The Road Less Taken

This chapter argues that atheists are academically successful but for a different reason. Rather than being motivated to please God by being well behaved, atheists are intrinsically motivated to pursue knowledge, think critically, and are open to new experiences. This turns out to be even more important for academic performance than being conscientious and cooperative. Disavowing a belief in God is not what causes teens to do well academically. Instead, it’s a selection effect—the kinds of people who are exceptionally curious and therefore engage in self-directed behavior tend to be the kinds of people who are willing to go against the grain and take an unpopular religious view. Some of the most academically accomplished adolescents were those who grew up with religious restraint but moved away from religion by their mid-twenties. The chapter also discusses the role of parents in transmitting beliefs about God to their children.

How High Achievers Learn That They Should Not Become Teachers

In this article, Zid Mancenido examines how high-achieving students are socialized to believe that they should not become K–12 classroom teachers. Research has well established that academically successful students are often disinterested in teaching as a career, yet there has been little attention to how this disinterest is developed through the process of career exploration. To address this gap in the literature, Mancenido conducts a narrative inquiry based on interviews with high-achieving recent college graduates and graduating seniors. He presents six representative vignettes to demonstrate how high achievers learn through explicit and implicit signals that teaching is not appropriate for someone like them. This process is social, with parents and peers playing a significant role in shaping beliefs. These findings suggest that policy efforts to recruit more high achievers into teaching may benefit from more focus earlier in the career exploration pipeline.

Faculty Attendance Monitoring System: An Improved with Barcode Scanner

Higher education institutions (HEIs) seek ways to help students succeed at school. One way to make them academically successful is to ensure the regular attendance of the faculty at their classes. The importance of the teachers’ attendance at class is undeniable. Their attendance motivates students to attend their classes and students' presence in the class signifies a transfer of knowledge from the teacher to the students and vice versa. The Hel’s have their own way of monitoring the attendance of their faculty. Some schools use logbooks while some use computer-based systems such as biometrics, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID,) and barcodes. Each of the attendance monitoring systems has its own advantages and disadvantages. For one, the biometric system is basically used for identification and verification. Such system has three advantages in terms of accountability, efficiency, and profit. However, the system's verification function does not work all the time with all types of biometrics. This study aimed at designing and developing for Capitol University a barcode-based faculty attendance system using the System Development Life Cycle, especially the Waterfall Model, as framework. The development of the system was geared toward the improvement of the school's faculty attendance monitoring, making it efficient in terms of time, recording and coverage.

Effects of Learning Attitudes and COVID-19 Risk Perception on Poor Academic Performance among Middle School Students

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of middle school students’ learning attitudes and risk perception toward COVID-19 on their poor academic performance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. This study limited the sample to middle school students who responded that their academic performance was an A or B grade during the last academic year in 2019. For this study, 268 respondents were selected and logistic regression was employed. Self-motivated studying time and positive attitudes toward online learning predicted consistent academic performance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Middle school students’ preference toward an in-person classroom format was related to poor academic performance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. A risk perception toward COVID-19 was related to poor academic performance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. It is imperative to provide educational programs which help students develop self-motivated studying habits to maintain their academic performance during COVID-19. Policymakers in schools should consider providing in-person options for students who are more academically successful in such an environment.

Is all well? Academically successful international students in Malaysia

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the adjustment experiences of academically successful international students in living and learning in a private Malaysian higher education institution (HEI).Design/methodology/approachA total of 53 international students participated in a mixed-method study, where they completed a survey (close- and open-ended questions). Also, 12 international students were interviewed.FindingsThe findings diverge from other studies, in that issues with respondents' English language proficiency were minimal, but for some of the students, social and cultural adjustment was problematic. However, these students were proactive in improving their situations. These findings indicate foci for university improvement in study and living experiences for all students.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to one group of academically successful students at a private university in Malaysia.Practical implicationsThere are benefits to HEIs and international students in enabling students to reflect upon and share their successful strategies. These not only enable students to recognise and value their achievements but also contribute to the development of more inclusive practices that will enhance future students' adjustment and overall learning experience.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature with its focus on academically successful students at a private university in Malaysia, both of which are areas of limited research coverage.

Writing Feedback Groups in International EAL Doctoral Students' Development as Scholarly Writers

For many international doctoral students, English is an additional language (EAL), and consequently, scholarly writing in English is a source of academic anxiety. Although international English as an additional language (IEAL) students often have professional experience in their field of study and have been academically successful, the shift in linguistic demand at the doctoral level is especially challenging. Learning to communicate as a member of the academic community requires the development of discipline specific knowledge, rhetorical conventions, and discourse registers which precisely communicate complex ideas in their nonnative language. Research evidence points to the importance of social support and feedback in international/EAL doctoral students' socialization into scholarly writing. This chapter outlines the implementation of a writing feedback group with four IEAL doctoral students and their developing scholarly habits of mind and academic writing skills.

Parent Involvement Factors During High School From the Perspectives of Academically Successful Black Male College Students: Implications for School Counselors

This study used a strengths-based approach to examine the distribution of perceived parent involvement factors during high school from the perspective of academically successful Black male college students. Black males enrolled in an undergraduate degree program at a university in the southern region of the United States completed Yan and Lin’s Parent Involvement During High School survey, adapted from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Results revealed that among the distribution of the three factors (family obligation, parent information network, and family norms), Family norms was perceived as the most prevalent parent involvement subscale factor during high school for this particular population. The family norms factor subscale’s parent–teenager relationship emerged as the most dominant variable followed by educational expectations. We delineate implications for school counselors and research.

BIOELECTRIC ACTIVITY OF THE BRAIN IN PUPILS WITH DIFFERENT ACADEMIC SUCCESS. REPORT 2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ACADEMIC SUCCESS AND PATTERNS OF BIOELECTRIC ACTIVITY OF THE CORTEX

Background. The paper presents the study of the factors of academic success and failure in students, which is a relevant and socially significant problem. Academic failure often results in behavior deviations, drug abuse and other types of dangerous behavior. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to establish the reasons of academic failure, as well as the ways to improve academic performance. Aim. The paper aims to establish the features of responses of academically successful and unsuccessful 12-year-old children to cognitive load based on EEG data. Materials and methods. Twelve-year-old schoolchildren (n = 51) from Ekaterinburg participated in the study. Participants were divided into two groups depending on their academic performance. EEG recording was performed using the CONAN-m equipment (Informatics and Computers, Russia). Monopolar EEG recordings were obtained from 10 symmetrical leads in different conditions: during resting wakefulness (for eyes open and closed) and when solving experimental tasks of three types (simple arithmetic task, verbal and logical task, spatial thinking task). The differences between the samples of academically successful and unsuccessful children were assessed using the Wilcoxon nonparametric test. Results. Differences were revealed in a number of EEG indicators both at rest and when solving experimental tasks between academically successful and unsuccessful schoolchildren. The responses of academically successful children to cognitive load were characterized by predominant ctivation of the anterior cortical areas with a focus of activity in the left frontal area. Academically unsuccessful children were characterized by a more generalized type of EEG response with a focus of activity in the caudal areas of the cortex, especially when solving a figure rotation task. It was also found that successful children made mistakes when solving a figure rotation task and unsuccessful ones-when solving verbal and logical tasks. Conclusion. Children with low academic success were found to have characteristic features of the functioning of the cerebral cortex, which hampered the perception of educational material presented in the form of a logically structured message. However, these children were able to brilliantly operate with visual-spatial information. This must be taken into account when working with such children to improve their academic performance.

Academic Survival Skills for Urban Students

This article discusses specific attitudes, behaviors, and skills used by some urban students to greatly enhance their chances of experiencing academic success in school. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses demonstrate that regardless of students’ socio-economic background or ethnicity and race, high achievement can become an expectation. The research found the most commonly shared attribute among academically successful urban students was their willingness to assume greater personal responsibility for their educational outcomes. This research supports the position that urban schools should incorporate the teaching and practice of these attitudes, behaviors, and skills into the daily curriculum as a mechanism for meaningful student achievement and personal growth.