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The (Unequal) Interplay Between Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills in Early Educational Attainment
American Behavioral Scientist ( IF 2.531 ) Pub Date : 2021-03-03 , DOI: 10.1177/0002764221996764
Carlos J. Gil-Hernández 1
Affiliation  

Cognitive and noncognitive skills are key indicators of educational success and merit. However, even when accounting for inequalities in skill formation by family socioeconomic status (SES), a wide SES-gap in college enrolment remains. According to the compensatory advantage hypothesis, SES-gaps in educational transitions are largest among cognitively weak students, but little is known on mechanisms. It has long been argued that noncognitive traits such as effort and motivation might be at least as important as cognitive skills over the status-attainment process, and these skills might interact by being complements or substitutes. Thus, I test whether advantaged students substitute low cognitive skills in test scores by high returns to conscientiousness—rated by teachers— in the transition to academic secondary schools. I draw data from the German National Educational Panel Study to study a cohort of students from Grades 1 to 5, when early tracking is enforced. I estimate linear probability models with school fixed-effects and moderation. To account for measurement error, I also use composite latent skills across elementary education. I report three main findings: (a) High-SES students at the same level of cognitive and noncognitive skills than low-SES schoolmates are more likely to attend the academic track bridged to college; (b) in line with the compensatory hypothesis, these SES-inequalities are largest among low cognitive performers; (3) cognitively weak students from high-SES families get the highest educational returns to conscientiousness in comparison to high cognitive performers or low-SES peers, validating the skill substitution hypothesis. These findings challenge the liberal conception of merit as the sum of ability plus effort in assessing equal opportunity in education.



中文翻译:

早期教育中认知和非认知技能之间的(不平等)相互作用

认知和非认知技能是教育成功和功绩的关键指标。但是,即使考虑到家庭社会经济地位(SES)造成的技能形成不平等,大学入学率仍然存在很大的SES差距。根据补偿优势假设,在教育转型中,SES差距在认知能力弱的学生中最大,但在机制上却鲜为人知。长期以来一直有人争辩说,诸如努力和动机之类的非认知特质至少与在获得状态过程中的认知技能同等重要,并且这些技能可能通过互补替代而相互作用。。因此,我测试了有优势的学生在向中学过渡期间是否通过由老师评定的尽职调查获得高回报,从而取代了考试成绩中较低的认知技能。我从德国国家教育专家小组研究中提取数据,以研究强制实施早期跟踪的一组1至5年级的学生。我用学校固定效应和适度估计线性概率模型。为了解决测量误差,我还在基础教育中使用了复合潜能。我报告了三个主要发现:(a)与低SES同学相比,具有相同认知和非认知能力的高SES学生更有可能参加桥接到大学的学业;(b)符合补偿性假设,这些SES不平等在认知能力低下的人中最大;(3)与高认知表现者或低SES的同龄人相比,来自高SES家庭的认知能力较弱的学生在尽职调查中获得最高的教育回报,从而验证了技能替代假设。这些发现对自由主义的择优观念提出了挑战,后者是评估教育中机会均等能力与努力的总和。

更新日期:2021-03-03
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