scholarly journals School start times and academic achievement - a systematic review on grades and test scores

2021 ◽  
pp. 101582
Author(s):  
Anna M. Biller ◽  
Karin Meissner ◽  
Eva C. Winnebeck ◽  
Giulia Zerbini
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
School Start Times

scholarly journals School start times and academic achievement - a systematic review on grades and test scores

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna M Biller ◽  
Karin Meissner ◽  
Eva C Winnebeck ◽  
Giulia Zerbini
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
General Public ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
School Students ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Evidence Quality ◽  
School Start Times

School start times have been at the centre of many scientific and political debates given the accumulating evidence that bell times are generally too early, and thus lead to an epidemic of sleep restriction in the student population. Recent media attention has conveyed the message that later school starts not only improve sleep but also result in better academic achievement. Several studies have been recently published on this topic requiring a comprehensive review of the results to clarify the relationship between later school start times and academic achievement to inform the general public and policy makers. To this end, we conducted a systematic review of the current literature on school starting times and academic achievement in middle and high school students, considering grades and standardised test scores as achievement measures. We followed the PRISMA guidelines for searching, including, and reporting relevant literature and identified 21 studies for detailed analysis. Evidence quality of included studies was assessed with a pre-defined risk of bias assessment using modified items from the GRADE scheme and ROBINS-I tool. About half of the reviewed studies reported no (positive or negative) effect of delaying school times on grades and test scores, while the other half reported either mixed or positive results. Given the strong heterogeneity of included studies, we grouped them according to various characteristics, such as academic outcomes, dose of delay, evidence quality, or study design to identify potential hidden effects. Despite this, we could not identify any generalisable effect beyond single studies as to whether delaying school times has clear beneficial effects on academic performance. Given that grades and scores determine future career trajectories and predict future success, the question whether school start times contribute to academic achievement is of great interest for the general public and needs to be further clarified. Mechanistically, it is very likely that improved sleep leads to or mediates improved cognitive performance and learning, but definitive conclusions on whether this also translates into better grades and scores across all students requires better evidence at this stage. Importantly, this does not preclude other positive outcomes of later start times such as improved sleep (quality), motivation or learning but draws attention on current gaps and shortcomings. To this end, we also highlight critical methodological aspects and provide suggestions to increase the evidence-level and to guide the direction of research in future studies.

scholarly journals How does academic achievement relate to cardiorespiratory fitness, self-reported physical activity and objectively reported physical activity: a systematic review in children and adolescents aged 6–18 years

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (16) ◽  
pp. 1039-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adilson Marques ◽  
Diana A Santos ◽  
Charles H Hillman ◽  
Luís B Sardinha
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Children And Adolescents ◽  
Cardiorespiratory Fitness ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
The Relationship

ObjectiveThis report aimed to systematically review the evidence for a differential association between objective and self-reported physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness on academic achievement.DesignSystematic review.Data sourcesStudies were identified from searches in Embase, Education Resources Information Center, PubMed, PsycINFO, SPORTdiscus and Web of Science databases from January 2000 to December 2016.Eligibility criteria for selecting studiesEligibility criteria included cross-sectional, longitudinal and interventional study designs. Outcomes included students’ school grade or a standardised test or measure of academic achievement. Explanatory variables were cardiorespiratory fitness and objective and self-reported physical activity. Inclusion criteria included school-aged children and adolescents aged–18 years (or students from primary to secondary school when student’s participants age was not described) and articles published in English, Portuguese or Spanish.ResultsA total of 51 articles met inclusion criteria: 41 cross-sectional, 2 intervention and 8 longitudinal studies. Results from 11 studies were inconsistent regarding the relationship between objectively measured physical activity and academic achievement. Ten of the 16 articles reported positive associations between self-reported physical activity and academic achievement. From the 22 studies that analysed the relationship between cardiorespiratory fitness and academic achievement, it was verified that they all generally support the beneficial effect of cardiorespiratory fitness on students’ academic achievement.ConclusionHigher cardiorespiratory fitness may be important to enhance children and adolescents’ health and, additionally, academic achievement. Due to a lack of consensus across studies, methodological issues associated with the assessment of physical activity should be considered when investigating physical activity and academic achievement.

Nonrobustness of the Carryover Effects of Small Classes in Project STAR

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Kitae Sohn
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Effective Schools ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
The United States ◽  
Student Characteristics ◽  
Carryover Effects ◽  
Teacher Aides ◽  
Ineffective Schools ◽  
Regular Classes

Background Class size reduction (CSR) is an enduring school reform undertaken in an effort to improve academic achievement and has been widely encouraged in the United States. Supporters of CSR often cite the positive contemporaneous and carryover effects of Project STAR. Much has been discussed regarding the robustness of the contemporaneous effects but not regarding that of the carryover effects. Purpose This article checks the robustness of the carryover effects of STAR's small classes. Setting STAR was undertaken in 75–79 schools in Tennessee. Participants: Each year in the experimental period, 6,000–7,000 students in grades K–3 participated in the experiment, for a total of 12,000 students during the entire period. Intervention As students initially entered STAR schools, they were (arguably) randomly assigned to small classes with 13–17 students, regular classes with 22–25 students without teacher aides, and regular classes with 22–25 students with teacher aides. The experiment was performed from 1985 through 1989, but information on STAR students continued to be collected thereafter. Research Design STAR is a randomized controlled field experiment. Data Analysis In this article, STAR schools are divided into “effective” schools and “ineffective” schools. Effective schools are defined as schools where the test scores of students in small classes were statistically significantly higher than those of students in regular classes at the 5% level in both math and reading. By contrast, ineffective schools are defined as schools where the test scores of students in small classes were not statistically significantly higher than those of students in regular classes at the 5% level in either math or reading. Separately for effective schools, schools other than effective schools, and ineffective schools, the academic achievement of students is regressed on variables indicating small class assignment, along with student characteristics and school-by-entry wave fixed effects. Findings The carryover effects of CSR are not robust; they are driven mostly by effective schools, which account for at most a quarter of STAR schools. During this investigation, it is revealed that, in contrast to the protocol of randomization, observable student characteristics in these schools are not randomly distributed between small and regular classes. They are instead distributed in such a way as to increase the academic achievement of students in small classes and decrease that of students in regular classes. Recommendations Caution is recommended when citing the positive carryover effects of S TAR.

Change in Computer Access and the Academic Achievement of Immigrant Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Ui Jeong Moon ◽  
Sandra L. Hofferth
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Digital Divide ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
First Grade ◽  
The United States ◽  
Computer Access ◽  
Mathematics Test ◽  
At Home

Background/Context Increased interest in the correlates of media devices available to children has led to research indicating that access to and use of technology are positively associated with children's academic achievement. However, the digital divide remains; not all children have access to digital technologies, and not all children can acquire technological literacy. Specifically, immigrant families are known to be slow to adopt new technologies in the increasingly digital society of the United States. Purpose/Objective This study examined whether the benefits of computer access observed in the general U.S. population were also applicable to children from immigrant families in the early 2000s. Research Design Using data on 2,139 children in immigrant families from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort, this study examined the association between children's gaining access to a computer at home and their reading and mathematics test scores between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. Findings/Results We found that if children had access to a computer during the early elementary school years, they demonstrated increased mathematics test scores later on. Conclusions/Recommendations Three characteristics of computer access are discussed in terms of implications for media popular today, including type of media (old vs. new), featured functions of technology, and timing of availability to children. In particular, the computer's spatial and virtual functions may be likely to translate into improved mathematics skills, especially when access occurs early in kindergarten and first grade. Extra effort is needed to inform immigrant and minority parents about the benefits of new technologies so that their children can access them at home as much as children from nonimmigrant and nonminority families. To lessen the digital divide in children's education, timely financial support and educational information should be provided to parents to encourage early adoption of new media technologies, thus ensuring that immigrant and minority children are not left behind in the digital age.

Is there an association between dietary intake and academic achievement: a systematic review

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Burrows ◽  
S. Goldman ◽  
K. Pursey ◽  
R. Lim
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Dietary Intake
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