TY - JOUR A1 - Becker, Michael A1 - Lüdtke, Oliver A1 - Trautwein, Ulrich A1 - Köller, Olaf A1 - Baumert, Jürgen T1 - The differential effects of school racking on psychometric intelligence Do academic-track schools make students smarter? JF - The journal of educational psychology N2 - Prior research has shown that quantity of schooling affects the development of intelligence in childhood and adolescence. However, it is still debated whether other aspects of schooling-such as ability tracking or, more generally, school quality-can also influence intelligence. In this study, the authors analyzed intelligence gains in academic- and vocational-track schools in Germany, testing for differential effects of school quality (academic vs. vocational track) on psychometric intelligence. Longitudinal data were obtained from a sample of N = 1,038 Grade 7 and 10 students in 49 schools. A nonverbal reasoning test was used as an indicator of general psychometric intelligence, and relevant psychological and social background variables were included in the analyses. Propensity score matching was used to control for selection bias. Results showed a positive effect of attending the academic track. KW - school quality KW - intelligence KW - cognitive development KW - longitudinal studies KW - propensity score matching Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027608 SN - 0022-0663 VL - 104 IS - 3 SP - 682 EP - 699 PB - American Psychological Association CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jonkmann, Kathrin A1 - Becker, Michael A1 - Marsh, Herbert W. A1 - Lüdtke, Oliver A1 - Trautwein, Ulrich T1 - Personality traits moderate the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect of academic self-concept JF - Learning and individual differences N2 - Equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-achieving classrooms than in low-achieving classrooms. This highly general and robust frame of reference effect is widely known as the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect (BFLPE; Marsh, 1987). This study contributes to research aiming to identify moderators of the BFLPE by investigating the effects of students' personality (i.e. Big Five traits and narcissism). Multilevel structural equation modeling was used to test the moderator hypotheses, drawing on data from a large sample of N= 4973 upper secondary track students (M age = 19.57). Consistent with a priori predictions, the negative effect of school-average achievement (the BFLPE) interacted significantly with narcissism. Students high in narcissism experienced smaller BFLPEs than did students with low or average levels of narcissism. The statistically significant effect for neuroticism acted in the opposite direction. The study illustrates how personality moderates frame of reference effects that are central to self-concept formation. KW - Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect KW - Academic self-concept KW - Moderation KW - Personality Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2012.07.020 SN - 1041-6080 VL - 22 IS - 6 SP - 736 EP - 746 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -