What Affects Students’ Performance in School?

A report by: Justin Caldwell

The Topic

The topic I chose to examine in this project is whether certain factors have an effect on a student’s academic achievement. This topic could prove helpful to teachers and students alike and is important to try to understand.

The Factors

The factors I chose to examine in relation to students’ academic achievement are:

-Gender -Grade-Absences -Attitude-Employment-Social Life-Self Image

All these factors were compared to the student’s average grade at midterm

DATA COLLECTION

To collect the necessary data, a survey was distributed to 100 students at St. John’s, 20 from each grade. Random sampling methods were used to prevent bias and only closed questions were asked.

DATA COLLECTION

After the data from the surveys was returned and screened, it was imputed into a Fathom spreadsheet. From there it could be visually displayed in graphs for further comparison and analysis. Using this new information, relationships between the factors and student achievement can be determined.

THE RESULTS

From simple visual analysis and examination of coefficients of determination and correlation, I found that only three factors have strong relationships with student performance.

The Results

The factors that I found have an effect on a student’s academic performance are:

-Grade -Attitude-General Self Image

It also was apparent that gender had an effect on performance, however the nature of that data does not allow for analysis into relationships.

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

The following slides are displays of my graphs for the four factors discovered to have an effect on students’ academic averages.

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

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Ave

rage

Grade

1 2 3 4 59

0 1 2 3 4 510

0 1 2 3 4 511

0 1 2 3 4 512

0 1 2 3 4 5OAC

CountA verage mean = 75.603

A verage median = 75.5A verage popStdDev = 9.97614

Survey Results Histogram

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Aver

age

Gender

2 4 6 8 10f

0 2 4 6 8 10m

CountA verage mean = 75.603

A verage median = 75.5

Survey Results Histogram

Visual Representation

4550556065707580859095

Aver

age

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Self

Average = 2.92Self + 59; r^2 = 0.23

Average = 2.67Self + 60

Survey Results Scatter Plot

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Ave

rag

e

Enjoy_School

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8don't like much

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8hate it

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8like a bit

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8love it

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8okay sometimes

CountA verage mean = 75.603

average median = 75.5

Survey Results Histogram

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

To be sure that relationships did or did not exist, scatter plots were created using the mean values for each of the histograms. From creating lines of best fit on these scatter plots the coefficients of determination and correlation could be derived and a final check could be made.

VISUAL REPRESENTATION

After all the graphs were converted, the graphs exhibiting trends could be mathematically proven. The following graphs are the two histograms that showed acceptable coefficients of determination for their lines of best fit.

VISUAL REPRESENTATIONM

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Grade9.0 9.5 10.0 10.5 11.0 11.5 12.0 12.5 13.0 13.5

Mean_Average = 2.73Grade + 45.4; r^2 = 0.79

Mean_Average = 3.175Grade + 39.6

Grade Scatter Plot

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vera

ge

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Attitude1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5

Mean_Average = 6.73Attitude + 54.3; r^2 = 0.94

Mean_Average = 7.50Attitude + 51

Attitude about school Scatter Plot

Grade

r^2 value = .79

Attitude

r^2 value=.94

CAUSE AND EFFECT

In order to verify the findings made from the survey, data from the National Longitudinal Survey Of Children conducted by HRDC and Statistics Canada was compared to the findings.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

To achieve a comparison between the two sets I had to adjust my data to correspond to the NLSC’s data. I converted my numerical averages to ‘zones’ using the following method:

-Under 50%=very poor-60’s=poor -70’s=average-80’s=well -

90’s=very well

CAUSE AND EFFECT

Adjusting the original survey data allowed for comparisons to be made between the original trends and trends made by the NLSC. Since the NLSC covered a much larger sample and represents a very similar population it will help to confirm the validity of the original results. Graphical comparisons follow:

CAUSE AND EFFECTa

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Survey Results Breakdown Plot

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Ontario Youths Breakdown Plot

CAUSE AND EFFECT

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120Poorly

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-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18General_Self_Score

Ontario Youths Histogram

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8very poor

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0 2 4 6 8 10Self

Survey Results Histogram

CAUSE AND EFFECT

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don't like muchhate it like a bit love itokay sometimesEnjoy_School

Survey Results Breakdown Plot

CAUSE AND EFFECTA

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1. I hate school 2. I don-t like school very much 3. I like school a bit 4. I like school quite a bit 5. I like school very muchHow_do_you_feel_about_school

Ontario Youths Breakdown Plot

CAUSE AND EFFECT

From simple visual analysis of the previous graphs, it is easy to determine that the data collected by the NLSC supports the data collected in the original survey. Thus it may be said that the survey was representative of the target population and casual relationships may be present between the factors and a student’s academic achievement.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, this report demonstrates that grade, gender, attitude and general self image are all factors affecting students’ academic achievement.

CONCLUSION

Although grade and gender cannot be controlled, attitude and self image may be. This means that if a student keeps a good attitude about school and high self esteem, they should experience more successes academically.

Thanks FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Thank you for taking the time to experience this presentation, I sincerely hope it was an enlightening and interesting experience.

Any Questions?