Multiple class environments as frames-of-reference for academic self-concept formation

What is it about?

A positive perception of one’s academic abilities—termed academic self-concept—is a desirable educational goal. As a consequence of social comparison processes, academic self-concept is assumed to be negatively affected when students are placed in classrooms composed of high achieving classmates. We investigated these comparison processes in course-by-course tracked systems in which students are members of several class environments. Our findings suggest that students build their academic self-concept in a certain domain, for instance in math, to a major extent in comparisons with domain-specific class environments (e.g., the math class) and to a minor extent with domain-unrelated class environments. Our study contributes to the psychological understanding of academic self-concept formation and refines big fish little pond effect implications in course-by-course tracked systems: Students’ academic self-concept in a certain domain may be hurt when placing them in high achieving domain-specific classes but it will to a lesser extent also be hurt when placing them in high achieving domain-unrelated classrooms.

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Photo by Kier In Sight on Unsplash

Photo by Kier In Sight on Unsplash