Wat doet zittenblijven met een leerling?

Nu het schooljaar flink gevorderd is, wordt in de komende periode voor veel leerlingen duidelijk of ze zullen overgaan of doubleren. De discussie over het nut en de mogelijke nadelige effecten van zittenblijven zullen dan vermoedelijk ook weer de kop opsteken.

En nieuwe studie die onlangs verscheen in Journal of Educational Psychology van Kretschmann, Vock, Lüdtke, Jansen en Gronostaj onderzocht de ontwikkeling van zelfconcept, interesse en motivatie in de periode voor het zittenblijven en de twee jaar na het zittenblijven. De resultaten van het onderzoek laten een flinke daling op deze constructen zien in de periode voor het zittenblijven en met name het eerste jaar na het zittenblijven.

Uit het abstract:

Despite the fact that grade retention is now seen as controversial in many quarters, it remains common practice in numerous countries. Previous research on the effects of grade retention on student development has, however, generated ambiguous results, particularly in terms of motivational outcomes. This ambiguity has been attributed in part to a lack of high-quality studies including a longitudinal design, a suitable comparison group, and adequate statistical control of preretention differences. Based on longitudinal data of N = 3,288 German students over 3 years of secondary school, we examined differences in their academic self-concept, scholarly interests, learning motivation, and achievement motivation between those being retained in the 6th grade (n = 61) and those of the same age being promoted annually. To account for confounding variables, we applied full propensity score matching on baseline measures of the dependent variables, as well as various other covariates that have been found to be associated with the risk of retention (e.g., cognitive ability, academic performance, and family background variables). Results reveal a steep decline in students’ academic self-concept, interests, and learning motivation during the last months spent in the original class, just before retention. For those measures that were available, negative effects were still partly significant after 1 year, but had diminished 2 years after grade retention. Contrary to predictions suggested by the big-fish-little-pond effect, we found no positive effects of retention on students’ academic self-concept.

De auteurs zetten op basis van deze resultaten duidelijke vraagtekens bij het nut van zittenblijven:

Accordingly, the results of the present study suggest that, if a student does not reach the criteria for being promoted to the next grade, teachers and parents should provide positive feedback and support to prevent a motivational dip that might be caused by students’ anticipation of imminent retention. Furthermore, our study strengthens the evidence that German policymakers need to find alternatives for grade retention.

Nieuw onderzoek naar de relatie tussen mindset en wiskundeprestaties

Over growth mindset is vast nog niet het laatste woord gezegd of geschreven. Casper schreef eerder al eens een post op deze blog over Carol Dweck’s theorie en op researchED gaf hij een kritische bespreking van de theorie en het effect van growth mindset en growth mindset interventies op leerprestaties van leerlingen.

In een recent verschenen studie in Contemporary Educational Psychology onderzochten Keiko Bostwick, Andrew Martin, Rebecca Collie en Tracy Durksen in een cross-sectionele studie de samenhang tussen een growth orientation en betrokkenheid van leerlingen bij wiskundeonderwijs en hun wiskundeprestaties.

Growth orientation is volgens de auteurs samengesteld uit growth mindset, self-based growth goals (je stelt jezelf als doel om zelf te verbeteren), en task-based growth goal (je stelt jezelf als doel om beter te worden in bepaalde taken aan de hand van specifieke criteria). 

In hun flinke steekproef (N=2949) vonden de auteurs een positieve samenhang tussen growth orientation van leerlingen en toenames van betrokkenheid bij het wiskundeonderwijs en hun wiskundeprestaties. 

Uit het abstract:

Academic growth constructs, such as growth mindset and various forms of growth goals, have been of substantial focus in psycho-educational research. Recent research has sought to identify how such growth constructs are inter-related, finding that an underlying growth orientation (comprised of growth mindset, self-based growth goals, and task-based growth goals) was cross-sectionally associated with more positive outcomes for students. However, for such a construct to have meaningful relevance to education and educational research, it must be associated with actual growth in academic outcomes. Accordingly, using two-wave longitudinal structural equation modeling in a large sample of Australian middle and high school students (N = 2949), we examined the extent to which students’ growth orientation predicted growth in academic outcomes. We hypothesized that students’ growth orientation would be positively associated with gains in students’ mathematics engagement and achievement, while controlling for student demographic covariates (e.g., gender, age) and prior variance in each substantive factor measured one year prior. Results demonstrated that students' growth orientation in mathematics was a significant positive predictor of students' gains in mathematics engagement and achievement, above other sources of influence. Findings are discussed in terms of improving researchers’ understanding of how growth constructs are inter-related and how to promote students’ academic success in mathematics.

Zoals de auteurs zelf aangeven in hun discussie kent hun studie ook enkele beperkingen. Allereerst leunen de auteurs op zelfrapportage voor het meten van growth orientations en betrokkenheid. Ook de manier waarop growth mindset, self-based growth goals en  task-based growth goals gemeten worden met telkens één item heeft beperkingen voor de validiteit van die metingen.

Bostwick, K. C. P., Bostwick, A. J., Collie, R. J., & Durksen, J. R. (2019). Growth orientation predicts gains in middle and high school students’ mathematics outcomes over time. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 58, 213-227.