Academic success is more than just getting high grades

Last Updated: 25 May 2020
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Academic success has been found to be strongly associated with fiscal success, societal mobility, higher educational attainment and even higher occupation places ( Goldhaber, 1996 ) . This would intend that educational experiences should jointly fix the pupil for the academic demands of higher instruction in order to see positive academic public presentation that would take to academic success. Academic success is more than merely acquiring high classs and executing magnificently in class demands and tests, it is a positive manifestation of the pupils ' ability to larn from their categories and to take what they have learned into a working cognition of their chosen field ( Walberg & A ; Bast, 2004 ) .

Academic success in college nevertheless has non been the focal point of high school course of studies ; the chief intent of high schools is to graduate pupils and to be able to measure up them for admittance to colleges. In consequence, it was found that the relationship between high school plans and college course of study is inconsistent at best ( Gradstein & A ; Justman, 2005 ) . High schools have given more focal point on acquiring their alumnuss into college, without much idea about how their pupils would execute in college. It is normally assumed that the old ages spent in old educational degrees would finally fix the pupil for college. However, the nexus between high school and college public presentation remain to be weak and the association seems to be mediated by other factors such as socioeconomic position, type of school ( Bedi & A ; Garg, 2000 ) , personality and course of study.

College public presentation has been found to be influenced by high school classs ; nevertheless, the influence was minimum and was merely true at the start of first-year twelvemonth. High school classs were non able to foretell college public presentation in the higher college old ages. This would besides back up the findings that high school instruction does non concentrate on the instruction of accomplishments and cognition that would guarantee academic success in college ( Waters & A ; Marzano, 2006 ) . The weak nexus between high school classs and college nevertheless was pointed out to be due to the fact that during the 3rd and 4th twelvemonth in college, courses become more specialised and geared towards the pupils major. It has been argued that high school classs predicted academic public presentation during first-year twelvemonth where pupils need it most. On the other manus, some argue that college public presentation is more of import in that it teaches the pupil the accomplishments and cognition necessary for the pattern of a calling or profession.

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Aside from high school classs, old researches on college success had identified the importance of the pupils ' attitudes towards their acquisition and experiences in the university. Attitudes have been found to be strongly related to one 's behaviour, therefore, it would follow that the more positive the attitude is, the more positive the behaviour will be ( Petty & A ; Krosnick, 1995 ) . Consequently, negative attitudes had been found to be associated with negative and destructive behaviour ( Eason, Giannangelo & A ; Franceschini III, 2009 ) . It would besides follow that the more pleasant and positive the attitudes towards acquisition, so, the better the public presentation in one 's classs. Positive attitudes had non been systematically associated with higher motive or better public presentation, but the relationship of negative attitudes to behavior has been good documented. Negative attitudes about ever led to hapless public presentation, hapless classs and less engagement in the school. Furthermore, less than positive attitudes towards the school or the university in general had been found to be prognostic of dropouts and abrasion rate ( Spillane, 2010 ) . It is hence of import for colleges and universities to measure their pupil 's attitudes and experiences in the university in order to supply plans and establish policies that would promote positive attitudes and better acquisition.

College public presentation has been traditionally measured utilizing college classs such as GPA and admission trial tonss. College admittance trials non merely screen and topographic point pupils into different classs, but it step prior acquisition, which high schools provide ( Greene & A ; Kang, 2004 ) . However, since high school classs can non wholly predict college success, other pertinent variables that had been associated with college success has to be investigated in order to place which factors impact college public presentation and success. One of the most researched factors is that of school type ( Quah, Lim & A ; Brook, 2010 ) .

The argument on private versus public instruction had spurned legion discourse and surveies on how type of school might act upon academic public presentation, particularly high school instruction and how it affects college public presentation ( Epple, Figlio & A ; Romano, 2004 ) . Like high school classs, the difference between private and public school instruction as it pertains to college academic public presentation had been inconclusive ( Sandy, 1989 ) . The difference in the public presentation of pupils from private high schools compared to pupils from public schools were minimum, and decreased even more when the pupils reached higher twelvemonth degrees in college ( Jimenez & A ; Sawada,2001 ) . However, what was a consistent determination from these researches was the observation that private school alumnuss tend to execute better academically, tend to hold higher tonss in admittance trials and achievement trials.

Educators and educational research workers have accepted the thought that private school pupils do better when compared to public school pupils even when all confounding variables had been controlled such as socioeconomic position and intelligence ( Frey, 1992 ) . With this statement ; the inquiry of what is the difference between private and public schools and why is it that private schools tend to bring forth better scholars and performing artists than public schools need to be answered. At first pedagogues frequently cited the difference in the sort of pupils catered to by the private schools from the public schools and pointed out that the difference in public presentation can non wholly be accounted to the type of school ( Buddin, Cordes & A ; Kirby, 1998 ) . Factors such as old acquisition, course of study, socioeconomic position, household background and civilization influenced academic public presentation ( Coleman & A ; Hoffer, 1987 ) . Recently, the consistent findings that indicate that private school pupils perform better academically have made educational research workers and theoreticians rethink their premises. Research conducted in Europe and Asia ( Cox & A ; Jimenez, 1990 ; Psacharopoulos, 1987 ) has reported that private school pupils do execute better in academic related undertakings than their public school opposite numbers ( Ridell, 1993 ) .

Arguably, type of school is related to college public presentation, being that private school alumnuss besides perform better in college than public school alumnuss. Since, the observation is in the type of establishment or organisation, so factors that might explicate why private school alumnuss are academically better prevarications in the organisational features of the schools and non so much on the sort of pupils they produce ( Walberg & A ; Bast, 2004 ) . It is besides more appropriate to place which organisational factors had been found to act upon pupil outcomes more than any other factors ( Dee, 1998 ) . Literature on school pick and answerability have pointed out that school leading to a great extent influences the entire quality and public presentation of a school. Furthermore, the school 's course of study was pointed out as a cardinal determiner of the sort of preparation and direction that the pupils receive ( Wray, 2007 ) . Besides, the sort of instructors that schools employ to learn the pupils besides play a immense function in the learning procedure of the pupils, schools differ in their instructor demands, and it would look that private schools have stricter guidelines when it comes to the choice and enlisting of instructors ( Greene & A ; Kang, 2004 ) .

School leading has been found to be a primary index of the quality of pupil and school results ( Bess & A ; Goldman, 2001 ) . Schools with a more involved and motivated leader have been found to be associated with better teacher-parent relationships, less school force, higher achievement trial tonss and higher graduation rates. On the other manus, schools with hapless leading fail to make expected school public presentation in footings of pupil accomplishment and are related to higher dropout rates, higher instructor abrasion and school force. School leading has besides been associated with better acquisition environments and the development of plans and steps that cultivate the academic and personal development of pupils ( Bryman, 2004 ) . School principals by and large assume leading functions and they manage, motivate, lead and countenance the instructors, forces and pupils and construct positive relationships with parents and stakeholders. Principals by and large stay in one school for non less than 3 old ages so that they would be able to establish alteration and make a school civilization for that school ( Chance & A ; Chance, 2002 ) . Hence, it is of primary importance that school principals and the sort of leading they pattern would supply rich information on the difference between private and public schools.

The really kernel of a school is found in its course of study. The school 's course of study provides the acquisition subjects, the instructional stuffs, the educational attacks and larning aims every bit good as the school 's topics and class offerings ( Bishop, 1995 ) . There are different types of course of study and it frequently reflects the civilization and the mission and vision of the schools ( Kelly, 2009 ) . Schools differ in their course of study offerings because schools tailor fit their subjects and larning activities to the world of the pupil population that they cater to ( Deng, 2010 ) . If the school chiefly provide developing in the humanistic disciplines, so the course of study would be geared towards the instruction of the different art signifiers and supply the chance for the look of said art signifiers. Alternatively, high schools that follow a more scientific discipline and math-based course of study would besides plan a course of study focused on the instruction of more math and scientific discipline topics.

A closely related factor to course of study is the quality and learning accomplishments of the school 's module. Teachers have been trained in different topics so that they could supply a holistic acquisition experience to their pupils. The act of instruction is nevertheless more than merely giving treatments and quizzes. Teachers who consequence alteration or motivate pupils to execute more ; those who facilitate acquisition and the command of accomplishments are the sort of instructors that provide quality instruction to the pupils ( Murray & A ; Male, 2005 ) . Public schools by and large have similar instructor demands and frequently follow what the jurisprudence authorizations, while private schools may be more discriminating and have stringent instructor demands. Therefore, it would follow that better and more effectual instructor are recruited and retained by private schools because they can offer them better wage and benefits and professional support ( Murray & A ; Male, 2005 ) . If better instructors are in the private schools, so public school pupils are already at a disadvantage.

The present survey will be analyzing and researching the college public presentation and attitudes of college pupils and distinguish private and public schools in footings of school leading, course of study and instructor demand. The college public presentation will be measured utilizing the university database on the admittance trial tonss and GPA in first-year twelvemonth while the comparing and contrast of private and public schools will be discussed through an interview with school caputs or decision makers harmonizing to leading, course of study and instructor demand in the province of Kuwait.

Statement of the Problem

The influence of old larning experiences to future academic public presentation has been the topic of research in acquisition and school psychological science as it has been established that there is an association between the types of old experiences to the degree of academic public presentation that pupils manifest. For illustration, pupils with prekindergarten instruction perform better in kindergarten than kids who did non hold any educational experience. In add-on, pupils who take progress classs in math and scientific discipline in high school, do better in math and scientific discipline classs in college ( Murray & A ; Male, 2005 ) . Furthermore, groundss of such influence can besides be found in the admittance trial tonss and the general point norm of high school pupils upon admittance to college. Students who have high admittance trial tonss and high school GPA have better classs in their college classs than pupils who have low tonss and low mean GPA.

Equally of import as the old acquisition experiences are to future academic public presentation, the type of school is besides an every bit of import factor that influences future academic public presentation. Previous literature had reported that there is a difference in the college public presentation of pupils from private and public high schools ( Schlesser & A ; Finger, 1963 ) . Being, that pupils from private high schools tend to make better academically than public school pupils in college. This underscores the research job of the present survey, which is to set up the difference in the college public presentation and attitudes towards university of college pupils from private and public high schools. Furthermore, the supposed difference between private and public schools will be assessed in footings of school leading, course of study and instructor demand. The job that this survey aims to decide is why and how does private schools produce alumnuss who perform better academically in college.

Variables of the Study

This survey on the college public presentation and attitudes of college pupils towards university experiences as a map of the difference between private and public schools in footings of school leading, course of study and instructor demand will be researching and analyzing a figure of variables. The first variable is college public presentation ; this would mention to the academic public presentation of college pupils in Kuwait University. This will be operationally measured as the college GPA of pupils in Kuwait University from the first to the 4th twelvemonth degree from 2006 to 2010. The college GPA has been chosen in this survey, as it is a manifestation of the public presentation of the pupils in their single categories. Teachers assign classs to pupils commensurate to their public presentation and command of the said class.

The 2nd variable is the attitudes of the pupils towards their experiences in the university. This will be measured utilizing an interview protocol designed to measure the ideas, feelings and behaviour of the pupils towards the different facets of university life, such as larning experiences, instructor qualities, socialisation, learning resources and support and acquisition environment. Selected pupils will be interviewed to pull a rich description of how pupils perceive the quality of their acquisition experiences. The 3rd variable has to make with the premise that private and public schools differ as an organisation, and such factors include school leading, course of study and instructor demand.

School leading will be assessed in footings of how school decision makers manage and take the school as a individual organisation. Curriculum will mention to the educational model and class offerings of the school while teacher requirement pertains to the needed competences, accomplishments and educational preparation of instructors hired in the schools. These variables will be assessed through an interview of 10 school decision makers, where each half heads a public and private high school severally. It is hopes that the interviews will clarify the difference in the organisational features of private and public schools in the State of Kuwait.

Purpose of the Study

The intent of this survey is to find the being of the difference and advantage of private school alumnuss from public school alumnuss in relation to their academic public presentation in college. This difference will be identified utilizing the college GPA of the pupils from first to the 4th twelvemonth degree. The pupils ' GPA will be accessed through the university 's records database and will be categorized into private and public school alumnuss. This aim is necessary to back up and give grounds of the findings of the old literature on type of high school and college success.

A 2nd intent of this survey is to place and depict the attitudes of college pupils towards university experience and to happen out if the attitudes of private school alumnuss differ from their public school opposite numbers. This would enrich the first research purpose, since it would supply a more accessible and human component in the survey. Students are expected to differ in their perceptual experience of university experiences and it is interesting to happen out whether such outlooks will be proved correct or incorrect in the visible radiation of their old educational experiences.

A 3rd intent of the present survey is to find why and how private high schools produce alumnuss who perform academically better than public school alumnuss do. This will be explored utilizing an interview of school decision makers on their type of school leading, course of study and instructor demand. The mentioned organisational factors had been found to strongly act upon the quality of instruction that the school provides its pupils than any other factor. The learning experiences of pupils is frequently dependent on the sort of leading that the school decision maker has, it is besides dependent on the course of study of the school as it identifies which topics are offered and what accomplishments are mastered. Last, instructor demands is besides included since instructors facilitate and provide pupils with learning activities and their ain command and accomplishments in their topic and instruction impacts pupil acquisition.

Significance of the Study

The private versus public school argument is still a critical issue among parents, pupils, school decision makers and pedagogues since it places one type of school in competition with another school. Research on the differences of pupil results between private and public schools have repeatedly shown that private school pupils do better in steps of academic public presentation such as accomplishment trials, diagnostic trials, admittance trials and college GPA. This observation has besides been found in other states in Europe and Asia where private schools by and large outperform public schools in footings of achievement trial tonss ( Zembat, KocyiAYit, TuAYluk & A ; DoAYan, 2010 ) . In the State of Kuwait, more pupils attend public than private schools and more Kuwaitis attend public school while aliens who reside in Kuwait prefer to go to private schools.

The significance of this survey to the educational system of the State of Kuwait is apparent, as it will supply cognition of the public presentation of private and public school alumnuss in college and cognize whether the difference in the public presentation of the said schools is true in the State of Kuwait. This survey will besides take to a better apprehension of how pupils perceive their experiences in the University of Kuwait and will assist the university functionaries come up with plans that would better and keep the positive attitudes of pupils towards the university. Furthermore, this survey would besides supply the educational sector of the State of Kuwait and the field of instruction in general information and apprehension of the difference of between private and public high schools in footings of school leading, course of study and instructor demands. This survey is besides expected to clarify information that will explicate why private schools produce better executing pupils in college and in other steps of academic public presentation. Last, this survey would besides enrich the literature on the private and public school argument in footings of its quantitative and qualitative attack to this survey.

Research Questions and Hypothesiss

This exploratory survey on the college academic public presentation and attitudes of college pupils towards university experiences as a map of differences among private and public high schools in footings of school leading, course of study and instructor demands in the State of Kuwait will supply replies to the undermentioned research inquiries.

What is the difference in the academic public presentation of college pupils in the University of Kuwait in footings of their GPA and type of high school?

What are the attitudes of college pupils towards their experiences in the University of Kuwait?

What are the differences between private high school alumnuss and public high school alumnuss in their experiences in the university?

What are the most prevailing leading manner, course of study and teacher demand among private and public high schools in the State of Kuwait?

How make private and public high schools differ in their organisational maps in footings of school leading, course of study and instructor demand?

What are the deductions of the differences in the leading, course of study and teacher demand among private and public high schools to college academic public presentation?

Aside from the research inquiries, a few research hypotheses will besides be tested in this survey in order to set up that there is an apparent difference in the college public presentation of pupils from private and public high schools in the State of Kuwait. This survey aims to prove the undermentioned hypothesis:

Private high school alumnuss have higher admittance trial tonss than public high school alumnuss in the admittance trials of the University of Kuwait.

Students who graduated from private high schools have higher college GPA than pupils who graduated from public schools.

There is a important difference in the admittance trial tonss and college GPA between pupils from private and public schools.

Restrictions of the Study

This survey on the difference of college public presentation and attitudes towards university experiences as a map of the difference in the school leading, course of study and teacher demand of private and public schools in the State of Kuwait have a figure of restrictions that are built-in to the survey. The first restriction is in the usage of admittance trial tonss and college GPA as steps of college academic public presentation, since it does non take into history the possible effects of ripening and acquisition. Students ' ability to reply trials and tests and complete documents and demands are to a great extent influenced by their survey wonts, intelligence, and personality to call a few. However, admission trial tonss and college GPA are the most apparent merchandises of the pupils ' acquisition and work in their old school and in their topics in college. Since this survey involves the usage of the full college database, the sheer figure of pupil tonss and GPA in this survey will reply the said restriction, as it will guarantee a robust sample size that is closest to the true population.

A 2nd restriction of this survey is the usage of one on one interview as a information aggregation method for the attitudes of college pupils towards university experiences and the difference in the school leading, course of study and teacher demand of private and public schools. The interview is a subjective method and sometimes the research worker has no control over what the interviewee will happen interesting and deserving speaking about, sometimes it is beyond the research aims of this survey. Furthermore, since the school decision makers will be interviewed, there is no manner of cognizing whether the school decision makers are being true or non. However, this survey will be following an interview protocol, which will guarantee that the same inquiries for each participant will be asked, therefore keeping standardisation of the interview procedure.

Definitions of Footings

In order to depict and operationally specify the variables of this survey, the undermentioned definition of each variable and footings used in the present survey is provided.

College academic public presentation refers to the general public presentation of the college pupil during his or her college instruction in the University of Kuwait. Academic public presentation is differentiated from public presentation merely as it pertains to the public presentation of the pupil in his or her topics, which is given matching classs. These classs are assumed to reflect the sort of attempt and cognition that the pupil brings to his or her college classs ( Schlesser & A ; Finger, 1963 ) . In this survey, college academic public presentation is measured in footings of the admittance trial mark and the college GPA of the college pupils.

Admission trial tonss refer to the tonss of the pupils in the admittance trial of the University of Kuwait. The trial is given to graduating high school pupils and serves as a showing and placement step for admittance to college ( Schlesser & A ; Finger, 1963 ) . The tonss that will be used in this survey will be the entire percentile rank tonss of the pupils.

College GPA or grade point norm refers to the mean class of the pupil for a given twelvemonth. Since all pupils from 2007 to 2010 will be included in the survey, college GPA for each twelvemonth degree will be represented. The college GPA is computed harmonizing to the figure of unit credits of a given topic and multiplying the figure of units with the topic class. All of the ensuing capable classs will so be averaged to bring forth the GPA ( Schlesser & A ; Finger, 1963 ) .

Attitudes refer to the psychological province of wishing or disliking a certain object, event, organisation, experience and societal phenomena. Attitudes are normally cognitive and are manifested through one 's behaviour, emotions and thoughts ( Petty & A ; Krosnick, 1995 ) . In this survey, attitudes towards university experience will be explored utilizing single interviews of college pupils.

Private schools refer to the type of school found in most societies. Private schools by and large are run and owned by private groups and persons. These types of schools are for or non for net income and pupils normally pay a certain fee to go on analyzing in the assistance schools ( Greene & A ; Kang, 2004 ) . In this survey, private schools in the State of Kuwait will be identified harmonizing to the list of schools provided by the Ministry of Education of the State of Kuwait.

Public schools refer to the type of schools that are largely operated and managed by the populace and the authorities. Public schools provide entree to instruction for most members of society and are frequently free of charge. These schools are subsidized by their authorities and are the majority of the educational system of any state ( Greene & A ; Kang, 2004 ) . In this survey, public schools will be identified harmonizing to the list of schools provided by the Ministry of Education of the State of Kuwait.

School leading refers to the sort of leader and the leading manner of a given school decision maker ( Spillane, 2010 ) . In this survey, school leading is described by the school decision maker in their response to the interview inquiry of the present survey.

Curriculum refers to the school 's set of classs and topics which predetermine the sort of cognition and accomplishments that will be taught to the pupils. Curriculum in formal instruction means a larning plan from which the topics, content, accomplishments and stuffs for the instruction and acquisition of the pupils are based ( Fraser, 1981 ) . In this survey, the school decision makers will depict course of study in footings of how it was designed, developed and implemented.

Teacher demand refers to put of accomplishments, cognition, experience and preparation that a instructor should hold before using for a teaching occupation ( Koster, Brekelmans, Korthagen & A ; Wubbels, 2005 ) . The Ministry of Education for the public schools frequently determines instructor demands, but private schools have more room for recruiting and choosing instructors harmonizing to a more rigorous instructor demand. In this survey, school decision makers will besides depict teacher demand for both private and public schools in item.

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Academic success is more than just getting high grades. (2018, Aug 09). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/academic-success-is-more-than-just-getting-high-grades/

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