Browsing by Subject "achievement"

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    Gender Differences in the Impact of North Carolina’s Early Care and Education Initiatives on Student Outcomes in Elementary School
    (Educational Policy, 2020-03-01) Muschkin, CG; Ladd, HF; Dodge, KA; Bai, Y
    © The Author(s) 2018. Based on growing evidence of the long-term benefits of enriched early childhood experiences, we evaluate the potential for addressing gender disparities in elementary school through early care and education programs. Specifically, we explore the community-wide effects of two statewide initiatives in North Carolina on gender differences in academic outcomes in Grades 3 to 5, using administrative student data and information on variation in program availability across counties and over time. We find that although investments in early care and education programs produce significant gains in math and reading skills on average for all children, boys experience larger program-related gains than girls. Moreover, the greatest gains among boys emerge for those from less advantaged families. In contrast, the large and statistically significant reductions in special education placements induced by these early childhood program do not differ consistently by gender.
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    The Situational Adaptiveness of Implicit Theories of Intelligence and Achievement Goal Orientations
    (2009) O'Keefe, Paul Andrew

    Previous research has largely highlighted the maladaptive consequences of holding an entity theory of intelligence and the adaptive consequences of holding an incremental theory (for reviews, see Dweck, 1999; Dweck & Leggett, 1988). This research, however, has largely ignored the role of the achievement context and how it may conflict with the goals that naturally arise from implicit theories of intelligence. The present research demonstrates that the adaptiveness of theories of intelligence may depend on the demands of the situation. Across two studies, the most adaptive motivation, affect, and use of self-regulatory resources was observed when entity theorists pursued performance goals and when incremental theorists pursued learning goals (fit). Conversely, maladaptive outcomes were observed when entity theorists pursued learning goals and when incremental theorists pursued performance goals (nonfit). For several achievement-related outcomes, however, this pattern of results was moderated by perceived competence, suggesting that fit may be most adaptive when confidence in abilities is high, and nonfit may be most adaptive when it is low. Implications for achievement motivation and goal pursuit are discussed.