The effect of school performance upon marriage and long-term reproductive success in 10,000 Swedish males and females born 1915–1929

Humans are an exceptionally intelligent species, and the selective pressures which may have shaped these advanced cognitive powers are therefore of interest. This study investigates the fitness consequences of pre-reproductive school performance in a Swedish population-based cohort of 5244 males and 4863 females born 1915-1929. School performance was measured at around age 10 using three variables: mean school marks, being promoted/held back in school, and recognised learning difficulties. Our primary outcomes were probability of ever marrying, total number of children and total number of grandchildren. In males (but not females), poorer school performance predicted fewer children and grandchildren. This was primarily mediated via probability of marriage; mortality and fertility within marriage were not important mediating pathways. The effect of school performance upon marriage in males was independent of early-life social and biological characteristics, including birth weight for gestational age, preterm birth, family composition, and family socioeconomic position. The effect of school performance upon the probability of marriage in males was, however, largely mediated by adult socioeconomic position. This suggests that in general sexual selection for cognitive abilities per se did not play a major role in either males or females in this cohort. Adult socioeconomic position did not, however, fully explain the marriage disadvantage in males or (at marginal significance) females with particularly poor school performance. We conclude that school performance can affect long-term reproductive success. In this population, however, the effect is confined to males and is largely mediated by the increased probability of marriage which comes with their greater socioeconomic success. © 2010 Elsevier Inc

Behaviour and school performance after brain injury

Primary Objective: To examine the relationship between behavioural problems and school performance following traumatic brain injury (TBI) Methods and Procedures: Subjects: 67 school-age children with TBI (35 mild, 13 moderate, 19 severe), and 14 uninjured matched controls. Parents and children were interviewed at a mean of two years post-TBI. Teachers reported on academic performance and educational needs. Children were assessed using the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scales (VABS) and the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-III). Main Outcomes and Results: Two-thirds of children with a TBI exhibited significant behavioural problems, significantly more than controls (p=0.02). Children with behavioural problems had a mean IQ approximately 15 points lower than those without (p=0.001, 95% CI:7 to 26.7). At school, 76%(19) of children with behavioural problems also had difficulties with schoolwork. Behavioural problems were associated with social deprivation and parental marital status (p ≤ 0.01). Conclusions: Children with TBI are at risk of developing behavioural problems which may affect school performance. Children with TBI should be screened to identify significant behavioural problems before they return to school

Role of Mothers\u27 Nutritional Knowledge, Nutritional Factors on the School Performance

A cross sectional study was carried out to investigate the effects of mothers\u27 nutritional knowledge, health and nutritional factors and socio-economic parameters on school performance among class five students of University Laboratory School, Dhaka. All of the eighty students were selected for this study. This study found there is a strong relationship between mother\u27s knowledge score and school performance. It was found that mothers\u27 knowledge score was responsible for 91.1 percent change in school performance. The mean BMI of the mothers was 20.44. We found that the school performance measured by class roll number of the students is significantly related with mothers BMI. There was an imperfect negative association between socio-economic parameters and school performance. But the relationship between the school performances with socio-economic parameters was strongly significant. This study also observed the relationship between Individual Dietary Diversity Score (IDDS) of respondent and marks achieved in class 4 final exam. It is alarming that consumption percentage were low for eggs (30) and milk and milk products (37.5), but majority of the students who consumed milk and milk products (63.3%) and eggs (66.7%) got the highest marks

Parental unemployment and children's school performance

This study investigates the effect of parental unemployment on children’s school performance. We use individual level data for all children completing lower secondary school in Sweden in 1990 directly moving on to three years of upper secondary school. We control for family and individual heterogeneity by means of lower secondary school GPA. The huge variation in Swedish unemployment during the beginning of the 1990s provides an ideal setting for testing the hypothesis that parental unemployment affects children’s school performance. Our results indicate that having an unemployed father has a negative effect on children’s school performance while having an unemployed mother has a positive effect.School performance; unemployment

Charter School Performance in New Jersey

This paper investigates charter school performance in New Jersey from 2000 to 2006. The analysis shows that charter schools have lower performance than public schools in the same districts on fourth grade standardized tests for Language and Math, but performance improves as charter schools gain experience. In addition, I find that the N.J. Dept. of Education is effectively closing low-performing charter schools. Lastly, regression results provide evidence of a competitive effect from charter schools to public schools.Charter Schools, Student Achievement, Competition, New Jersey