Significant Predictor Of Academic Performance Research Articles

Self-concept of ability as a predictor of academic success among urban technical college students

Academic self-concept, rather than the traditional cognitive skills was a significant predictor of academic performance among minority and low-income students in an urban technical college.

Ethnic Identity and Academic AchievementAmong Latino/a Adolescents

This study examines Latino/a adolescents' ethnic identities and academic achievement. In open-ended interviews, the high school aged youth employed cultural and nationality explanations for their ethnic label choices. In many cases, they did not commit to a specific label, employing instead language that indexed their fluid, border identities. This study also made use of various academic performance measurements to quantitatively explore relationships between ethnic identity and academic achievement. A cultural dimension to ethnic identity and a bicultural identity emerged as significant predictors of academic performance. However, no single ethnic label had a definitive relationship with academic performance.

Predicting Academic Performance and Clinical Competency for International Dental Students: Seeking the Most Efficient and Effective Measures

Measures used in the selection of international dental students to a U.S. D.D.S. program were examined to identify the grouping that most effectively and efficiently predicted academic performance and clinical competency. Archival records from the International Dental Program (IDP) at Loma Linda University provided data on 171 students who had trained in countries outside the United States. The students sought admission to the D.D.S. degree program, successful completion of which qualified them to sit for U.S. licensure. As with most dental schools, competition is high for admission to the D.D.S. program. The study's goal was to identify what measures contributed to a fair and accurate selection process for dental school applicants from other nations. Multiple regression analyses identified National Board Part II and dexterity measures as significant predictors of academic performance and clinical competency. National Board Part I, TOEFL, and faculty interviews added no significant additional help in predicting eventual academic performance and clinical competency.

Components of School Engagement Among African American Adolescents

This study examined how various components of school engagement contribute to the academic performance of African American adolescents. The sample consisted of 499 African American adolescents in Grades 9 to 11. We investigated how adolescents' gender, grade, cognitive functioning, and parental education affect their school engagement and whether school engagement contributes to academic performance above and beyond students' background factors. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the conceptual school engagement model with 3 factors: school identification, school participation, and school expectations. Results revealed that students' gender, cognitive functioning, and mothers' education are related to school engagement. It also showed that components of school engagement predicted a significant portion of academic performance even after controlling for these background variables as well as their grade level. In examining the components of school engagement, school participation and school expectations emerged as significant predictors of academic performance, although school identification was not significantly associated with academic performance after controlling for students' background factors. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Interpersonal sensitivity and social problem-solving : Relations with academic and social self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and academic performance

This study investigated the relation betweeninterpersonal sensitivity and social problem-solving aspredictors of three outcomes in a college population (N= 207): self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and academic performance. Consistent with predictions,interpersonal sensitivity was related to problem-solving-- in particular, negative problem orientation. Bothinterpersonal sensitivity and social problem-solving were significant predictors of self-esteem anddepressive symptoms, each accounting for uniquevariance. Interpersonal sensitivity was a significantpredictor of academic performance, for both males and females. However, in females, social problemsolving was not related to academic performance. Inmales, negative problem orientation and dysfunctionalproblem-solving styles were important aspects of problem solving related to academic performance. Theresults are discussed in terms of the identification of“at risk” college students.

Exploring Predictors of Academic Success in Psychology I at Wits University as an Important Component of Fair Student Selection

The aim of the present research is to explore empirical predictors of students' performance in the Psychology I course at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Wits), within the context of procedural, distributive and interactional fairness. The research is divided into two studies: the first is an archival study examining the use of individual school subject results and the Arts Faculty Ratings (based on school results) as predictors. The second study focuses on the predictive validity of the Arts Faculty Ratings as well as that of various psychometric aptitude tests. In both studies the sample was divided into two groups whereby Group I consisted of primarily white students who had attended private or government schools and were not regarded as educationally disadvantaged; Group 2 comprised of black students who attended Department of Education and Training (DET) schools and were regarded as educationally disadvantaged. Results from both studies show that the Arts Faculty Ratings consistently provide a statistically significant predictor of academic performance in the Wits Psychology I course for educationally non-disadvantaged students. A far less clear picture emerged for the educationally disadvantaged group. The Arts Faculty Rating correlated significantly with overall success in first-year Psychology in the first study, while the Conceptual Reasoning Test was found to be the best predictor for this group in the second study. The implications of the studies for student selection are discussed within a social justice paradigm and future research directions are suggested.