Interventions should simultaneously enhance academic self-concept and achievement¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 4 claims (3 for, 1 mixed) · 5 studies (2 quant-synthesis, 2 associational, 1 review), q2–q4 · 2 of 5 report an effect size · 2 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A practice recommendation drawn from the reciprocal effects model: because self-concept and achievement each sustain the other, interventions targeting only one are unlikely to produce lasting gains. The article quotes Marsh and Craven (2006): "If practitioners enhance self-concepts without improving performance, then the gains in self-concept are likely to be short-lived." Symmetrically, performance gains are unlikely to be long-lasting without fostering self-beliefs.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Interventions must address both self-concept and achievement components rather than either alone

Constraints¶

• The recommendation rests on the causal interpretation of reciprocal effects, which the article acknowledges is always open to competing interpretations

Target Learners¶

• secondary school students

Target Learning Goals¶

• academic self-concept
• academic achievement

Affordances¶

• Reciprocal Effects Model Asc Achievement

Claims¶

• With young primary-school readers, REM support appeared in CLPMs but not RI-CLPMs, motivating tests with older students [~W]
• Meta-analyses show prior academic self-concept predicts subsequent achievement, controlling prior achievement [+M]
• Across basic and extended RI-CLPMs and CLPMs of five-wave secondary-school data, math self-concept and achievement show consistent reciprocal (bidirectional) directional ordering [+M]
• Self-regulated learning improves achievement [+M]

Related Strategies¶

• Integrate family and school contexts in interventions and promote adolescent academic self-regulation to support the high school transition
• Interventions targeting both brilliance beliefs and belonging concerns to foster educational equity
• Two-step bullying intervention: first reduce victimisation and rebuild motivational factors, then raise achievement and engagement

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Herbert W. Marsh, Reinhard Pekrun, & Oliver Lüdtke. (2022). Directional Ordering of Self-Concept, School Grades, and Standardized Tests Over Five Years: New Tripartite Models Juxtaposing Within- and Between-Person Perspectives. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09662-9