the disparities of student achievement

8/10/2019 The disparities of student achievement

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UNIVERSITI PENDIDIKAN SULTAN IDRIS

DISCUSSION ISSUE ON THE DISPARITIES IN ACHIEVEMENT OF TUDENTS

(REPORT)

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TRENDS AND ISSUES IN EDUCATION FOR

MATHEMATICAL AND SCEINCE

SEM. 1 SESSION 2014/2015

LECTURER: DR. MOHD.FAIZAL NIZAM LEE BIN ABDULLAH

GROUP MEMBERS:

NAME MATRIC NUMBER

1. SIM WEI NA D20121058475

2. SIVA SHANGARY BALASUBRAMANIAM D20121058479



The Disparities in Achievement of Students

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Introduction

Academic performance serves as the fundamental criterion for passing from one academic

level to another or from a lower level to a higher level” (Al-Rofo, 2010, p.53). However,

academic performance can be influence by many variables. The common variables are

parents, teachers and student themselves.

i. Parents

(a) Parent Attitude

Parent attitude towards education is able to influence their children to

perform at school. Students whose parents are more involved with their

schooling are more likely to be motivated to achieve excellence in school,

have higher educational expectations and do better academically and go on

to higher levels of educational than their peers whose parents are not

involved. Lueptow (1975) who found that the students with high

achievement values are from urban areas, who have educated parents with

a higher occupation status and a higher household income. Parents should

show commitment, time and concern for the proper and effective

management and running of schools to provide high quality education for

their children.

(b) Parent Social Economic Status (SES)

The cost of education is not only borne by the government, but also by

parents whether indirectly through taxes or directly through personal

expenditure to support day-to day schooling activities. These include school

fees, school uniform, books and stationary, transportation fee etc.. Based on

table 1, is found that the average cost of schooling overall was found to be

RM 1782 per student per year. The cost in rural areas which averaged RM

1590 was about 22% lower than the urban areas RM 2045. The parents from

urban are affordable to pay on tuition fee, transportation fee, and extra

exercises or reference books in order to help their children achieve a good

result in their examination. Socioeconomic status is an important factor in

students’ adjustment to and performance in school. The very fact that they




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were poor has given them the motivation to strive harder and do their very

best in schools for they believe that education is the key to good life later.

On the other hand, students who live in more affluent families, have higher

educational aspiration and expectation, do better academically and are more

likely to continue their schooling than their less well-off peers. Lastly, both

rich and poor families can create a climate that foster learning.

Table 1: Average Annual Costs of Schooling per Student in Secondary Schools

(c) Parenting Approach

Students whose parents are supportive yet provide rules and consequences

tend to be more engaged in school and have higher educational expectations

than those students whose parents are permissive. There are four styles of

parenting. First, authoritarian parents display little warmth and are highly

controlling. They are strict disciplinarians, use a restrictive, punitive style,

and insist that their adolescent follow parental directions. For example, if

their children score good grade in the examination, they will bring

admonition to do better and poor grade upset parents, who then punish by




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reducing pocket money or curfew. Next, authoritative parents are warm but

firm. They encourage their children to be independent while maintaining

limits and controls on their actions. For example, students receive praise

and freedom if they get good grades. While, poor grade bring

encouragement to try harder, offers for help and loss of freedom. Third,

permissive parents are very warm but undemanding. They are indulgent and

passive in their parenting, and believe that the way to demonstrate their love

is to give in to their adolescent’s wishes. For example, permissive parents

do not care about grades, make no rules about watching televisions, do not

attend school program and neither help nor check their children homework.

Lastly, uninvolved parents are not warm and do not place any demands on

their kids. They minimize interaction time, and, in some cases, are

uninvolved to the point of being neglectful. For example, uninvolved

parents do not care about their children studies.

As shown in Table 2, there were ten strategies where parents showed

their involvement in the child’s education at urban area.

Table 2: Parent’s Involvement in Their Child’s Education (Suresh VellyMalay, 2012)

Most of the parents were involved in their child’s education on daily basis.

Thus, it is notable in the current study that every parent wants their child to

do well at school. They are involved in their child’s education with

their existing knowledge and the understanding about involvement that

is accessible at their level. However, their existing knowledge and their




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understanding of parental involvement solely reflects their background

(i.e., socioeconomic status) and its impact on them. Hence, the parent s

of higher socioeconomic status are more overwhelmed in the credibility,

attitude and behavior in terms of the amount and the quality of involvement

invested in their children’s education. (Suresh Kumar, 2012).

(d) Family Size

The size of families is one of the factor that influence student achievement.

Students who come from larger families tend to have lower levels of

achievement, on average than children who come from smaller families.

This is because that parents who have many children cannot afford to divide

quality time with their children and high expenditure for every children. On

the other hand, parents with two or three children’s can afford the time to

develop their children academic capabilities because their time is only

shared with less number of kids. Furthermore, the school expenditure is less

when number of schooling children less. For those who unable to spend for

all children, the last choice id the students stop from schooling. So, every

family must have family planning to avoid from unfairness happen to your

children.

ii.

TeachersTeachers have a direct responsibility to shape a student’s academic achievement,

and are the most important school-based factor in their education (Rockoff 2004;

Rivkin, Hanushek and Kain 2005; Aaronson, Barrow and Sander 2007).

Teacher’s roles are creating effective learning zones, promoting success and

developing good relationship.

(a) Active Learning

Active learning is about energizing and sustaining attention of students, who then

become very interested in doing any classroom activities. Teachers are the ideal

people as well as in the best situation to promote active learning amongst student

in school. Here are the example of active learning activities, such as debates, role

plays, group discussion, asking students before start a lesson. The activities that




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stated above are student centered activities, teachers just act as a facilitator to the

students. Student’s active participation throughout the lessons is the trade mark of

active action-oriented learning. Those students, who enjoy such learning styles and

strategies conducted by their teachers, would surely benefit the most by retaining

as much knowledge as possibly can.

(b) Developing High Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)

The role of teachers is not just delivery content knowledge but also to develop

students in solving problems, making decisions and adapting to dynamic of the

environment. These are require students to develop high order thinking skills.

Currently, students in Malaysia is implementing HOTS in their study. These all

require students to develop high order thinking skills. According to Sousa (1995),

thinking skills can be mapped along a continuum which starts from knowledge level,

then comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and ends with evaluation level.

So, teachers must organize more HOTS activities such as problem solving in order

to enhance the results. As students practice often on more complex problem based

learning, their thinking skills become more developed and enhance to reach the

high order level.

(c) Developing Good Relationship

Before to have a good relationship with students, as teachers, we must demand inour teaching style and communication skills to attract students like to the subject.

Student’s interest on a particular subject can be influence by the teaching style of

teachers. If the teaching style is liked and enjoyed by students, they tend to become

good in the subject taught. Therefore student-teacher relationship is one of the most

critical factors influencing students’ performance in schools. Teachers who are able

to effectively relate to students, accept student individuality and teach in an

inclusive and democratic environment are more effective teachers. Teachers should

be approachable, firm, and assertive and discuss with students on their wants and

needs to develop good, cordial and conducive student-teacher relationship for the

benefit of students like excelling in their examinations.




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Conclusion

There is consensus that the education of children is one of the key vehicles engendering

the development of economies (UNESCO, 2009).There are various factors that influence

the outcome of top academic performers. Even though family background does have a

strong relationship to achievement, it may be how parents rear their children and not the

parent’s occupation, income, or education that really make the difference (K.R.White,

1982,p.471). Lastly, the students themselves play critical role in making them to be high

achievers.




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References

Malaysia (2003) Mid-Term Review of the Eighth Malaysia Plan 2001-2005. Kuala

Lumpur: Percetakan Nasional Berhad.

Malaysia (2006) Ninth Malaysia Plan 2006-2010. Kuala Lumpur: Percetakan Nasional

Malaysia Berhad

Rockstroh, Angela H (2013). Teacher Characteristics on Student Achievement , Ohio:

Martin School of Public Policy and Administration. Retrieved from

http://www.martin.uky.edu/centers_research/Capstones_2013/Rockstroh.pdf

Suresh Vellymalay (2012). The Impact of Parent’s Socioeconomic Status on

Parental Involvement at Home. Penang: International Journal of Academic Research

in Business and Social Sciences, 2. Retrieved from http:

www.hrmars.com/admin/pics/962.pdf



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