Within-person variability in performance across school subjects

Although thought to be substantial, within-person variability in performance across school subjects has not been systematically studied. Here we analysed data from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS; Nmax = 5919) to describe within-person variability across grades in English, maths, and science...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Learning and individual differences Vol. 93; p. 102091
Main Authors: Wright, Megan, von Stumm, Sophie
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier Inc 01.01.2022
Subjects:
Educational outcomes
Grades
School performance
Within-person variability
Grades
Educational outcomes
Within-person variability
School performance
ISSN:1041-6080, 1873-3425
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although thought to be substantial, within-person variability in performance across school subjects has not been systematically studied. Here we analysed data from the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS; Nmax = 5919) to describe within-person variability across grades in English, maths, and science from age 7 to 16 years. We found that within-person grade variability was largely unstable across subjects and ages. Within-person grade variability at age 16 was not associated with any of 15 variables that typically explain between-person differences in school performance (e.g. IQ, socioeconomic status, and personality traits). Also, within-person grade variability did not predict later educational outcomes at ages 18 and 21. Within-person grade variability is observable, but did not emerge in this study as a meaningful psychological construct. We conclude that understanding the causes and consequences of within-person grade variability is possibly of limited epistemological value. •Students perform differently across school subject areas and years, giving rise to within-person grade variability.•Only 1% of individual differences in within-person grade variability were stable from age 7 through 16.•Within-person grade variability was not associated with factors that predict between-person differences in school grades.•Within-person grade variability did not emerge as a meaningful psychological construct.
ISSN:1041-6080
1873-3425
DOI:10.1016/j.lindif.2021.102091