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Abstract:
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Behavior and achievement in middle school affect academic success, persistence, and graduation in high school and college. When behavior is assessed from multiple perspectives - such as students and teachers - two questions arise: How well do they agree? Is assessment from both perspectives useful? This study assessed agreement, validity, and accuracy between student-reported and teacher-rating of students' behavior. Data consisted of about 6,300 students and 278 teachers from 45 middle schools in the USA. The students scored themselves on ten psychosocial factors and were rated on eight other behavioral scales. Each set of constructs were grouped into three measures: motivation, social engagement, and self-regulation. The study assessed how well the measures predicted grades, absenteeism, and suspension from school. Across grades 6 to 9, student assessment scores increased with increasing teacher ratings. Results indicated moderate convergent/discriminant validity between corresponding measures. Both student and teacher-reported measures provided incremental validity and more accuracy for explaining academic outcomes.
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