Long-term trajectories of academic performance in the context of social disparities: Longitudinal findings from Switzerland.

Abstract

This study used a stratified random sample of classes in Zurich, Switzerland, comprising approximately 2,000 students whose academic performances in math and language were assessed across primary and lower secondary education. Based on this longitudinal data, the study investigated the association of social inequalities with the baseline of, and gains in, academic performance. The study focused on growing social disparities in academic performance during compulsory education, taking into account disparities in the social backgrounds of students as well as in social deprivation of school attendance areas. The results of a multilevel growth curve analysis implemented to model academic performance development at student and school district levels suggest cumulative disadvantages for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. These students (a) start school with lower initial knowledge and (b) experience lower improvements in academic performance. The findings also suggest that more advantaged school attendance areas achieved higher average performance levels in the early stages of primary education despite controlling for student socioeconomic backgrounds. On average, however, this gap in academic performance between more advantaged and more deprived attendance areas did not appear to widen over the subsequent years of compulsory schooling. AbstractThis study used a stratified random sample of classes in Zurich, Switzerland, comprising approximately 2,000 students whose academic performances in math and language were assessed across primary and lower secondary education. Based on this longitudinal data, the study investigated the association of social inequalities with the baseline of and gains in academic performance. The study focused on growing social disparities in academic performance during compulsory education, taking into account disparities in the social backgrounds of students as well as in social deprivation of school attendance areas. The results of a multilevel growth curve analysis implemented to model academic performance development at student and school district levels suggest cumulative disadvantages for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds. These students (i) start school with lower initial knowledge and (ii) experience lower improvements in academic performance. The findings also suggest that more advantaged school attendance areas achieved higher average performance levels in the early stages of primary education despite controlling for student socioeconomic backgrounds. On average, however, this gap in academic performance between more advantaged and more deprived attendance areas did not appear to widen over the subsequent years of compulsory schooling.

Psychological suzhi and academic achievement in Chinese adolescents: A 2‐year longitudinal study

“…Four different developmental trajectories of academic achievement for Chinese adolescents were identified: high‐positive growth, middle‐negative growth, low‐stable, and lowest‐stable. We did not find a low‐increasing trajectory (in which adolescents initially have low achievement but display a moderate or fast growth over time), and the lack of it was inconsistent with previous studies with western samples (e.g., Hao & Woo, 2012; Helbling, Tomasik, & Moser, 2019; Hodis, Meyer, McClure, Weir, & Walkey, 2011) but consistent with previous studies with Chinese children samples (Fu et al, 2016). In the Chinese school system, particularly in middle and high school, learning difficulty increases with grade level due to increased challenges and demands in the academic curriculum, class assignments, and academic examinations.…”

Preschool Mathematics Intervention Can Significantly Improve Student Learning Trajectories Through Elementary School

“…This is because, if such a linear growth trajectory truly occurred, the students who were advantaged early on in their development (e.g., by an effective instructional intervention) would necessarily remain advantaged over time, because the constant linearity of their learning trajectory would keep them ahead of their peers. Indeed, recent work that utilized a nonlinear decelerating growth model found that achievement gaps among high-resourced and lower resourced students did not increase over time in mathematics (Helbling, Tomasik, & Moser, 2019; Mok, McInerney, Zhu, & Or, 2015). These findings allow for the possibility that, by specifying a growth model as linear and therefore assuming that student learning rates are constant across developmental time, researchers may be overestimating the learning capacity of socially dominant children who enter schooling with higher levels of mathematics knowledge on average, or who grow faster on average earlier on.…”

The impact of family socioeconomic status and parenting styles on children's academic trajectories: A longitudinal study comparing migrant and urban children in China

“…A plethora of empirical studies have suggested nonlinear developmental trajectories of children's academic achievement in various domains throughout childhood and adolescence (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008; Bloom, Hill, Black, & Lipsey, 2008; Cameron, Grimm, Steele, Castro‐Schilo, & Grissmer, 2015; Ding & Davison, 2005; Helbling, Tomasik, & Moser, 2019; Parrila, Aunola, Leskinen, Nurmi, & Kirby, 2005). The general trend of academic development for most children in many countries indicates steeper rise during earlier schooling and continued but relatively slower growth later into schooling.…”

“…The general trend of academic development for most children in many countries indicates steeper rise during earlier schooling and continued but relatively slower growth later into schooling. However, researchers also found great individual differences in children's academic development, including both the starting levels and the changing patterns of their academic skills (Helbling et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2017). For example, children's initial academic levels and their growth rate were often found to be negatively or not significantly associated, suggesting initially low‐performing students to gradually catch up or not growing more slowly than their initially high‐performing peers (e.g., Ding & Davison, 2005; Parrila et al., 2005).…”