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Big fish in big ponds: Contrast and assimilation effects on math and verbal self‐concepts of students in within‐school gifted tracks
Author(s) -
Herrmann Julia,
Schmidt Isabelle,
Kessels Ursula,
Preckel Franzis
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/bjep.12100
Subject(s) - psychology , contrast (vision) , assimilation (phonology) , gifted education , developmental psychology , mathematics education , philosophy , linguistics , computer science , artificial intelligence
Background Ability grouping can lower students’ academic self‐perceptions through reference group effects of class‐average achievement on academic self‐concept ( ASC ) – the Big‐fish‐little‐Pond ‐effect ( BFLPE ; Marsh & Parker, 1984, J. Pers. Soc. Psychol ., 47 , 213). Although the effect itself is well documented, many open questions remain. For instance, negative contrast effects of group average achievement and positive assimilation effects of group status are confounded in most BFLPE studies. For the verbal domain, no study has yet investigated contrast and assimilation effects simultaneously. Strong assimilation effects can be assumed for gifted ability grouping. Aims We aimed at disentangling contrast and assimilation effects of full‐time within‐school gifted tracking on verbal ASC and math ASC . Sample Students attended regular or gifted classes within the top track of German secondary schools. Our sample comprised 1,330 fifth‐grade students (42 regular classes, n = 1,069, 48% female; 15 gifted classes, n = 261, 39% female). Methods Using multilevel regression analyses, we simultaneously modelled negative contrast effects of class ability and positive assimilation effects of class type (regular vs. gifted) on ASC in math and the verbal domain. Results and conclusions In the mathematical domain, the assimilation effect, caused by membership in gifted classes, compensated for negative contrast effects of class‐average achievement on ASC even after controlling for previous ASC . In the verbal domain, we found neither a significant contrast effect nor an assimilation effect. Implications for gifted education are discussed.