| Jennifer Park
Harvard University
Making the grade: Performance and perception of first graders with attention impairment
FINAL REPORT:
This study compares academic outcomes of children with attention impairment and peers at first grade end. We examine differences in student academic performance and in teachers' ratings of performance. We then evaluate the rate of match between teachers' perceptions and student performance. Multivariate models using nationally representative data from the 1998 ECLS-K test hypotheses that teachers' accuracy in rating student performance differs for children with attention impairment. Children with attention impairment perform less well in literacy and mathematics, and are rated by their teachers as performing less well in these areas and in general knowledge. Teacher perceptions are less accurate if the child has attention impairment, with overestimation in literacy and underestimation in general knowledge. However, teacher's perception of children with attention impairment varies by graduate training. Teachers with at least one year of graduate school are significantly more accurate in their perceptions. Results support advanced education for elementary teachers.
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