Date of Award

Fall 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Mitch Porter

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has created one of the largest disruptions in educational history. The impact on learning loss and social-emotional well-being from the pandemic threatens to compromise achievement outcomes for an extended number of years. Previous research has proven relationships between grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, and academic achievement (Duckworth, 2016; Duckworth et al., 2007; Dweck, 2008), but little is known about the validity of noncognitive constructs and academic achievement in elementary-age students, particularly how the relationship between these variables affected student achievement during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study was to determine if noncognitive traits had a relationship with achievement in elementary-age students during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, the noncognitive constructs of grit, growth mindset, self-efficacy, and self-management were analyzed for correlation with the achievement variables in the universal screeners, i-Ready math and English language arts (ELA). It was found that students with higher self-management were more likely to have higher math achievement. Self-management was the only statistically significant variable with achievement of the noncognitive constructs measured. It was also found that students with higher self-management typically had higher self-efficacy. A significant change in i-Ready math achievement was found resulting in an average 5-point decrease in scores over time. Change was also found in i-Ready ELA over time, resulting in a 22-point increase in the average scores. This research adds to the understanding that cognitive abilities alone do not fully predict a student’s academic achievement (Micceri, 2010; Nichols & Clinedinst, 2013).

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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