Equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-average-ability schools (the BFLPE), with a cross-national effect size of 0.49¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2008 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Students have lower academic self-concepts when attending schools where the average ability of other students is high, compared to equally able students in low-average-ability schools. → Marsh 2008 q2 i2 In PISA 2003 analyses across 41 countries, the BFLPE effect size was 0.49, judged large enough to warrant practical attention. → Marsh 2008

Evidence¶

Marsh 2008¶

Marsh, H. W., Seaton, M., Trautwein, U., Lüdtke, O., Hau, K. T., O'Mara, A. J., & Craven, R. G. (2008). The Big-fish–little-pond-effect Stands Up to Critical Scrutiny: Implications for Theory, Methodology, and Future Research. Educ Psychol Rev. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-008-9075-6

q3 · i2 · review · r2

Review of secondary analyses of the PISA 2003 international assessment across 41 countries. The review reports that Seaton replicated cross-cultural support for the BFLPE and that "the BFLPE effect size (0.49) was sufficiently large to warrant practical attention as well as being substantively and theoretically important."

"In a subsequent analysis of PISA 2003 that included an even more diverse set of 41 countries than the 26 countries in PISA 2000 considered by Marsh and Hau ( 2003), Seaton ( 2007 also see Seaton et al. 2008a, b) replicated support for the cross-cultural generalizability of the BFLPE"

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• The negative contrast effect of high school-average achievement outweighs a weaker positive assimilation (reflected glory) effect — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The BFLPE generalizes across countries, cultures, settings, and long-term follow-ups — a broader claim this one bears on
• The BFLPE is domain-specific: school-average achievement affects academic self-concept but not global self-esteem or non-academic self-concept — related
• A high proportion of high-performing classmates lowers sixth-graders' situational academic self-concept, an experimental BFLPE at the extreme contrast — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Class-average achievement and chosen upward comparisons each make substantial, unique negative contributions to math self-beliefs when modeled simultaneously — related
• Reanalyses of SCT choice-paradigm studies support the BFLPE, which was not moderated by students' chosen comparison targets — related
• Students' perceived class performance level fully mediates the effect of classmates' hand-raising behavior on situational self-concept — related
• Students who perceived the class performance level as higher reported lower situational self-concept in the IVR classroom — related
• Higher proportions of hand-raising virtual classmates raise sixth-graders' perceived class performance level and register more hand-raisers in an IVR lesson — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Class-average achievement negatively predicts mathematics self-concept after controlling individual achievement (BFLPE replication in TIMSS 2019) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Class-average achievement shows a small negative indirect effect on subsequent mathematics achievement mediated through mathematics self-concept — related
• The BFLPE is one of the most robust findings in educational psychology, with negative school-average achievement effects on ASC in 181 of 191 PISA samples — related
• Contrast and assimilation are competing compositional processes that can operate simultaneously — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Classroom-average mathematics achievement shows no statistically significant association with ASC development when clique achievement is modeled simultaneously — reports the opposite
• Clique-average mathematics achievement negatively predicts the development of adolescents' academic self-concept (a BFLPE at the clique level) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• The BFLPE exists in both elementary-school and secondary-school contexts — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Equally able students report lower academic self-concepts in high-achieving classrooms than in low-achieving classrooms (the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect) — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• In more competitive school environments, students from lower SES backgrounds report more positive self-views than their more advantaged peers, narrowing SES gaps in self-views — related
• In more competitive school environments, lower-SES students perform better academically than their more advantaged peers, narrowing SES achievement gaps — related
• Students with higher initial achievement in German benefited more from higher class mean achievement levels — related
• BFLPE is stronger on the regular class level and strongest on the domain-specific math class level — a narrower finding that bears on this claim