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REPORT: Does School Mobility Place Elementary School Children at Risk for Lower

Math Achievement? The Mediating Role of Cognitive Dysregulation

A glimpse at the title of the study is good enough to give the reader the study’s dependent and independent variables. The title is put in the form of a question, in which the researchers were trying to see if one variable caused variations in the other. Specifically, the intentions were to find out whether school mobility- the independent variable, placed elementary school children at risk for the lower math achievement-the dependent variable.

From the introduction section, it is clear that school mobility is a big problem that is common to the economically disadvantaged in the United States. The researchers in this particular study identified a period at which very little was being done in bringing new knowledge to the ways that psychosocial upheaval of changing schools may undermine children’s academic success. Researchers on disruptions introduced by changing schools, teachers, and peers as well as those on poverty-related risks were deemed useful in this research. The researchers emphasized on the idea that poverty-related risks undermined the success of children at school work. They narrowed their work down to the hypothesis that school mobility was an under-recognized form of poverty-related risk which threatened opportunities for children’s academic success.

In the methodology section, the researchers used randomized sampling to get the final sample used in the study. They used secondary data which proved easier to handle for such a broad study for which dealing with primary data would be hectic and time-consuming. The subjects in the study were 3- and 4-year old elementary children who were followed up to their fourth grades. The researchers followed up records of the subjects which were made before the research but in the subjects natural environs. They used tools such as math achievement, cognitive dysregulation and school mobility in the study.

Descriptive statistics enable the researcher to capture the mind of the readers of their work. The researchers in this particular study started by giving the descriptive in the results section, giving the reader an idea of what the graphics represent. The graphical representation, on the other hand, are an appealing way of presenting detailed information without scaring readers away. The authors presented early cognitive dysregulation as the significant results of the study as it showed statistically significant inverse relation to math achievement in the fourth grade.

A researcher should remind the readers the objectives and hypotheses of their study just before discussing the results. In addition, the researcher should tell the reader how these results were arrived at, briefly. Allison et al. (2015) ensured they did that and the reader can grasp every detail in the discussion section. Alternative explanations are given a brief glimpse at the results of prior studies. The authors further went on to quote the limitations encountered which could have limited the extent of the usefulness of their study. However, recommendations on how these could be avoided in future studies were laid out. For instance, they urged for similar researchers but with larger samples.

This particular article brings a number of thoughts to a reader. For instance, would similar results be obtained from a similar study but focusing on children from the economically advantaged groups in the society. It is possible to design a similar or even a better study on the topic in this article. Basically, the research reviewed was well conducted, and the findings are a true picture of what happens in the society. School Mobility does have a negative effect on children’s ability to succeed academically.

Reference

Allison, H., Friedman, K. & Raver, C. C. (2015). Does School Mobility Place Elementary School Children at Risk for Lower Math Achievement? The Mediating Role of Cognitive Dysregulation. Developmental Psychology, 45, No. 12, 1725-1739. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0039795