Educational Psychology

School Achievement

Competence and Competing & Failing

 Is academic achievement the same as success ?

Can competence be measured ?

What does it mean to have a successful school system ?

What is the end goal of receiving an education ?

success, is often measured by 

Long term achievement of a school system -> Ability to create exemplary

citizens

Low crime levels

Volunteering
Respect and working values
Philanthropy
Political engagement
? School Achievement = Success
Definitions

Webster Dictionary : An achievement is a “result gained by effort.” ->

school achievement should be the result gained by effort within the framework of the school system

Encyclopedia of School Psychology :

“learned proficiency in basic skills and content knowledge.”

? How to define, and then, to quantify this success

Basic aspects of measurement :

The format used to collect information

Comparison of results

Testing purpose and process for making such decisions

 Constructed Responses Selected Responses
Requires the student to provide an answer The multiple choice structure

Critical thinking
Data collection and comparative analysis.
Complex understanding
Production responses - proficiency Skills Demonstration
The answer is either right or wrong,
Open form answer allows personalized approach,
Students are active in the process of creating the answer
themselves Same test may be applicable to
Minimize guessing innumerable students and the answers are
predefined
Disadvantages
Reduces the ability to obtain a vast database and create statistical
models

Reliance on skills may interfere the ability of self- Disadvantages

expression; to demonstrate mastery
Human being must read and grade the answers - limited to the
Limits information for decision making
.exams per time to grade

Guessing the answers

To measure academic achievement interpreting Test Referents
performance and information for educational decisions

Norm-Referenced:
(a) ranks in the form of percentile and stanines, all of which provide ordinal outcomes; and
which (b) scale scores such as z- and t-scores as well as normal curve equivalent scores, all of
provide interval outcomes.

For example:
SAT (formerly The Scholastic Achievement Test),
ACT (formerly The American College Testing Program),
GRE( Graduate Record Examination)

Criterion-Referenced:
Focuses on a specific set of items or problems that have been carefully sampled from a well-
defined domain to judge student mastery relative to a set of absolute criteria.

:For example
At a national level, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
provides explicit skill assessments and specifies certain levels of minimum competency, or
criteria, which measure a student's progress toward proficiency in many different subject areas.

Individual-Referenced:
Data obtained from repeated measures to determine an individual student's improvement over
time. Focuses on change, using the student's previous performance to mark improvement
Examples and case studies

UNICEF highlights similar results in the 2018 report, “An Unfair Start: Inequality in
Children’s Education in Rich Countries.”

The report brings to light the truth that, although our testing may succeed in measuring
comparative achievement, underlying factors beyond the scope of academia may
influence results. Some students enter school already at a disadvantage because of
poverty, language deficits, family background, or gender.

Harvard University is perhaps the best university in the world.

Why does it enjoy such prestige?
?Is it because students who get there obtain the best education
Maybe we have it backwards.

Perhaps the real reason for its status is that it attracts the best students in the world.

If the reason for the discrepancy is that the students of South Tel Aviv has a lower
performance compared to a school in Givatayim
because they don’t have computers and projectors inside the class, then increasing
.spending could help to mitigate the problem
 Threatens the long-term viability of the State of Israel to
maintain its status as an innovative, technological “startup
ISRAEL nation.”

2018 PISA examination - The typical Israeli student falls below

the OCED average for reading, mathematics and sciences.

The Israeli school system is struggling to teach existing

knowledge hundreds of years old

In seeking a system of achieving long-term, measurable
academic success, the writers of this paper believe a
combination of measuring styles should be implemented

Israel doesn’t find itself high on the international basic

educational ranking.

In fact, when the Israeli-Arab students are analyzed exclusively

performance on the last PISA was similar to Morocco and
below countries such a Jordan, Brazil, Moldova and Albania
all countries far poorer and less developed than Israel.
The results for Jewish Israeli performance isn’t great either,
and is on par with Portugal
 Like Israel
Singapore
Singapore - a densely populated, small country that has
managed to raise the standard of living over the past few
decades by integrating into the global economy.

The similarities stop here !

When it comes to educational performance on international
standardized tests, the differences are enormous.

Individual attention to students is not valued

Competition is the key.

Teachers rely on texts, workbooks and practice.

Cultural traditions extolling discipline produce committed

students, willing to work hours each day to master subject
matter.

Adequate behavior in class tends to come naturally from a

built up pressure within the family and society about the
obligation and expectation to succeed
Finland

The educational model perceived by many in the world of

education as one of the most successful systems, varies greatly
from other countries.

The Finnish system doesn’t use multiple choice questions,

prioritizing constructed responses.

There is no homework or competition, and the average age for

starting school, seven, is later than most countries.

Class size is small, and students tend to have the same teacher
for multiple years, creating a bond of trust and personalized
attention.

=>
In the area of international test scores, this system is working
for them.
 Changing Educational Practice
Decision making through school reform / improvement
which Achievement is working and which are failing and need to be changed.

Curriculum / Content of courses /Instructional practices / activities engage students - teachers.

: In Israel --- Using the analysis of tests results in decision making

Education minister Naftali Bennet (2015 - 2019) decided to increase the investment in the
instruction of the English language and of mathematics in order to improve the students’
.knowledge and raise standardized test scores
Education minister Shai Piron (2013 – 2014) encouraged visits of students to historical sites in
Jerusalem and around in order to improve the student's knowledge of the historical connection of
.the Jewish people to these historical sites

Due to the lack of basic knowledge of core subjects in the "ultra-orthodox jews –”Haredi” sector
community as shown in standardized testing, the education ministry is promoting an increase of
the teaching of these core subjects in that community. A knowledge of these core subjects is
essential for the development of the Haredi students and effects their ability to successfully find
.employment
Perhaps the greatest measurement of educational
success is the type of citizen it produces.

Has the student’s education given him the skills he needs to

learn how to learn ?

Does the student possess values consonant with his society’s

needs ?

Can the student enter into the workforce with a basis of well-
? rounded, common knowledge

Is academic success relevant to a satisfied, productive life, or is

! ? education