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The present study investigates school context effects on psychosocial characteristics (academic self-concept, peer relations, school satisfaction, and school anxiety) of high-achieving and gifted students. Students who did or did not make an early transition from elementary to secondary schools for high-achieving and gifted students in 5th grade in Berlin, Germany, are compared in their psychosocial development. The sample comprises 155 early-entry students who moved to an academically selective secondary school (Gymnasium) and 3,169 regular students who remained in elementary school until the end of 6th grade. Overall, a complex pattern of psychosocial development emerged for all students, with both positive and negative outcomes being observed. Specifically, the transition into academically selective learning environments seemed to come at some cost for psychosocial development. Propensity score matching analysis isolating the effects of selective school intake and the school context effect itself revealed negative contextual effects of early transition to Gymnasium on academic self-concept and school anxiety; additionally, the positive trend in peer relations observed among regular students was not discernible among early-entry students.
Die Sekundarstufe ist gekennzeichnet durch eine Sequenz von Übergängen, an denen Ungleichheiten durch Leistungsdisparitäten (primäre Effekte) und Bildungsentscheidungen (sekundäre Effekte) nach sozialer Herkunft relevant werden. Diese Herkunftseffekte werden mit dem vorliegenden Beitrag erstmals anhand von Daten einer vollständigen Schülerkohorte (Hamburger KESS-Studie) über den gesamten Verlauf der Sekundarstufe vom Übergang ins Gymnasium bis zur Studienintention analysiert. Eine Dekomposition und Quantifizierung primärer und sekundärer Effekte mit der KHB-Methode erfolgt dabei erstmals auch für den Eintritt in die Oberstufe. Abnehmende absolute Herkunftseffekte über den Bildungsverlauf, auf die bisherige Befunde verschiedener Stichproben verweisen, können mit dieser Studie zum Teil bestätigt werden. Zum vermuteten relativen Bedeutungszuwachs sekundärer Effekte zeigen die Ergebnisse kein eindeutiges Muster: Beim Wechsel ins Gymnasium überwiegen primäre Effekte leicht, wenn Noten als Leistungsindikator verwendet werden. Beim Eintritt in die Oberstufe bleibt die Relation nahezu unverändert. Erst bei der Studienintention fällt die relative Bedeutung sekundärer Effekte größer aus.
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.
Background. Assigning students to different school tracks on the basis of their achievement levels is a widely used strategy that aims at giving students the best possible learning opportunity. There is, however, a growing body of literature that questions such positive effects of tracking. Aims. This study compared the developmental trajectories of reading comprehension and decoding speed between students at academic track schools that typically prepare students for university entrance and students at non-academic track schools that usually prepare students for vocational education. Sample. In a longitudinal design with three occasions of data collection, the authors drew on a sample of N= 1,508 5th graders (age at T1 about 11 years, age at T3 about 14 years) from 60 schools in Germany. The academic track sample comprised n= 568 students; the non-academic track sample comprised n= 940 students. Method. Achievement measures were obtained by standardized tests of reading comprehension and decoding speed. Students at the different tracks were closely matched using propensity scores. To compare students growth trajectories between the different school tracks, we applied multi-group latent growth curve models. Results. Comparable results were recorded for the complete (unmatched) sample and for the matched pairs. In all cases, students at the different tracks displayed a similar growth in reading comprehension, whereas larger growth rates for students at academic track schools were recorded for decoding speed. Conclusions. Our findings contribute to an increasing body of literature suggesting that tracking might have undesired side effects.
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.
This longitudinal study of N = 1,566 adolescents investigated the protective role of optimism in adjustment to parental separation, focusing on two salient challenges faced by adolescents, namely academic achievement and self-esteem. Based on latent change models, the results indicated associations between parental separation and short-term declines in academic achievement as well as short-term and longer term declines in self-esteem. Although optimism in general showed positive associations with academic achievement and self-esteem, its role as a protective factor proved to be particularly important for academic achievement in adjustment following parental separation.
Cities and other human settlements are major contributors to climate change and are highly vulnerable to its impacts. They are also uniquely positioned to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lead adaptation efforts. These compound challenges and opportunities require a comprehensive perspective on the public policy of human settlements. Drawing on core literature that has driven debate around cities and climate over recent decades, we put forward a set of boundary objects that can be applied to connect the knowledge of epistemic communities and support an integrated urbanism. We then use these boundary objects to develop the Goals-Intervention-Stakeholder-Enablers (GISE) framework for a public policy of human settlements that is both place-specific and provides insights and tools useful for climate action in cities and other human settlements worldwide. Using examples from Berlin, we apply this framework to show that climate mitigation and adaptation, public health, and well-being goals are closely linked and mutually supportive when a comprehensive approach to urban public policy is applied.
Adults' ratings of children's personality have been found to be more closely associated with academic performance than children's self-reports. However, less is known about the relevance of the unique perspectives held by specific adult observers such as teachers and parents for explaining variance in academic performance. In this study, we applied bifactor (S-1) models for 1411 elementary school children to investigate the relative merits of teacher and parent ratings of children's personalities for academic performance above and beyond the children's self-reports. We examined these associations using standardized achievement test scores in addition to grades. We found that teachers' unique views on children's openness and conscientiousness had the strongest associations with academic performance. Parents' unique views on children's neuroticism showed incremental associations above teacher ratings or self-reports. For extraversion and agreeableness, however, children's self-reports were more strongly associated with academic performance than teacher or parent ratings. These results highlight the differential value of using multiple informants when explaining academic performance with personality traits.