No statistically significant assimilation effect (BIRGE) of belonging to a higher-achieving clique within the classroom on ASC change¶

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? Membership in an above-average-achieving clique within the classroom was not significantly associated with ASC change, contrary to the assimilation hypothesis. → 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

BIRGE was tested with a continuous clique-level indicator (clique-average achievement subtracted from classroom-average achievement) in the same three-level model. The printed interval [–0.323, 0.104] includes zero; no effect size is reported, so the null is not evidence of equivalence.

"However, no statistically significant assimilations (BIRGE) were found at the clique level: b = 0.10, posterior SD = 0.11, 95% CI [–0.323, 0.104]."

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 — possibly the same claim (merge candidate)
• Clique-average mathematics achievement negatively predicts the development of adolescents' academic self-concept (a BFLPE at the clique level) — related
• The negative contrast effect of high school-average achievement outweighs a weaker positive assimilation (reflected glory) effect — related
• Clique members are more similar in academic achievement than classroom members (ICC 0.33 vs. 0.17), offering preliminary support for the similarity criterion — related
• Individual mathematics achievement is positively associated with students' ASC development over the school year — related
• Contrast and assimilation are competing compositional processes that can operate simultaneously — related