{"id":739,"date":"2019-04-18T22:30:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-18T22:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/?p=739"},"modified":"2019-05-21T00:05:14","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T00:05:14","slug":"a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-self-concept-of-ability-and-achievement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/2019\/04\/18\/a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-self-concept-of-ability-and-achievement\/","title":{"rendered":"A Self Fulfilling Prophecy: Self Concept of Ability and Achievement"},"content":{"rendered":"

Self-concept in mathematics is of great import in the achievement gap between males and females because it has been found to be deeply related to future achievement and activity choices. Mathematic self-concept is a reflection of an individual\u2019s evaluation of their ability in mathematics. Numerous studies have linked high mathematics self-concepts to higher levels of future achievement. For example, in a study exploring factors that impact achievement in mathematics, it was revealed that confidence in mathematics and attitude towards it, both self-concept related factors, were the two strongest predictors of mathematics achievement for males and females (Ercikan, McCreith, & Lapointe, 2010<\/a>). Herein, high levels of confidence in mathematics and positive attitudes towards the subject tended to have higher achievement scores. Self-concept has also been found to be a strong predictor of course selection in secondary school (Marsh & Yeung, 1997<\/a>). <\/span><\/p>\n

Gender plays a significant role in self-concepts of mathematics. A number of studies have found gender differences in self-concepts of mathematical ability. More specifically, males typically display higher self-concepts in mathematics over women. However, self concept does not always reflect actual ability. For example, in one study female middle school students were much more critical of their abilities in mathematics than male students even if they had the same grades (OECD, 2016<\/a>). This gendered difference in mathematics self-concept has been found to emerge as early as elementary school, and remains consistent through secondary school (Nagy, Watt, Eccles, Trautwein, Ludtke, & Baumert, 2010<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

Self concept of ability plays a role in mathematics tracking. One study investigated gender differences in gifted sixth graders, as compared with gender differences in a parallel sample of average-ability students, with respect to achievement, self-concept, interest, and motivation in mathematics. The study found that there was no difference in math related self concept of ability between the female students in the gifted track, and the females in the average track (Preckel, Goetz, Pekrun, Reinhard, & Kleine, 2008<\/a>). Additionally, while there was there was a gap in self concept of ability between males and females at both levels in favor of males, the gap was substantially larger in the gifted track. Despite earning equally good grades, females consistently had lower concepts of ability in mathematics than their male counterparts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Females consistently having lower concepts of ability\u00a0\u00a0is problematic because it is a predictor of future achievement and course selection. This link complicates the math tracking process because track placements are made according to achievement. Therefore, if a student has a low self-concept of ability, despite having the skills necessary to achieve, this distorted perception could foreclose future learning opportunities. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Self-concept in mathematics is of great import in the achievement gap between males and females because it has been found to be deeply related to future achievement and activity choices. Mathematic self-concept is a reflection of an individual\u2019s evaluation of their ability in mathematics. Numerous studies have linked high mathematics self-concepts to higher levels of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8771,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":742,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739\/revisions\/742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/achievementgap\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}