Abstract

Beliefs about academic functioning play an important role in the academic development of students. This study considers perceptions about underachievement, that is, the degree to which accomplishments are believed to be in line with potential. In particular, we examined why these perceptions might deviate from measured underachievement, determined by regressing achievement on a measure of cognitive ability. Using data from the TALENT-study, a large-scale study among 3,409 Flemish 7th grade students, we observed student, teacher, and parent ratings of underachievement to be moderately associated with underachievement. Girls were less likely to be perceived as underachievers than boys at a similar actual level of underachievement, in particular by teachers and parents. Comparing different achievement domains (general, mathematics, and languages), this underestimation of female underachievement was found to be most pronounced in mathematics. Moreover, at a given level of measured underachievement, cognitive ability was negatively associated with perceived underachievement: as high ability underachievers often still achieve at an average level, the level of their underachievement might be underestimated. Although findings were consistent over different operationalizations of underachievement, measuring underachievement in terms of standardized test scores instead of grades led to weaker associations with perceived underachievement.

摘要

对学术功能的信念在学生的学术发展中发挥着重要作用。这项研究考虑了对成就不足的看法，即认为成就与潜力相符的程度。特别是，我们研究了为什么这些看法可能会偏离衡量的成就不足，这是通过将成就回归到认知能力的衡量标准上来确定的。使用来自 TALENT 研究（一项针对 3,409 名佛兰德七年级学生的大规模研究）的数据，我们观察到学生、教师和家长对成绩不佳的评分与成绩不佳有中度相关。与实际成绩相似的男孩相比，女孩不太可能被视为成绩不佳的人，尤其是老师和家长。比较不同的成就领域（一般、数学和语言），这种对女性成绩不佳的低估在数学领域最为明显。此外，在给定的测量成绩不佳水平上，认知能力与感知成绩不佳呈负相关：由于高能力的成绩不佳者通常仍能达到平均水平，因此他们的成绩不佳程度可能被低估了。尽管对成绩不佳的不同操作化的调查结果是一致的，但根据标准化考试成绩而不是成绩来衡量成绩不佳会导致与感知成绩不佳的关联较弱。由于高能力的低成就者通常仍能达到平均水平，因此他们的低成就水平可能被低估了。尽管对成绩不佳的不同操作化的调查结果是一致的，但根据标准化考试成绩而不是成绩来衡量成绩不佳会导致与感知成绩不佳的关联较弱。由于高能力的低成就者通常仍能达到平均水平，因此他们的低成就水平可能被低估了。尽管对成绩不佳的不同操作化的调查结果是一致的，但根据标准化考试成绩而不是成绩来衡量成绩不佳会导致与感知成绩不佳的关联较弱。