Sociodemographic covariates outweigh domain-identical pretests for predicting between-classroom and between-school variance in elementary school¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? With first to fourth graders, sociodemographic characteristics explained more classroom- and school-level variance than IP (Pooled R2L2∣SC = 0.35; Pooled R2L3∣SC = 0.52). → Stallasch 2024

Evidence¶

Stallasch 2024¶

Stallasch, S. E., Lüdtke, O., Artelt, C., Hedges, L. V., & Brunner, M. (2024). Single- and Multilevel Perspectives on Covariate Selection in Randomized Intervention Studies on Student Achievement. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-024-09898-7

q3 · i? · quant-synthesis · r2

Multilevel meta-analytic results for the total student population in elementary school (grades 1-4) from the German samples, showing sociodemographic covariates (gender, migration background, socioeconomic status) as the stronger group-level predictors.

"Notably, with first–fourth graders, SC outweighed IP at both L2 and L3 ( Pooled R2 L2/uni007C.varSC = 0.35 ; Pooled R2 L3/uni007C.varSC = 0.52 )."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Covariates explaining substantial outcome variance efficiently decrease the MDES and reduce required sample size in randomized experiments — related
• At the school level, domain-identical pretests show exceptional prognostic power from grade 5 onward, but are weaker predictors at the student and classroom levels across the school career — related
• Domain-identical pretests are the most powerful single-level covariate type for student achievement, outperforming cross-domain pretests, fluid intelligence, and sociodemographic characteristics — related
• Typical R2Child values with sociodemographic and baseline covariates were around 0.18–0.26 for preschool cognitive and SEL outcomes in US data — related
• Combining domain-identical pretests with cross-domain pretests, fluid intelligence, and/or sociodemographic covariates yields only small incremental gains in explained achievement variance — related
• Within-school variation in baseline achievement is greater in middle school grades, but upper elementary grades show an offsetting amount of between-school variation — related
• The prognostic power of domain-identical pretests degrades with longer pre-posttest time lags, most strongly at the student level — related