Acceleration in elementary school: Using propensity score matching to estimate the effects on academic achievement.

Autor/inn/en	Kretschmann, Julia; Vock, Miriam; Lüdtke, Oliver
Titel	Acceleration in elementary school: Using propensity score matching to estimate the effects on academic achievement.
Quelle	In: Journal of educational psychology, 106 (2014) 4, S. 1080-1095Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	Forschungsdaten, Studiendetails und Erhebungsinstrumente
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-0663; 1939-2176
DOI	10.1037/a0036631
Schlagwörter	Grundschule; Schüler; Leistung; Schulklasse; Schulübergang; Schulübergang; Schulklasse; Klassenstufe; Übergang; Grundschule; Schüler; Leistung
Abstract	Using German data, the present study examined the effects of one specific type of acceleration - grade skipping - on academic performance. Prior research on the effects of acceleration has suffered from methodological restrictions, especially due to a lack of appropriate comparison groups and a priori measurements. For this reason, propensity score matching was applied in this analysis to minimize selection bias due to observed confounding variables. Various types of matching were attempted, and, in consideration of balancing the covariates, full matching was the final choice. Specifically, data from the Berlin ELEMENT Study was used, analyzing, after matching, the information of 81 students who had skipped a grade over the course of elementary school and up to 1,668 nonaccelerated students who attended the same grade level as the accelerated students. Measurements took place 3 times between the 4th and 6th grades, including the assessment of reading, spelling, and mathematics performance. After matching, the results of between-group comparisons regarding performance indices showed no significant effects of skipping a grade, other than a small positive effect found on spelling performance. Theoretical implications and methodological limitations are discussed. (ZPID).
Erfasst von	Leibniz-Institut für Psychologie, Trier
Update	2015/4