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This study investigated the developmental dynamics of mathematical performance during children's transition from preschool to Grade 2 and the cognitive antecedents of this development. 194 Finnish children were examined 6 times according to their math performance, twice during each year across a 3-year period. Cognitive antecedents, that is, counting ability, visual attention, metacognitive knowledge, and listening comprehension, were tested at the first measurement point. The results indicated that math performance showed high stability and increasing variance over time. Moreover, the growth of math competence was faster among those who entered preschool with an already high level of mathematical skills. The initial level of math performance, as well as its growth, was best predicted by counting ability.

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This study introduces a measure for school burnout and examines its validity and reliability among students in upper secondary high schools and vocational schools by using confirmatory factor analysis. School-related burnout comprises three dimensions: (a) exhaustion at school, (b) cynicism toward the meaning of school, and (c) sense of inadequacy at school. A total of 1418 (709 girls, 709 boys) adolescents from 13 postcomprehensive schools (6 upper secondary high schools, 7 vocational schools) filled in a questionnaire concerning their school burnout and background variables. The results showed that the three-factor solution, compared to one- or two-factor solutions, fit the data best and also gave the best reliability indices. The three theoretically-derived dimensions of school burnout were closely related but separate constructs. Finally, concurrent validity for the School-Burnout Inventory (SBI) was found when the correlations of depressive symptoms, school engagement, and academic achievement with each of the three dimensions of school burnout were examined: The more depressive symptoms adolescents suffered, the more exhaustion, cynicism, and inadequacy they reported; and the lower their academic achievement and school engagement, the more cynicism and inadequacy they reported.

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