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S This study investigates the developmental dynamics between children's achievement strategies, reading performance, and parental beliefs, by using longitudinal data. The reading performances of 111 six‐ to seven‐year‐old children were tested four times during their first year of primary school. In the same time, the children's use of a task‐avoidant versus a task‐focused achievement strategy in the classroom context was rated by their teachers. Parents filled in questionnaires measuring their general beliefs about their children's school performance and their reading‐specific beliefs at the beginning and at the end of the school year. The results showed thatparents' beliefs in their children's general school competence predicted their children's use of a task‐focused strategy and a lack of task‐avoidance, which further predicted the children's high level of reading performance. Moreover, children's use of a task‐focused achievement strategy increasedparents' high beliefs in their children's general competence, whereas the children's reading performance was reflected in theirparents' skill‐specific beliefs. Este estudio investiga la dinámica evolutiva entre las estrategias de adquisición de los niños, el desempeño en lectura y las creencias de los padres, usando datos longitudinales. El desempeño en lectura de 111 niños de seis a siete años fue evaluado cuatro veces durante el primer año de escuela primaria. En los mismos períodos, el uso que hicieron los niños en el contexto del aula, ya sea de una estrategia elusiva de las tareas, o por el contrario de una estrategia centrada en las tareas fue evaluado por los docentes. Los padres completaron cuestionarios de evaluación de sus creencias generales acerca del desempeño de sus hijos en la escuela, así como sus creencias específicas acerca de la lectura al comienzo y al final del año escolar. Los resultados mostraron que las creencias de los padres acerca de la competencia general de sus hijos en la escuela predijo el uso que hicieron los niños de una estrategia centrada en las tareas y la ausencia de estrategias elusivas; ello adicionalmente predijo el alto nivel de desempeño de los niños en lectura. Más aún, el uso de una estrategia de adquisición centrada en las tareas aumentó las creencias positivas de los padres acerca de la competencia general de sus hijos, mientras que el desempeño en lectura se reflejó en las creencias de los padres acerca de habilidades específicas. Diese Studie untersucht die entwicklungsbezogenen Dynamiken zwischen Leistungsstrategien der Kinder, Leseleistung und elterlichen Auffassungen unter Verwendung periodisch‐fortlaufend bewerteter Langzeitdaten. Die Leseleistung von 111 sechs bis sieben Jahre alten Kindern wurde während ihres ersten Grundschuljahres vier Mal getestet. In den gleichen Zeitabschnitten wurden die Kinder auf den Gebrauch aufgabenmeidender gegenüber einer aufgabenzugewandten Leistungstrategie im Klassenraumkontext durch ihre Lehrer bewertet. Eltern füllten Fragebogen aus, die ihre allgemeinen Überzeugungen von ...

Fostering agency as a core component of professionalism is seen as a critical task of higher education. However, the tools for assessing university students' agency, and the pedagogical and relational resources needed for its development, are lacking. The present study describes the theoretical foundations and factor structure of the newly developed Agency of University Students (AUS) Scale, which assesses students' course-specific agency. In the factor analysis, ten factors emerged. Four of these -Interest and motivation, Self-efficacy, Competence beliefs and Participation activity -are seen to represent individual resources of agency. The other four factors -Equal treatment, Teacher support, Peer support and Trust -represent relational sources of agency. Finally, Opportunities to influence, and Opportunities to make choices represent contextual sources of agency. The psychometric properties and uses of the scale are discussed.

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The aim of this longitudinal study was to investigate the developmental antecedents of reading performance and its subcomponents from the beginning of the first year to the end of the second year of primary school. One‐hundred‐and‐fourteen seven‐year‐old Finnish‐speaking children were tested on reading‐related skills during their first week of school using a test battery designed for school entrants. Following this they were examined six times on word reading and reading comprehension skills. The results showed that the reading‐related variables predicting reading performance varied according to the phase of reading development. Moreover, partially different antecedents predicted word reading and reading comprehension. Word reading was associated with letter knowledge and listening comprehension, whereas initial word reading skill and listening comprehension were highly associated with the development of reading comprehension. The results support the development of reading instructional methods that take into account these differences in the components of reading performance and their development.