Long-Term Prediction of Achievement and Attitudes in Mathematics and Reading

Abstract

The purpose of the longitudinal study was to investigate the prediction of children's academic achievement on the basis of cognitive tasks given prior to kindergarten, and academic attitudes on the basis of teachers' and mothers' ratings of the children's general cognitive abilities and actual achievement. Subjects were tested initially before entering kindergarten; from 105 to 154 of the 255 kindergarten children were followed through grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10. A subset of cognitive tasks maintained a high relation to high school achievement scores, especially in reading. Tenth-grade self-concept of ability, expectancy for success, value of success, and perception of task difficulty showed effects of sex and academic content area, with boys generally being more favorable toward math and girls more favorable toward reading. Children's attitudes were related both to mothers' earlier ratings of their children's cognitive abilities and actual achievement scores; this was especially the case for girls. There was a negative relation between mothers' ratings and girls' attitudes toward mathematics. Sex differences in all measures throughout the 11-year period are reviewed.

Processes in the development of mathematics in kindergarten children from Title 1 schools

“…Research has shown that knowledge of mathematics in preschool correlates .46 with 10th-grade math achievement (Stevenson & Newman, 1986) and successfully predicts math achievement through age 15 years even after accounting for early reading, cognitive skills, and family and child characteristics (Watts et al, 2014). For many topics and abilities, initial knowledge predicts learning and later knowledge (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2008;Jimerson, Egeland, & Teo, 1999;Thomson, Rowe, Underwood, & Peck, 2005;Wright, 1994).…”

Perceived Parental Influence on Mathematics Learning: A Comparison Among Students in China and Australia

“…It has been suggested that parents' involvement has a significant impact on students' attitudes towards mathematics, students' achievement in mathematics (Stevenson and Newman, 1986;Tocci and Engelhard, 1991), as well as gender difference in mathematics (Eccles and Jacobs, 1986;Tiedeman, 2000).…”

Perception of boys’ mother-son social interactions: Disruptive boys’ behaviors and involvement in learning tasks

“…Phillips (1987) and Stevenson and Newman (1986) reported that children who perceive themselves as less competent have parents with much fewer expectations concerning their success. Children's perception of their parents' expectations appears to directly influence the children's self-attribution of competence, as well as their involvement in learning tasks.…”