Twin Skin of Raza Learners: Race, Language, and Mathematics

Through a composite counter-story from the perspective of fifth-grade Raza learners, the authors show how race and language play a role in the mathematics classroom.

The relationship between cognitive development, behavior indicators, and Personal, Social, and Emotional Development in Pre-school

The paper investigates the potential of a questionnaire answered by teachers about the behavior and socio-emotional skills of children enrolled in preschool – start of compulsory schooling in Brazil. Based on this instrument, it describes the development of indicators of inattention, hyperactivity-impulsivity and personal, social and emotional development. It uses multivariate linear regression models to identify factors associated with the cognitive development of children enrolled in preschool. The results suggest that more inattentive children tend to have lower cognitive attainment, especially in language. The estimated coefficients in the multivariate model suggest that the Personal, Social and Emotional Development has a moderate to high effect size for language and mathematics. Implications of the results for educational policies are presented.

SOCIO-EDUCATIONAL CORRELATES OF BULLYING IN THE SCHOOL CONTEXT

Bullying is an increasingly common problem in schools, associated with negative educational outcomes for both bullies and victims. This study explored the socio-educational family and school variables related to bullying, victimization and positive behavior, such as age, gender, separation from parents, school results, and truancy. In this study 311 students (50.8% boys) have participated, they were aged between 6 and 16 years (M = 11.01, SD = 1.71), enrolled in primary school (47.3%) and in secondary school (52.7%), all were from urban areas. 43.8% of respondents were separated from one or both parents due to divorce (17.4%), parental death (6.1%), migration (20%) or abandonment (0.3%). Bullying, victimization and positive behavior were measured with one standardized scale; the data about school results and attendance of the students was collected from the school registers; family information was self-reported by participants. Because Cronbach’s Alpha for the positive behavior scale was 0.57, lower that 0.7, this scale was not considered for further data analysis. Empirical data for the study was collected before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Mann-Whitney U test showed significant age differences: secondary school students scored higher in aggression than primary school students. We also found significant gender differences in bullying behavior: boys’ reported higher level of aggression. The Independent Sample Student’s t-test indicated gender differences in school results: the boys obtained lower school results in Language and Mathematics than the girls. Separation from one or both parents did not lead to significant differences in bullying behavior, but pupils separated from their parents had fewer school absences than their colleagues not separated from their parents. Pearson’s correlation indicated that students with higher bullying scores, also scored higher on victimization and had higher number of school absences, but had scored lower grades in Language and Mathematics. One-way ANOVA indicated that victimization was influenced by age and bullying was influenced by gender. Also, one-way ANOVA indicated an effect of bullying on school results. Two-way ANOVA showed an interaction effect between gender and separation from parents on bullying. When living with both parents, boys had higher bullying scores, but under separation condition, the boys scored slightly lower than girls. The implications of the results for education and counseling are discussed.

EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE STUDENTSON ON THE SUBJECTS OF REGIONAL RATING OF QUALITY ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATION

Рассматриваются результаты анализа муниципальных исследований учебных достижений обучающихся по русскому языку и математике из учреждений, входящих в состав регионального рейтинга оценки качества деятельности образовательной организации. Исследование педагогических условий функционирования школ, отмеченных в рейтинге, позволяет определить возможные причины низких результатов обучающихся при высоком рейтинге образовательных организаций. В исследовании удалось сопоставить среднюю бальную оценку по русскому языку и математике в 6-9 классах с рейтинговым местом школ и установить ряд причин их несоответствия. The article considers the results of the analysis of municipal studies of educational achievements of students in the Russian language and mathematics of institutions that are part of the regional rating for assessing the quality of educational organizations. The study of the pedagogical conditions of the functioning of schools marked in the rating allows us to determine the possible reasons for the low results of students with a high rating of educational organizations. The study compared the average score in Russian language and mathematics in grades 6-9 with the ranking of schools and established a number of reasons for their discrepancy.

Academic and quantitative literacy in higher education: Relationship with cognate school-leaving subjects

Academic and quantitative literacies (AQL) are essential to success in higher education. These literacies are largely not explicitly taught, but acquired indirectly, mostly through practices in various school subjects. The National Benchmark Tests (NBT) Project assesses students’ AQL competencies to assist in identifying students who need support, with placement into appropriate programmes and with curriculum development. We analyse the performance on the NBT AQL test of students who took the school-leaving examinations in Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, English Home Language and English First Additional Language. We use the subject choice as a representation of the level of a candidate’s quantitative competence and language proficiency respectively, and investigate the relative contributions made by these subject choices to a student’s AQL. Students who paired Mathematics with English as Home Language subject had the statistically significant highest mean AQL score and those who took both English First Additional Language and Mathematical Literacy had the lowest. Language competence has a stronger effect than mathematical competence on AQL. Students who took the subject combination Mathematics and English Home Language at school are better prepared for the academic demands of higher education than their counterparts who took the alternate subjects. Treating these subjects as equivalent to English Home Language and Mathematics for admissions purposes ignores the differences in preparedness of these students.

Similarities and Differences in the Learning Profiles of Adolescents with SLD and SLI in Mathematics—A Preliminary Analysis

SLI and SLD constitute two independent neurodevelopmental disorders, which frequently cause challenges in the diagnosis process, especially due to their nature. This has caused disagreement among clinicians regarding their recognition as separate or overlapping disorders. The objective of the study was to enlighten the path of valid diagnosis and intervention during adolescence when the two disorders change their manifestation and overlap. Two hundred Greek adolescents (140 boys and 60 girls), 124 already diagnosed with SLD and 76 diagnosed with SLI, 12–16 years old, participated in the study. All participants were assessed in reading, oral and written language and mathematics (mathematical operations and mathematical reasoning) along with IQ testing. In order to determine statistically significant differences, the chi-square test, independent samples t-test, odds ratios and their 95 per cent confidence intervals were implemented. The results revealed that the SLI group presented significantly greater difficulties than SLD in their overall cognitive-mental profile and in most language and mathematical measurements (number concept, executive-procedural part of solving operations and mathematical reasoning). The similarity of the two groups was mainly detected in their deficient metacognitive, metalinguistic and metamnemonic strategies. The research concludes that SLD adolescents managed to overcome their difficulties to a significant degree, while adolescents with SLI still struggle with many learning areas.