Predictors of Students' Academic Performance

Abstract

Research conclusions concerning predictors of academic success have been, at best, less than convincing. In fact, these conclusions are more conflicting or mixed when emotional constructs are used. As a result, modern curriculum developers as well as classroom instructors seem to deemphasize, if not ignore, the role of the affective domain in student learning. This is rather surprising considering that psychology continues to play such an important role in education. For decades, researchers have disagreed about the role played by three primary emotional concepts: self-esteem, parental involvement and student perception as predictors of students' academic success. This study attempts to determine which of these constructs, singly or in combination, can predict students' academic success and if the inclusion of any from among a selected group of demographic variables - socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity and student grade level- can alleviate or at least mitigate the discrepancies of prior research conclusions. A survey using a five point Likert scale was developed to collect data from 164 students in grades 3-7 in a select Philadelphia Charter School. The data were analyzed using Varimax Factor Rotation, Pearson Product-Moment Correlations and Multiple Regression to find answers to four research questions. The results of the analyses using only the emotional constructs were not significant; however, when the demographic constructs were included, specifically the students' grade levels, significant results were found. This study does not settle the controversy over whether or not the emotional constructs are authentic predictors of students' academic success. Nevertheless, the study does give insight into the significance of including the demographic factor of student grade level as a predictor of student academic success. Consequently, the results of this study suggest that any research using emotional constructs to predict the academic success of primary school students should include the various grade levels of the students.