Tracks as frames of reference for academic self-concept

Dockx, Jonas; Fraine, Beatrijs De; Vandecandelaere, Machteld

doi:10.1016/j.jsp.2018.12.006

Cited by 14 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 115 publications

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“…The LiSO project follows a cohort of 6457 students in 57 schools who started secondary education in the school year 2013–2014 (Stevens et al, 2015). A regional sampling strategy was used whereby nearly all students in the targeted cohort who attended school in the target geographic region were included in the study (Dockx et al, 2019). For the present study, data were used from wave 4 (T4) which was gathered at the end of the fourth year (May 2017) of secondary education (age 15–16).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring School Absenteeism: Administrative Attendance Data Collected by Schools Differ From Self-Reports in Systematic Ways

2019

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In order to use attendance monitoring within an integrative strategy for preventing, assessing and addressing cases of youth with school absenteeism, we need to know whether the attendance data collected by schools cover all students with (emerging) school attendance problems (SAPs). The current article addresses this issue by comparing administrative attendance data collected by schools with self-reported attendance data from the same group of students (age 15–16) in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (N = 4344). We seek to answer the following question: does an estimation of unauthorized absenteeism based on attendance data as collected by schools through electronic registration differ from self-reported unauthorized absenteeism and, if so, are the differences between administrative and self-reported unauthorized absenteeism systematic? Our results revealed a weak association between self-reported unauthorized school absenteeism and registered unauthorized school absenteeism. Boys, students in technical and vocational tracks and students who speak a foreign language at home, with a less-educated mother and who receive a school allowance, received more registered unauthorized absences than they reported themselves. In addition, pupils with school refusal and who were often authorized absent from school received more registered unauthorized absences compared to their self-reported unauthorized school absenteeism. In the discussion, we elaborate on the implications of our findings.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring School Absenteeism: Administrative Attendance Data Collected by Schools Differ From Self-Reports in Systematic Ways

2019

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“…Using the same sample as this study, Dockx et al . () also found that lower track placement generally has a positive effect on academic self‐concept in Flanders. However, it is unknown whether the more positive academic self‐concept caused by lower track allocation may also positively affect engagement.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…A Flemish data set was used for describing the development of school engagement during the first 4 years of secondary education. The same data set was also used for studies on the effects of tracks on academic performance (Dockx, De Fraine, & Vandecandelaere, ) and academic self‐concept (Dockx, De Fraine, & Vandecandelaere, ). However, in this study a new year's data have been added.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effortless or less effort? Effects of tracks on students’ engagement

Dockx

Branden

Fraine

2019

Brit J of Edu Psychol

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Background. It is found that assigning students to a lower track during secondary education negatively affects their academic performance. As an explanation, it is often mentioned that an anti-school culture in lower tracks undermines students' effort and involvement.Aims. This study assessed whether going to a lower track affects student engagement. For if an anti-school culture is to blame for limiting lower track students' performance, lower track assignment should reduce engagement.Sample. A sample of a longitudinal cohort study during secondary education in Flanders (northern Belgium) was used to describe development in engagement with n = 5,417 students in 46 schools. Four tracks were investigated across four school years.Method. Two main methodological challenges were present in this study, different student intake in each track and many students changing from a higher to lower track over time. Accordingly, we used inverse probability treatment weights with marginal structural mean models to account for different student intake and track changes. A comparison was made per pair of tracks that are hierarchically consecutive by matching students who were comparable across these tracks. Accordingly, there were three pairwise comparisons.Results. It was never found that being continuously in lower track negatively affects engagement. Only for one pairwise comparison, there was evidence that students who changed from the higher to lower track had lower engagement.Conclusions. We rejected the hypothesis that lower tracks negatively affect student engagement. This makes the anti-school culture as an explanation for lower track assignment negatively affecting academic performance implausible.

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“…That is, if the comparison target has a higher (lower) ability, one's ASC would also become higher (lower). Assimilation has also been assumed to result from "basking in reflected glory" (Dockx et al, 2019;Trautwein et al, 2006) and indicates identification with a certain group and its characteristics (that is, if a student is part of a high achieving group and engages in assimilation, he or she would conclude that due to being part of this group, he or she must be good achiever, too). Mussweiler (2003) argued that whether contrast or assimilation takes place depends on an initial, rapid, and holistic judgment of similarity between oneself and the target.…”

Section: Social Comparison Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Social comparison effects on academic self-concepts – Which peers matter most?

Jansen¹,

Boda²,

Lorenz³

2021

Preprint

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Social comparisons with peers are important sources of self development during adolescence. Many previous studies showed that to form their academic self-concepts (ASC), students contrast their achievement with the average of their class or school (the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect, BFLPE). Based on social comparison theory, however, we would expect some peers to be more likely social comparison targets because they are more visible or students perceive them as similar to themselves. In this study, we used sociometric data to analyze which peers play the most important role for social comparison effects on ASC. We examined how the average achievement of friends, study partners, popular peers as well as same-gender and same-ethnic peers affect the general ASC and how these effects compare to the effect of classroom average achievement. The study was based on a German longitudinal sample of 2,438 students from 117 school classes that were followed from Grade 9 to 10. As a novelty in ASC research, we applied methods for longitudinal social network analysis. . Our results do not confirm substantial incremental effects of specific peers, while class average achievement showed a stable negative effect (the BFLPE). In addition, we could provide evidence for social selection effects based on ASC. Controlling for endogenous network processes and similarity in achievement, gender, socioeconomic background, and ethnicity, students were more likely to select peers with similar ASCs as friends. We conclude that classrooms provide a specific setting that imposes social comparisons with the “generalized peer” rather than with specific subgroups of peers.

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Tracks as frames of reference for academic self-concept

Cited by 14 publications

References 115 publications

Measuring School Absenteeism: Administrative Attendance Data Collected by Schools Differ From Self-Reports in Systematic Ways

Measuring School Absenteeism: Administrative Attendance Data Collected by Schools Differ From Self-Reports in Systematic Ways

Effortless or less effort? Effects of tracks on students’ engagement

Social comparison effects on academic self-concepts – Which peers matter most?

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