Outside-School Time Relationship to Cognitive Achievement and Noncognitive Proclivities in Two Countries

• In Event: 26.066 - Measuring Change in Achievement and Social-Emotional Growth Among After-School Participants in the United States and the United Kingdom

Abstract

This paper will present new descriptive and analytical characteristics of US and UK students who attend science and mathematics outside of School time (OST). The descriptive and causal analysis OST attendance in 2 countries is needed to increase basic understanding of the conditions of OST behavior and its effect on student learning and to improve the focus of future research studies of OST. This paper will explore how the use of time after school is associated with cognitive and non-cognitive student performance in science and mathematics.

Naïve theories of student time use would predict that student performance on tests would be increased with more time spent on a subject matter. However, the OECD analysis of 2006 survey of time use has shown the paradoxical result that students who attended an OST program the longest had lower achievement than those who attended the shortest hours per week (OECD 2012). This paper will examine student achievement in STEM using a proposed framework of time use, family background, motivation or interest in STEM, self-efficacy in STEM, career orientation, science identity, and strength of relationships with students and adults.

The paper will present a secondary analysis of 3 cross sectional PISA surveys from the US and UK for years 2006, 2009, and 2012. The analysis will use regression models and descriptive statistics to depict the relationships. Variables will include STEM achievement, length of weekly attendance, family background, motivation and personal relationships with others. The effect sizes of OST attendance with background and socio-emotional variables can be compared to those effect sizes from regular school study, self-study, and source of instructor.

PISA survey data in years 2006, 2009, and 2012 contain unique measurement items about student use of time after school and type of activities attended. The surveys include length of time in a specific week that 15-year-old students attended outside school organized activities in science, mathematics, and reading.

The paper will examine 5 conjectures that have not been previously analyzed: 1. That OECD’s reporting of a negative relationship between attending OST and student assessment occurs because frequent OST students are selective of students in remedial classes. 2. That students who attend OST frequently are selective of students with high interest and low achievement in the subject (science, math, or reading). 3. That students who attend OST programs for long periods are selective of students from poor family backgrounds. 4. That students attend OST for social and emotional reasons and may gain socio-emotional benefits from the interactions with other students. 5. That the relationship between OST attendance and assessment is a complex relationship of student selectivity and content of the OST program.

The analyses of these data have been limited to a few international comparisons by OECD (OECD, 2012) therefore, this analysis will add new detailed information to previous studies Analysis of national samples will supplement the many existing studies of OST that have been conducted of individual programs. The analysis will be conducted in two countries in order to test claims about differences in availability of OST programming in the two countries.

Author

• Larry E. Suter, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor