TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kretschmann, Julia
A1  - Vock, Miriam
A1  - Luedtke, Oliver
T1  - Acceleration in elementary school: using propensity score matching to estimate the effects on academic achievement
JF  - The journal of educational psychology
N2  - Using German data, we examined the effects of one specific type of acceleration-grade skipping-on academic performance. Prior research on the effects of acceleration has suffered from methodological restrictions, especially due to a lack of appropriate comparison groups and a priori measurements. For this reason, propensity score matching was applied in this analysis to minimize selection bias due to observed confounding variables. Various types of matching were attempted, and, in consideration of balancing the covariates, full matching was the final choice. We used data from the Berlin ELEMENT Study, analyzing, after matching, the information of 81 students who had skipped a grade over the course of elementary school and up to 1,668 nonaccelerated students who attended the same grade level as the accelerated students. Measurements took place 3 times between the 4th and 6th grades, including the assessment of reading, spelling, and mathematics performance. After matching, the results of between-group comparisons regarding performance indices showed no significant effects of skipping a grade, other than a small positive effect found on spelling performance. Theoretical implications and methodological limitations are discussed.
KW  - grade skipping
KW  - academic performance
KW  - propensity score matching
KW  - acceleration
KW  - elementary school
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036631
SN  - 0022-0663
SN  - 1939-2176
VL  - 106
IS  - 4
SP  - 1080
EP  - 1095
PB  - American Psychological Association
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Schiefele, Ulrich
A1  - Schaffner, Ellen
T1  - Reading motivation of Sixth-Grade Elementary School Students - results from an interview study
JF  - Psychologie in Erziehung und Unterricht : Zeitschrift für Forschung und Praxis
N2  - Based on research by Wigfield and Guthrie (1997), Moller and Bonerad (2007) as well as Schaffner and Schiefele (2007) have developed questionnaires to assess students' reading motivation. The goal of the present study was to examine whether these instruments coincide with students' subjective views of their own reading motivation. In order to clarify this question, we conducted interviews with 26 elementary school students and applied content analysis to examine the interview protocols. Although the results support some of the theoretically postulated components, they suggest that questionnaire measures have neglected some important aspects of reading motivation (e. g., reading to regulate one's feelings, reading to relax). Finally, consequences for the revision of reading motivation questionnaires were discussed.
KW  - Reading motivation
KW  - interview method
KW  - elementary school
Y1  - 2013
U6  - https://doi.org/10.2378/peu2013.art17d
SN  - 0342-183X
VL  - 60
IS  - 3
SP  - 214
EP  - 233
PB  - Reinhardt
CY  - München
ER  -