A comparison of remedial, failure, and successful secondary school students across self-perception and past and present school performance variables.

Three groups of Grades 9-10 adolescents were compared across a combination of self-perception and school performance variables (past and present). The three groups studied were (1) students in remedial math and English classes (Remedials), (2) unsuccessful regular-stream students failing three or more subjects (Failures), and (3) successful regular-stream students failing no more than one course (Controls). The sample of 96 students was predominantly female, and subjects were enrolled in a general nonuniversity preparatory program at a commercial high school in an inner-city working-class district. Five sets of measures were used: Self-Perception Measures (Peer, Family, and Academic Self-Concept scales, as well as self-report measures of Study Habits and Educational Aspirations), Current, Past and Follow-up School Performance Measures (academic and nonacademic), and Attribution Measures (student and teacher attributions of reason for failure). Results indicated significant differences between the three groups on several variables. Compared with the Controls, both Remedials and Failures had lower Academic Self-Concepts and lower Reading Levels, but only the Remedials had significantly lower levels of Intellectual Functioning, in addition to lower Math Achievement Levels than the Controls. The Failure group was significantly lower than the other two groups on Family Self-Concept, Attendance, and Overall Grade Percentage (both at the initial and follow-up periods), and they had records showing a higher frequency of elementary school Behavior Problems. Thus it was suggested that school failure was related to emotional difficulties to a significantly greater degree for the Failure group as compared to the Remedial group, which was characterized by more straightforward academic and intellectual deficits. Finally, Failures and Remedials and their teachers tended to attribute the student's failure in particular courses fairly equally to either the student's difficulty in grasping the subject matter, or to insufficient effort, whereas those Controls who were failing a course tended to blame their failure on "Teacher Problems."