school HRQOL (F(2,65)=5.46, P<.01) and accounted for 14% of the variance. Adding the social-ecological variables of parent education, child motivation, and parental knowledge accounted for an additional 25% of the variance in school HRQOL, where higher levels were associated with better child school HRQOL. Parenting knowledge was a contributor even after controlling for effects associated with the other variables in the model (F(1,62)=4.88, P<.05). Cancer survivorship care should incorporate parent education interventions to enhance the child's school functioning, particularly for Hispanic childhood cancer survivors from predominantly Spanish-speaking families. Future research should consider other at-risk groups and incorporate social-ecological indicators to predict HRQOL outcomes.

Compreendendo o Baixo Rendimento Escolar Infantil a partir da Visão Biológica do Desenvolvimento Humano

In the field of teaching and learning, there are different factors underlying school performance, which can be addressed from the perspective of the bioecological theory of human development. The present work aims to understand the low school performance of children from the bioecological model of human development by Urie Bronfenbrenner, investigating learning in a holistic way, not attending to a single element. The study addresses the interrelationship between the family and school environments, showing that the context is a structuring component of the child’s development and learning, as well as providing an understanding of low school performance from the reciprocal interactions between individual and contextual characteristics.

Individually controlled noise reducing devices to improve IEQ in classrooms of primary schools

It is well-known that the indoor environmental quality (IEQ) at schools affects the health, comfort and performance of school children. Considering the need for a more effective way to improve both the IEQ in primary school classrooms and children’s satisfaction, along with the positive potential of individual control, this thesis aimed to propose a new way - individual control - to improve the IEQ in classrooms of primary schools and to increase children’s satisfaction in the Netherlands. First the main IEQ problem in classrooms as well as IEQ perceptions and preferences of the school children were identified through literature and field studies. The outcome showed that noise was the main IEQ problem in classrooms of Dutch primary schools, children could be clustered in according to their IEQ perceptions and preferences, and the reported IEQ-improving actions of the teachers could not effectively improve the IEQ for each child. As a follow-up, lab studies were performed in the SenseLab to explore the effect of background sound on children’s sound perception and performance. Together with the outcome of the field studies, results suggested that individual control is a better way to improve IEQ in classrooms. Therefore, to address the main problem – noise - in classrooms, an individually controlled noisereducing device was designed, prototyped and tested with school children in the SenseLab. The results obtained from the simulations, measurements, and children’s feedback on the prototype of the device, demonstrated the feasibility of such devices in classrooms at primary schools.

ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRESS FACTOR AND FUNCTIONAL STATE OF CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM IN ADOLESCENTS

A variety of factors influence the performance of schoolchildren. The main factors are psycho-emotional stress and systematic physical activity that requires a constant tension of body's regulatory systems aimed at mobilizing the functional body reserves. The analysis of blood pressure enables to estimate quantitative and qualitative changes in the regulation of the cardiovascular system. The combination of the Stroop test and the monitoring of the cardiovascular system make it possible to assess not only attention and cognitive function parameters, but the phases of the stress response of regulatory systems as well. The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship between stress factor and the functional state of adolescent cardiovascular system. In the context of stress factor (Stroop test), the circulatory system of students gets activated, and its indicators vary differently among boys and girls. At rest, girls have the lowest performance of the circulatory system. Before the test, heart rates vary in boys and girls in different ways. In the course of our study, we have found out a direct relationship between heart rate, blood pressure before and after psycho-emotional load that testifies the predominance of the sympathoadrenal system activity. We have revealed the arterial hypertension is determined by physiological and social factors. Prevention of arterial hypertension in existing standards of schools requires reconsidering and improving of educational approaches, especially in terms of physical education.

Sleep patterns and sleep problems in a sample of Spanish schoolchildren

Sleep in children is essential for growth, emotional health and cognitive function. Although it has been described that poor sleep can seriously affect learning capacity, this relationship remains unclear. The purposes were to: (1) describe sleep patterns and sleep problems in schoolchildren; and (2) analyze the relationship between sleep quality and quantity and academic achievement. This study included 330 children aged 8–11 years and who had complete sleep data from 20 primary schools in 20 towns from the Cuenca province, Spain. The Spanish version of the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire was used, and parents’ educational level, and academic achievement (final grades) were measured. Analysis of covariance models was used to assess differences in academic achievement by sleep problems and sleep duration categories, controlling for age and parents’ educational level. This study found that 6.1% of the children who participated in our study slept < 9 h/day, and 9.1% of them had sleep problems. Our results showed an inverse trend between sleeping < 9 h/day and having sleep problems with academic achievement, although these differences did not reach statistical significance (p > 0.05). In this study, a considerable proportion of the schoolchildren sleep less than recommended and have sleep problems. Sleep intervention may be important to prevent sleep problems and insufficient sleep in schoolchildren. Further research is needed to clarify the association of sleep insufficiency and problems with academic performance in schoolchildren.