Clique-average mathematics achievement negatively predicts the development of adolescents' academic self-concept (a BFLPE at the clique level)¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2025 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Higher clique-average mathematics achievement is associated with a decrease in individual students' ASC over one school year, controlling for individual achievement, gender, and school type. → Tanja Auer 2025

Evidence¶

Tanja Auer 2025¶

Tanja Auer, Marion Reindl, Burkhard Gniewosz. (2025). Is the clique a pond? The big-fish-little-pond effect and the relative meaning of clique and classroom. Learning and Instruction 95 (2025) 101997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2024.101997

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Two-wave longitudinal study of 743 German sixth- and eighth-grade students in 93 cliques within 40 classrooms, analyzed with a doubly latent three-level Bayesian SEM (final model 4). The article reports the clique-level BFLPE coefficient: "b = 0.53, posterior SD = 0.16, 95% CI [ 0.852, 0.204], R2 = 0.42".

"we observed that clique academic achievement was negatively associated (BFLPE) with students' ASCdevelopment: b = 0.53, posterior SD = 0.16, 95% CI [ 0.852, 0.204], R2 = 0.42"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Academic Self-Concept — outcome: instruction changes it

Related Claims¶

• Variance in ASC change is statistically significant at individual, clique, and classroom levels, with a slight average decline in ASC across the school year — related
• Classroom-average mathematics achievement shows no statistically significant association with ASC development when clique achievement is modeled simultaneously — reports the opposite
• School-average achievement negatively predicts academic self-concept (BFLPE) and GPA in the comprehensive doubly-latent model — a broader claim this one bears on
• Class-average achievement negatively predicts mathematics self-concept after controlling individual achievement (BFLPE replication in TIMSS 2019) — related
• Equally able students have lower academic self-concepts in high-average-ability schools (the BFLPE), with a cross-national effect size of 0.49 — a broader claim this one bears on
• 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 — a broader claim this one bears on
• The Big-Fish-Little-Pond effect on mathematics self-concept is negative and statistically significant in all three countries under a fully specified doubly latent model — related
• Class-average achievement and chosen upward comparisons each make substantial, unique negative contributions to math self-beliefs when modeled simultaneously — related
• No statistically significant assimilation effect (BIRGE) of belonging to a higher-achieving clique within the classroom on ASC change — related
• Equally able students report lower academic self-concepts in high-achieving classrooms than in low-achieving classrooms (the Big-Fish-Little-Pond Effect) — related
• Students with higher initial achievement in German benefited more from higher class mean achievement levels — related
• Schoolmates' achievement (big-fish-little-pond effect) relates only to academic self-concepts, not to labor market beliefs or disengagement — related