DER EFFEKT DER SCHULFORM AUF DIE SCHULISCHE LEISTUNG UND DAS FACHSPEZIFISCHE AKADEMISCHE SELBSTKONZEPT VON SCHÜLERINNEN UND SCHÜLER IN LUXEMBURG

Doctoral thesis (2016)

The present study investigated the effect of the attended school track on future academic achievement and subject-specific academic self-concept of students. Based on the assumptions of the Aptitude ... [more ▼]

The present study investigated the effect of the attended school track on future academic achievement and subject-specific academic self-concept of students. Based on the assumptions of the Aptitude-Treatment Interaction model (Cronbach & Snow, 1981), we expected an effect of previous school achievement and attended school track on subsequent school achievement and subject-specific academic self-concept. More specifically, we expected that previously high achieving students would benefit from attending the academic track while previously low achieving students would benefit from attending the non-academic track. School achievement and self-concept data were analysed using linear regression models and propensity score matching for a set of students (n = 3200), who attended either an academic or non-academic school track during the first three years of secondary school in Luxembourg. The results showed that the highest achieving students benefited from attending the academic track whereas the lowest achieving students benefited from going to the non-academic track in terms of their subsequent school achievement. However, most students in the academic school track outperformed students with similar academic profiles in the non-academic school track, showing clear benefits of attending the academic track. With regard to the subject-specific academic self-concept, data showed that students who attended different tracks assessed their school performance differently. Interestingly, students with comparable academic performances reported a higher subject-specific academic self-concept when attending the non-academic track compared to students attending the academic track. However, this effect disappeared for most school subjects after controlling for the student’s achievement-related ranking within their track. In conclusion, although very high and very low achieving students seemed to benefit from the tracked school system with regard to their subsequent school achievement, such benefits are less clear for the majority of the student population. [less ▲]

Kurz- und mittelfristige Effekte von Klassenwiederholungen in der luxemburgischen Sekundarstufe I auf die leistungsbezogene und psychoemotionale Entwicklung der Schülerinnen und Schüler

Scientific Conference (2015, March)

Identifying students at risk of school failure in Luxembourgish secondary school

in International Journal of Higher Education (2013), 2(4), 191-204

Das Selbstkonzept von Sekundarschülern als Kriterium für die Wirksamkeit von Tracking

Scientific Conference (2013, March 11)

Leistungstestwerte als Validierungskriterium von Schullaufbahnempfehlungen: Ein neuer formaler Ansatz

in Empirische Pädagogik (2013), 27

In this paper, an approach of validating school placement decisions is presented and ap­plied to a representative sample of N = 2 300 Luxembourgish 9th graders. In this approach, the vali­dation criterion ... [more ▼]

In this paper, an approach of validating school placement decisions is presented and ap­plied to a representative sample of N = 2 300 Luxembourgish 9th graders. In this approach, the vali­dation criterion “keeping the track” was supplemented by a criterion based on scores of standardized scholastic aptitude tests. For this purpose, students’ test scores were allocated to either of two catego­ries. These categories were separated by the test score that represented the intersection of the distribu­tions of test scores of students from either the vocational track or the academic track of Luxembour­gish secondary school. Students of the vocational track were considered as being misclassified if their test score was above the intersection test score, students of the academic track were considered as being misclassified if their test score was below the intersection test score. According to this classifi­cation rule, about 21 % of all students were misclassified. Predictive validity was estimated by the degree of agreement between school placement decisions and test categories and between school placement decisions and actual tracks, with the latter being higher than the former. The results ob­tained were discussed as indicators of both a lack of permeability of the Luxembourgish school sys­tem and placement decisions being only partially based on students’ performance. [less ▲]