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A Model of Academic Enablers and Elementary Reading/Language Arts

Achievement

James Clyde DiPerna & Robert J. VolpeLehigh University

Stephen N. ElliottUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

School Psychology Review

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1. Theoretical and Empirical Models of Academic Achievement

• DiPerna and Elliott (2002) define the construct of academic enablers as “attitudes and behaviors that allow a student to participate in, and ultimately benefit from academic instruction in the classroom” and suggest that academic enablers include broad domains such as motivation, interpersonal skills, engagement, and study skills.

• One of the few empirically tested theories of academic achievement including student variables is Walberg’s (1981) theory of educational productivity.

• This theory posits that psychological characteristics of individual student and their immediate psychological environments influence educational outcomes (cognitive, behavioral, and attitudinal) (Reynolds & Walberg, 1992c)

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1. Theoretical and Empirical Models of Academic Achievement

• Walberg (1986) identified nine key variables that influence educational outcomes:

(1) student ability/prior achievement

(2) motivation

(3) age/developmental level

(4) quantity of instruction

(5) quality of instruction

(6) classroom climate

(7) home environment

(8) peer group

(9) exposure to mass media outsoide of school

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1. Theoretical and Empirical Models of Academic Achievement

• Both Walberg and Keith consistently found that a student variable, prior achievement, had the largest direct effects on current achievement, and another student variable, motivation, had significant total effects on achievement.

• Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993) attempted to explore the relative magnitude of each of 228 variables on academic achievement.

• The authors used three different review methods (content analysis of review articles, expert ratings, and meta-analysis) to determine which of the 228 variables have the most significant effect on student achievement.

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2. Relationships Between Social Behavior, Engagements, Study Skills, and Academic

Achievement• Wentzel (1993) and Malecki (1998) have contributed to a prog

ram of research exploring the relationship between social behaviors, problem behaviors, and academic outcomes.

• Wntzel examined the relationship between measures of academic outcomes (i.e., grades and standardized achievement test scores) and students’ social and academic behavior.

• Malecki (1998; Malecki & Elliott, 2002) extended the work of Wentzel through the use of standardized measures completed by multiple informants (parent, teacher, and student) to explore the relationships between social behaviors and academic outcomes.

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2. Relationships Between Social Behavior, Engagements, Study Skills, and Academic

Achievement• Additional evidence supporting the relationships between aca

demic achievement and the student variables of social skills, motivation, engagement, and study skills resulted from the development and standardization of the Academic Competence Evaluation Scales (ACES: DiPerna & Elliott, 2000)

• A teacher rating scale designed to measure students’ skills, attitudes, and behaviors that contribute to academic success in the classroom.

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3. A Theoretical Model of Academic Enablers and Academic Achievement

• Based on the work of Reynolds and Walberg (1991), Cool and Keith (1991), DiPerna (1999), five student predictor variables were identified for inclusion in a theoretical model of academic enablers and academic achievementacademic achievement. These variables were: Prior achievement, interpersonal skills, study skills, motivation, and engagement.

8Figure 1. Hypothesized model of academic enablers and academic achievement

Academic enablers

Academic achievement

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3. A Theoretical Model of Academic Enablers and Academic Achievement

• The model resulting from the use of the aforementioned empirical and theoretical criteria suggest that motivation plays an indirect but central role in the promotion of academic achievement.

• Motivation is hypothesized to influence two other skills – engagementengagement and study skillsstudy skills – that directly influence development of academic skills.

• Prior achievement and interpersonal skills, however, are hypothesized to influence a student’s level of motivation for academic learning.

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4. Method

• Participants• Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to analyze data

collected for a sample of elementary students.

• Participants in this study were 394 students and 104 teachers in kindergarten through sixth grade from 21schools in the Northeastern United States.

• Participants were divided into two samples: primary (Grades K-2) and intermediate (Grades 3-6).

• The primary sample (Grades K-2) consisted of 192 students and included slightly higher percentages of both females (56%) and first graders (48%).

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4. Method

• Participants

• The intermediate sample (Grades 3-6) consisted of 202 students and included slightly higher percentages of females (55%) and fourth graders (33%).

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4. Method

• Instrumentation

• The ACESACES (Academic Competence Evaluation Scales) was designed to measure students’ skills, attitudes, and behaviors that contribute to academic competence (DiPerna & Elliott, 2000).

• The teacher version of the ACES used in this study was an 81-item questionnaire with two separate scales (Academic SkillAcademic Skillss and Academic EnablersAcademic Enablers).

• The Academic SkillsAcademic Skills Scale includes three subscales (Reading/Language Arts, Mathematics, and Critical Thinking), and AcAcademic Enablersademic Enablers Scale includes four subscales (Interpersonal Skills, Motivation, Study Skills, and Engagement).

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4. Method

• Instrumentation

• 5-point ratings for each items.

• The Reading/Language Arts subscale was the only Academic SkillsAcademic Skills subscale used in the current analyses, and sample items from this subscale include “reading comprehension,” “written communication,” and “oral communication.”

• All four of the Academic EnablersAcademic Enablers subscales were used for the current analyses, and sample items include “follows classroom rules” (Interpersonal), “participates in class discussions” (Engagement). “prefers challenging tasks” (Motivation), and “completes homework” (Study Skills).

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4. Method

• In the initial research exploring the psychometric properties of the ACES, each of the scales and subscales has demonstrated strong evidence of reliability and validity (DiPerna & Elliott, 1999).

• Internal consistency coefficientsInternal consistency coefficients (Cronbach’s alphas) were high for the scales, ranging from (0.92) to (0.98).

• Correlations between the ACESACES and students’ scoresstudents’ scores (Composite, Mathematics, Reading, and Language) from the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS; Hoover, Hieronymus, Frisbie & Dunbar, 1993) ranged from moderate (.55) to high (.76).

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5. Procedure

• Each participating teacher randomly selected up to 5 students form her class roster and completed an ACES rating for each student approximately 6 to 8 weeks into the school year.

• Teachers then completed a secondsecond ACES rating for each student during the final month of the academic year.

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6. Data Analysis

• Structural Equation Modeling (SEMSEM) was used as the primary method for analyzing the data.

• Several indices were used to assess the fit of the proposed model based on the recommendations of Kline (1998) and Hu and Bentler (1995).

• These indices and threshold included the generalized likelihood ratio ( ) < 3.0; Goodness of Fit Index (GFIGFI) >= 0.9; Comparative Fit Index (CFICFI) >= 0.9; Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFINNFI) >= 0.9; and Root Mean Squared Error of Approximation (RMSEARMSEA) < 0.08.

fd.

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7. Results

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Table 1. Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations of the Variables Included in the Model for the Primary GroupPrimary Group (n=192)

( (7) = 36.34, p = .00, GFI = .94, CFI = .95, NNFI = .90, RMSEA = .15) 2

Good model fit !

Prior Reading Achievement

Interpersonal Skills

Motivation Skill

Study Skill Engagement Reading Achievement

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7. Results

Table 2. Correlations, Means, and Standard Deviations of the Variables Included in the Model for the Intermediate GroupIntermediate Group (n=202)

( (7) = 13.74, p = .06, GFI = .98, CFI = .99, NNFI = .98, RMSEA = .07) 2

Good model fit !

Prior Reading Achievement

Interpersonal Skills

Motivation Skill

Study Skill Engagement Reading Achievement

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7. Results

• The pathway coefficients resulting from this analysis are displayed in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Model of reading/language arts achievement for primary gradesprimary grades. (Effects reported as standardized regression weights.)

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• The pathway coefficients resulting from this analysis are displayed in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Model of reading/language arts achievement for intermediate gradesintermediate grades. (Effects reported as standardized regression weights.)

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7. ResultsTable 4. Comparison of Parameter Estimates between Primary and Intermediate-Grade Groups

• That indicated statistically significant differences between groups in the pathway between Motivation and Engagement (critical ratio = -2.09) and the pathway linking Engagement and Current Achievement (critical ratio = -2.56)

(尚未標準化 )

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8. Discussion

• (See Table 3) Prior achievement and motivation demonstrate large and moderate total effects, with current reading/language arts achievement in both samples.

Table 3.

Direct, Indirect, and Total Effects of Variables Included in the Best-Fitting Model of Reading Achievement

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8. Discussion

• Interpersonal skills also exhibited consistent relationships with achievement across the two samples; however, similar to the findings of Wentzel (1993) and Malecki and Elliott (2002), the magnitude of total effects was small. (Table 3)

• Engagement and study skills, exhibited different levels of total effects across the two samples. Specifically, engagementengagement demonstrated large effects in the primary sample and moderate effects for the intermediate sample. (Table 3)

• In contrast, study skillsstudy skills demonstrated negligible effects for the primary level and moderate effects for the intermediate level.

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9. Limitations

1. The first limitation is that the findings require replication to demonstrate that they are not unique to the current sample.

2. A second but related limitation is that alternative models of academic enablers must be explored to determine if the current model best represents the relationship between student variablesstudent variables and academic outcomesacademic outcomes.

• Multiple models can demonstrate good fit with the same dataset; thus, it is important that a variety of models are explored to determine which model is optimal from both an empirical and theoretical perspective.

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9. Limitations

3. A third limitation of the current study regards the use of teacher judgments to measure all of the variables included in the model.

• Although there is substantial evidence to support the accuracy of teacher judgments of academic achievement, data were not collected to cross-validate measured variables via source (e.g., parent, teacher, and/or student).

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10. Implications of Findings for Practice

• The results of this study suggest that prior achievement is a strong predictor of current achievement.

• A slight variation on the interpretation of this finding is that current achievement (knowledge and skills) is a strong predictor of future achievement.

• Thus, for students experiencing academic difficulty, chances for future academic success may be limited unless a change (intervention) is implemented to address specific academic skill problems.

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10. Implications of Findings for Practice

• In addition, the results of this study also suggest that the four academic enablersacademic enablers included in the model (i.e., motivation, engagement, study skills, and interpersonal skills) are worth considering when developing assessment protocols for students experiencing academic difficulty.

• If a practitioner designs an assessment that focuses exclusively on motivation and current academic skills, he may be overlooking key variables possibly contributing to the child’s academic performance (e.g., study skills, interpersonal skills).

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10. Implications of Findings for Practice

• This omission could result in the identification of the wrong cause of the academic difficulty (e.g., low motivation) as well as the development of an intervention that fails to address the true problem (e.g., difficulty getting along with others in their class that has decreased a student’s motivation to succeed in the classroom).

MotivationCurrent

AchievementStudy skills

interpersonal skills

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11. Directions for Future Research

- Models of academic enablers

• The first is to conduct additional studies with similar samples to explore the replicability of the current results. (Generalized)

• After identifying a best-fitting model, it should be tested across groups of students distinguished by sex, race, disability status, and level of education to determine the effect of these variables on the strength of relationships among academic enablersacademic enablers and academic achievementacademic achievement.

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11. Directions for Future Research

- Intervention research

• Models of academic enablersacademic enablers provide a framework to generate testable hypotheses for intervention research.

• They also provide a framework for thinking about outcomes that should be considered when conducting research to evaluate the efficacy of interventions.

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• For example, if a researcher is attempting to determine the effect of an intervention to promote social skill development for students with behavioral difficulties, that researcher may want to include additional measures to assess the effect of the intervention on related variables (e.g., motivation, academic achievement).

MotivationAcademic

achievementSocial skill development

for students

Study skills

Engagement

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12. Conclusions

• The purpose of this article was to introduce readers to theoretical and empirical models of academic achievement as well as to facilitate thinking about how academic enablersacademic enablers might contribute to overall academic achievementacademic achievement.

• The results from this study suggest that prior achievement and interpersonal skills influence motivationmotivation, which in turn influences study skills and engagement to promote achievementachievement.

• Further investigation of this model, as well as alternatives, is necessary to identify specific skills and behaviors that practitioners should consider in their assessment, intervention, and prevention practices.