Javier Tourón

The determination of factors related to academic achievement in the university: Implications for the selection and counselling of students

An initial diagnosis of some educational and psychological capacities of students on arrival at university were studied. This enabled us to find out what factors had a greater influence on academic achievement at the end of the first year. Using the techniques of multiple regression we established the optimal achievement performances expected from each of the students. Secondary school marks, the academic achievement tests and the intermediate examinations at university were the best set of predictors of academic performance. Differential aptitudes of intelligence increase considerably the accuracy of the prediction. Values of R of between 0.71 to 0.88 were reached depending on the criteria used. The usefulness of the prediction equations as a tool for increasing personalized attention to students is pointed out and a case made for the establishment of objective mechanisms for admission to higher education.

High school ranks and admission tests as predictors of first year medical students' performance

This article focuses on the predictive values of certain academic variables, high school ranks and admission tests, as related to grades at the end of the first year of the Licenciate in Medicine in Spain. Multiple regression equations were calculated for each first year subject. Multiple R values ranged from 0.41 to 0.61 which implies explained variance percentages of 16.5 and 37.5. The best predictor was found to be the high school grade point average in science courses, the global examination and the admission test average. The importance of taking into account these variables in the admission process is considered. Also the inclusion of some aptitudinal variables is discussed. Finally the need to establish prediction performance tables to be used in the counselling process of admitted students is considered.

The Center for Talented Youth Spain: an initiative to serve highly able students

This paper deals with the main aspects of the work carried out by the Center for Talented Youth Spain since its founding. The educational model applied here is based on the ‘Study of mathematically precocious youth’, developed by Julian Stanley in the early seventies and currently the inspiration behind all the centers belonging to Center for Talented Youth International. We provide data from the SCAT (‘School and college ability test’) test, validated in Spain by the first author, which is used to identify students with exceptional verbal or mathematical ability. The results obtained are analyzed in the light of theoretical models, highlighting the similarities between the results obtained and those in the USA. Moreover, we explore data on course development and student assessment of courses. Finally, we explore the future prospects for the Center and of highly able students in Spain.

The Identification of High Ability Students: results of a detection process in Navarra (Spain)

This article focuses on the development and analysis of a two‐stage early detection process (screening and diagnostic) for high ability students carried out in the region of Navarra (Spain) on a random sample of 1,274 elementary school students. Spanish versions of the Raven Progressive Matrices (SPM), the Renzulli Scales for Rating Behavioural Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS), and participants’ academic achievement were the main variables in the initial screening phase. The Spanish edition of WISC‐R, as well as the Young Childrens Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (Gottfried, 1986), and the Self‐concept Questionnaire (Marsh, 1988), were the main variables in the diagnostic phase. The findings of the detection process show that the WISC‐R results were incompatible with those expected in accordance with the normal distribution of IQs. Results may suggest a clear problem with scoring rules, the Spanish norms for the test, or both. These possibilities are discussed in light of the results...

The Center for Talented Youth model: 25 years of fostering talent

It is, for me, a true honor and a great professional privilege to have been invited to be the Guest Editor of this issue of High Ability Studies, which is dedicated to a brief study of some of the foundations and developments of one of the models of educational intervention for high ability students which has had most impact and influence in the world, and on which undoubtedly most research has been carried out (see Reyero & Tourón, 2003; http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/depts/psych_and_hd/ smpy/). I hope you will have as much pleasure in reading it as I have had in planning and coordinating it with the inestimable help of my colleagues from the Center for Talented Youth, especially Carol Mills and Linda Brody. I am in debt to them and to all the contributors of this number of High Ability Studies, which I am sure will hold a special place on all of our bookshelves. This number is divided into four parts, the first of which analyzes the underlying theories of the model as it was conceived at the beginning of the 1970s by Professor Julian Stanley on referring to the ‘Study of mathematically precocious youth’ or SMPY, which has been the basis of the Center for Talented Youth since 1979. Chance, which in research we refer to as serendipity and which is only recognized by someone prepared for it, made him pay attention to Joe, an extraordinarily brilliant young man, although, as he mentions in his work, ‘At first I was somewhat hesitant and perhaps even reluctant (and slow) to get involved .... But I did, and my life and career thereafter have never been the same’. We could also add ‘fortunately’, because the work of Professor Stanley marked and continues to be a milestone in the research and education of high ability students which has no historical precedent. This is not an exalted, subjective valuation, the fruit of my recognition of his intellectual prowess or because of the friendship with which Professor Stanley honors me. It is simply a matter of fact for any attentive observer. The Center for Talented Youth model, one of whose central elements is ‘talent search’, cannot be more parsimonious or, if you prefer, simple. The reader will agree with me that only a person steeped in specialized work on measurement and experimental methodology, as is Professor Stanley (is there anyone who has not quoted dozens of times Campbell and Stanley or Glass and Stanley when they were explaining experimental design to their students?), could have conceived and made operative what we now take to be obvious: a need for out of level testing to avoid the test ceiling effect. High Ability Studies Vol. 16, No. 1, June 2005, pp. 1–3

What has been done, what has yet to be done

By the end of this special issue the reader should have a clearer picture of what has been done with respect to the contribution of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) model to gifted education. We have come a long way from the seminal works by Terman, the luminous ideas of Leta S. Hollingworth and those of other eminent scholars in the field. In many respects, from a personal point of view, the work done by Stanley at the inception of the CTY model (based on the ideas and principles of the ‘Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth’) could be considered even more important than those mentioned above, but he was also in debt to previous contributions to the field made by others. This is the way scientific knowledge progresses. As with a large wall made of bricks, some researchers may put in a few bricks, others hundreds and a few perhaps thousands. However, the wall at the end is built up as a common construction where every piece is essential, where every line of bricks needs to be there before the next one is laid, in order that the whole will be sound and durable. There is no question about the magnitude of the contribution of the model described here, both in the USA and world wide. Its success is well beyond the limits of any initial prediction that could have been made at the beginning by Stanley and his associates. Today millions of students have benefited from the talent searches, programs and services provided by the universities and institutions implementing this model, or other similar models inspired by its rationale. Moreover, the research effort made to validate the model and the educational practices derived from it have been very influential in the shaping of appropriate legislation and the adaptation of school practice in many places. Something apparently so simple as annual talent searches permit us to:

Diversity and School Curriculum: the response of the Spanish educational system to the needs of academically highly able pupils

In Spain, there is a growing awareness that diversity, and the special educational needs arising out of it, are not only reflected in the social sphere and the school system but also in legislation. Legal changes since 1990 have had many implications for the education of highly able pupils: the Resolucion of 29 April 1996 extends the principles of integration and diversity to all pupils, not exclusively the handicapped. The present study overviews the possibilities under current Spanish legislation for responding and adapting to the educational needs of highly able pupils. It shows how the legislation and guiding principles of the Spanish educational system make it possible to give an effective response to educating highly able students. However, work is needed on the adaptation of diagnostic tests and curricular material, and the training of specialized professionals.

Assessing the unidimensionality of the School and College Ability Test (SCAT, Spanish version) using non-parametric methods based on item response theory

The aim of this work is to analyze the dimensional structure of the Spanish version of the School and College Ability Test, employed in the process for the identification of students with high intellectual abilities. This test measures verbal and mathematical (or quantitative) abilities at three levels of difficulty: elementary (3rd, 4th, and 5th years in Primary school), intermediate (6th year in Primary school plus the 1st and 2nd years of Compulsory Secondary School or ESO), and advanced (3rd and 4th years of ESO plus the 1st and 2nd years of bachillerato – equivalent to High school). For each level there are two forms, X and Y. The research was undertaken with the results obtained from the application carried out for the validation and norming of the Spanish version of the test, and for which a representative sample of students from Navarre at these mentioned levels was taken. This study assessed the possible unidimensionality of the simplicity or the complexity of the structure of this test as an essential aspect of construct validity. To this end, the results were triangulated for the classic factorial techniques and non-parametric methods based on the item response theory.

How teachers’ practices and students’ attitudes towards technology affect mathematics achievement: results and insights from PISA 2012

Abstract The present work seeks to deepen the impact of factors linked to the characteristics of teaching practices and students’ attitudes towards the use of technology on their performance in mathematics in the process of teaching-learning in the Spanish context. In this sense, this study is a secondary analysis of the PISA 2012 data. Therefore, it is an ex post facto design. Regarding the attitudes and the contextual variables, the results do coincide with the accumulated evidence. However, once these contextual effects have been controlled for, the negative relationship found between the pedagogic strategies used by the teachers and the mathematics score cannot but convey perplexity, since the results relative to student-oriented, formative assessment and teacher-directed instruction are clearly contradictory to the solid previous evidence. The data do not allow us to explain this paradoxical result. We dare to point to a conjecture that we find plausible. All these complex variables are informed through questionnaires responded to by students and require a great degree of inference in the answers. Future studies must consider the complexity of the measured variables as well as the students’ perception and understanding of them.