Propiedades psicométricas de la adaptación española de la escala School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised

Background: The assessment of attitudes toward school with the objective of identifying adolescents who may be at risk of underachievement has become an important area of research in educational psychology, although few specific tools for their evaluation have been designed to date. One of the instruments available is the School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R). Method: The objective of the current research is to test the construct validity and to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the SAAS-R. Data were collected from 1,398 students attending different high schools. Students completed the SAAS-R along with measures of the g factor, and academic achievement was obtained from school records. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis, multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variance tests supported the validity evidence. Conclusions: The results indicate that the Spanish version of the SAAS-R is a useful measure that contributes to identification of underachieving students. Lastly, the results obtained and their implications for education are discussed.Antecedentes: la evaluación de las actitudes hacia la escuela con el objetivo de identificar adolescentes que pueden estar en riesgo de tener un rendimiento menor a lo esperado en un área importante de investigación en psicología de la educación, aunque se han diseñado pocos instrumentos de evaluación hasta la fecha. Uno de los instrumentos disponibles es el School Attitude Assessment Survey-Revised (SAAS-R). Método: el objetivo de este trabajo es examinar la validez de constructo y analizar las propiedades psicométricas de la versión española de la Escala Revisada de Evaluación de Actitudes hacia la Escuela (SAAS-R). Los datos se obtuvieron de 1.398 estudiantes que asistían a diferentes institutos de Educación Secundaria. Los estudiantes cumplimentaron el SAAS-R junto con medidas del factor g, y se obtuvo el rendimiento académico de las actas escolares. Resultados: los análisis factorial confirmatorios, el análisis multivariado de la varianza y las pruebas de análisis de varianza sustentaron la evidencia de validez. Conclusiones: los resultados indican que la versión española del SAAS-R es una medida útil que contribuye a la identificación de estudiantes con rendimiento menor a lo esperado. Finalmente, se discuten los resultados y sus implicaciones educativas.This research was supported through research project GRE11-15, awarded by the Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Alicante, and Research & Development Project No. EDU2012-32156, awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Diferencias individuales en la predicción del éxito ocupacional: el efecto de la heterogeneidad de la población

Using a sample of 339 university graduates from the University of Alicante (Spain) three years after completion of their studies, we studied the relationships between general intelligence (GI), personality traits, emotional intelligence (EI), academic performance, and occupational attainment and compared the results of conventional regression analysis with the results obtained from applying regression mixture models. The results reveal the influence of unobserved population heterogeneity (latent class) on the relationship between predictors and criteria and the improvement in the prediction obtained from applying regression mixture models compared to applying a conventional regression model.Mediante una muestra de 339 graduados universitarios de la Universidad de Alicante, España, tres años después de acabar los estudios, hemos estudiado la relación entre inteligencia general (IG), rasgos de personalidad, inteligencia emocional (IE), rendimiento académico y consecución de empleo, comparando los resultados del análisis de regresión tradicional con los resultados obtenidos aplicando los modelos mixtos de regresión. Los resultados muestran la influencia de una heterogeneidad poblacional no observada (clase latente) en la relación entre predictores y criterios y la mejoría en la predicción a partir de la aplicación de los modelos mixtos de regresión en comparación con la aplicación del modelo convencional de regresión.This study was part of the research project ref. PSI2009-12696,funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Estimation of the Proportion of Underachieving Students in Compulsory Secondary Education in Spain: An Application of the Rasch Model

There are very few studies in Spain that treat underachievement rigorously, and those that do are typically related to gifted students. The present study examined the proportion of underachieving students using the Rasch measurement model. A sample of 643 first-year high school students (mean age = 12.09; SD = 0.47) from 8 schools in the province of Alicante (Spain) completed the Battery of Differential and General Skills (Badyg), and these students' General Points Average (GPAs) were recovered by teachers. Dichotomous and Partial credit Rasch models were performed. After adjusting the measurement instruments, the individual underachievement index provided a total sample of 181 underachieving students, or 28.14% of the total sample across the ability levels. This study confirms that the Rasch measurement model can accurately estimate the construct validity of both the intelligence test and the academic grades for the calculation of underachieving students. Furthermore, the present study constitutes a pioneer framework for the estimation of the prevalence of underachievement in Spain.The present work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Award number: EDU2012-32156) and the Vice Chancellor for Research of the University of Alicante (Award number: GRE11-15). The corresponding author is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference of the grant: BES-2013-064331)

Differences in Learning Strategies, Goal Orientations, and Self-Concept between Overachieving, Normal-Achieving, and Underachieving Secondary Students

The aims of this work were to identify and establish differential characteristics in learning strategies, goal orientations, and self-concept between overachieving, normal-achieving and underachieving secondary students. A total of 1400 Spanish first and second year high school students from the South-East geographical area participated in this study. Three groups of students were established: a group with underachieving students, a group with a normal level of achievement, and a third group with overachieving students. The students were assigned to each group depending on the residual punctuations obtained from a multiple regression analysis in which the punctuation of an IQ test was the predictor and a measure composed of the school grades of nine subjects was the criteria. The results of one-way ANOVA and the Games-Howell post-hoc test showed that underachieving students had significantly lower punctuations in all of the measures of learning strategies and learning goals, as well as all of the academic self-concept, personal self-concept, parental relationship, honesty, and personal stability factors. In contrast, overachieving students had higher punctuations than underachieving students in the same variables and higher punctuations than normal-achieving students in most of the variables in which significant differences were detected. These results have clear educational implications.The present work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and competitiveness (Award number: EDU2012-32156) and the Vice Chancellor for Research of the University of Alicante (Award number: GRE11-15). The third author is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference of the grant: BES-2013-064331)

Aprendizaje complejo: el papel del conocimiento, la inteligencia, motivación y estrategias de aprendizaje

This work presents the main theories and models formulated with the purpose of offering a global overview on the acquisition of knowledge and skills involved in the initial development of expert competence. Setting from this background, we developed an empirical work whose main purpose is to define those factors in a complex learning situation such as chapter-sized in a knowledge-rich domain. The results obtained in a sample of Master students reveal that the several variables intervening, such as the qualitative organization of knowledge, intellectual ability, motivation, the deliberate use of strategies, and a rich learning environment, contribute in an independent way to provide an explanation for the acquired knowledge.Este trabajo presenta las principales teorías y modelos formulados con el propósito de ofrecer una perspectiva global sobre los factores que influyen en la adquisición del conocimiento y las habilidades que forman parte del desarrollo inicial de la competencia experta. A partir de este contexto teórico se desarrolla un trabajo empírico cuyo principal objetivo es el de definir los factores implicados en el aprendizaje de amplia información significativa en un dominio de conocimiento. Los resultados, obtenidos en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios, ponen de manifiesto que la habilidad de organización del conocimiento, la capacidad intelectual, la motivación, el uso deliberado de estrategias y un ambiente rico de aprendizaje, contribuyen de forma independiente a la explicación del conocimiento adquirido

Validation of a Short Scale for Student Evaluation of Teaching Ratings in a Polytechnic Higher Education Institution

The general purpose of this work is 2-fold, to validate scales and to present the methodological procedure to reduce these scales to validate a rating scale for the student evaluation of teaching in the context of a Polytechnic Higher Education Institution. We explored the relationship between the long and short versions of the scale; examine their invariance in relation to relevant variables such as gender. Data were obtained from a sample of 6,110 students enrolled in a polytechnic higher education institution, most of whom were male. Data analysis included descriptive analysis, intraclass correlation, exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM), confirmatory factorial analysis, correlations between the short and long form corrected for the shared error variance, gender measurement invariance, reliability using congeneric correlated factors, and correlations with academic achievement for the class as unit with an analysis following a multisection design. Results showed four highly correlated factors that do not exclude a general factor, with an excellent fit to data; configural, metric, and scalar gender measurement invariance; high reliability for both the long and short scale and subscales; high short and long-form scale correlations; and moderate but significant correlations between the long and short versions of the scales with academic performance, with individual and aggregate data collected from classes or sections. To conclude, this work shows the possibility of developing student evaluation of teaching scales with a short form scale, which maintains the same high reliability and validity indexes as the longer scale.This research was supported by the Secretaría Nacional de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Ecuador, (SENESCYT; PIC-18-INE-EPN-002)

Rendimiento menor al esperado en Educación Secundaria Obligatoria: comparación de métodos estadísticos para su identificación en España

This study compares the statistical methods employed for detecting underachievement, specifically the simple difference method, the regression method and the Rasch method. A sample of 1182 first- and second-year secondary students from 8 high schools in the province of Alicante participated in the study. The results showed a percentage of underachieving students that varies from 14.55% to 30.37%, depending on the statistical method employed. The Rasch method identified the highest number of underachieving students. Statistically significant differences were found between gender and type of student-underachieving and non-underachieving; however, no significant differences were detected between the course and type of student. This study confirms the importance of knowing the measurement properties of the statistical methods, how they affect the detection of underachieving students, and the main educational implications.El presente estudio realiza una comparación de los métodos estadísticos más empleados en la detección del alumnado con rendimiento menor al esperado; concretamente el método de diferencias estandarizadas, el método de residuales de regresión y el método Rasch. Se empleó una muestra de 1182 alumnos de primer y segundo curso de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria de 8 centros educativos de la provincia de Alicante. Los resultados muestran un porcentaje que oscila entre el 14.55% y el 30.37% de alumnos con rendimiento menor al esperado detectados en función del método estadístico empleado, siendo el método Rasch el que más alumnos identifica. Asimismo, se detectaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre el género y el tipo de alumnado (con rendimiento normal y con rendimiento menor al esperado), mientras que no se detectaron diferencias en función del curso y el tipo de alumnado. Este estudio confirma la importancia de conocer cómo afectan las propiedades de distintos métodos estadísticos en la detección del alumnado con rendimiento menor al esperado, así como sus principales implicaciones educativas.The present work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Award number: EDU2012-32156) and the Vice Chancelor for Research of the University of Alicante (Award number: GRE11-15). The corresponding author is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Reference of the grant: BES-2013-064331)

Pre-Service Teachers’ Personal Traits and Emotional Skills: A Structural Model of General Mental Ability

Teachers’ personal traits and emotional skills impact the quality of the teaching they deliver. Therefore, this study analyzes the relationship between pre-service teachers’ general mental ability, personal traits, and perceived emotional intelligence, so as to present a structural model of general mental ability. It uses a sample of 196 final-year teaching students at a university in Spain (80.1% women, Myears = 22.96). The results of the structural equation model analysis reveal that personal traits and intelligence variables contribute the most to explaining the pre-service teachers’ level of training. Regarding the pre-service teachers’ academic achievement, conscientiousness and intelligence are direct predictors; negative neuroticism and conscientiousness are indirect predictors. The findings highlight the importance of working on these variables in the study of teacher training because they relate to relevant aspects of teachers’ work and can help to achieve a quality educational environment.This research has been funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE (Project Ref. PID2021-125279OB-100), and by the Own Program of the Vice-Rector’s Office for Research of the University of Alicante for the Promotion of R+D+I (Reference GRE20-22-A)

Students’ Evaluation of Teaching and Their Academic Achievement in a Higher Education Institution of Ecuador

This paper addresses the relationship between student evaluation of teaching (SET) and academic achievement in higher education. Meta-analytic studies on teaching effectiveness show a wide range of results, ranging from small to medium correlations between SET and student achievement, based on diverse methodological approaches, sample size studies, and contexts. This work aimed to relate SET, prior academic achievement, and academic achievement in a large sample of higher education students and teachers, using different methodological procedures, which consider as distinct units of analysis the group class and the individuals, the variability between students within classes, and the variability between group-class means, simultaneously. The data analysis included the calculation of group-class means and its relationship with the group-class mean academic achievement, through correlation and hierarchical regression techniques; additionally, a multilevel path analysis was applied to the relationship between prior academic achievement, SET, and their academic achievement, considering the variability among group classes. A multisection analysis was also carried out in those course disciplines in which there was more than one class group (section). The results of individual and group-class analysis revealed that SET was moderately low but related to academic achievement in a significant way once the effect of previous academic achievement was controlled. In addition, multilevel path analysis revealed the effect of SET on achievement, both within and between group-class levels. The results of the analysis carried out in the course disciplines with different sections, according to a multisection design, yielded similar results to the individual and aggregated data analyses. Taken together, the results revealed that SET was low related to academic achievement, once the effect of previous academic achievement was controlled. From these results, it follows that the use of SET as a measure of teachers’ effectiveness for making administrative decisions remains controversial.This research was supported by National Secretariat of Higher Education, Science and Technology, SENESCYT (PIC-18-INE-EPN-002)

Resultados de un programa de formación en competencias emocionales para profesorado de Educación Primaria

The aim of this work is to assess the effectiveness of a teacher’s training program in Emotional Intelligence for Primary Education teachers. The intervention aims to improve five teacher dimensions: intrapersonal (AI) and interpersonal intelligence (EI), stress management (S), adaptation (A) and mood (M). A total of 141 primary school teachers participated in the study (54.6% female and 45.4% male), with an average age of 38.4 years and an average teaching experience of 13.1 years. Randomly, 70 were assigned to the experimental group and 71 to the control group. The first group underwent the training program for 14 weeks. The 51-item Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was used to assess the dimensions. Cronbach’s alpha values are: 0.75 (AI), 0.77 (EI), 0.83 (S), 0.84 (A) and 0.88 (M). Pre-test measures were collected two weeks before the start of the program, and post-test measures were collected two weeks after the end of the program. SPSS version 22 was used for data analysis, where we performed Student’s t-test, MANOVA and ANOVA. The results indicated that all dimensions improved in the intervention group, highlighting the one corresponding to teacher mood.El objetivo de este trabajo es valorar la eficacia de un programa de formación docente en Inteligencia Emocional para maestros y maestras de Educación Primaria. La intervención persigue mejorar cinco dimensiones del profesorado: inteligencia intrapersonal (IA) e interpersonal (IE), manejo del estrés (E), adaptación (A) y humor (H). En este estudio han participado 141 maestros de Educación Primaria (54,6% mujeres y 45,4% hombres), con una edad media de 38,4 años y una experiencia docente de 13,1 años de promedio. Aleatoriamente, 70 fueron asignados al grupo experimental y 71 al grupo control. El primer grupo fue el que se sometió al programa de formación durante 14 semanas. Para evaluar las dimensiones se utilizó el inventario del Cociente Emocional (EQ-i), de 51 ítems, cuyos valores del alfa de Cronbach son: 0,75 (IA), 0,77 (IE), 0,83 (E), 0,84 (A) y 0,88 (H). Las medidas del pre-test se recopilaron dos semanas antes de iniciar el programa, y las medidas del post-test dos semanas después de concluirlo. Para el análisis de los datos se empleó la versión 22 del SPSS, donde realizamos la prueba t de Student, MANOVA y ANOVA. Los resultados indicaron que todas las dimensiones mejoraron en el grupo de intervención, destacando aquella que corresponde al humor del profesorado.This research was supported by the Department of Innovation, Universities, Science and Digital Society within the framework of the Program for the promotion of scientific research, technological development and innovation in the Valencian Community (Reference GV/2021/153) and by the Own Program of the Vice-Rector’s Office for Research of the University of Alicante for the Promotion of R+D+I (Reference GRE20-22-A)