Relationships between cognitive development and school achievement: a Rasch measurement approach

Abstract

This paper reports a number of complementary research projects which have capitalized on important features of the Rasch measurement model in order to measure cognitive development and to relate that to success on related school curriculum topics. Consistencies in the results of these projects encourage us to draw some inferences about the nature of school readiness and the sorts of school experiences that are available for learners. The outstanding consistent feature of the results has been the evidence of remarkable heterogeneity of cognitive developmental levels in any single class year-group of children. While the development of understanding of seriation, conservation, area, chance, classification and the like, proceed on average, in regular incremental patterns, the spread of those abilities at any one year level reveals remarkable developmental diversity. The children's classroom teachers usually express relief at having their intuitions about class members explained in a coherent way. Although it is evident empirically that child development and school success are generally age-related, acceptance into and progression through many Australian school systems seems remarkably age-determined. Moreover, the relationships between cognitive development and school learning at the start of schooling appear consistent with those found by science teachers interested in enhancing the achievement of their secondary school students.