How do teens perceive their academic self?

We read in Mid-March '10 Edition of Dr Kathie Nunley's Educator's Newsletter:

High School students' academic self-concept is influenced not only by the achievement levels of other students in their class (so called, "frame of reference" effect) but also by the prestige or standings of the school they attend (so called,"reflected glory" effect). In a large study, researchers found that among equally achieving students, those placed in high-achieving learning groups had lower academic self-concepts than their peers. But, the negative effects of being placed in high-achieving learning groups were weaker for high-achieving students. For both groups, academic self-concept was positively influenced by their perceived school standings in the community. Trautwein, U., et al. (2009). Within-school social comparison: How students perceive the standing of their class predicts academic self-concept.

Journal of Educational Psychology, 101(4), 853-866.

Interesting, don't you think?

Gladys

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Teaching teens

Kathie Nunley reports:

Students during early adolescence often struggle academically due to help avoidance and diminished interaction with the classroom teachers. Help avoidance varies for both gender and race. A recent study compared boys and girls of European American and African American race. All groups increased in help avoidance as they transitioned to middle school. European American girls were less likely to avoid help than E. A. boys. Researchers found no difference in help avoidance between genders of African American students.
Ryan, A. et al. (2009) Developmental Psychology. Vol 45(4), 1152-1163.

I believe this implies we teen teachers must be ready to make special efforts to offer help in as many ways as possible ("privately" as well as "publicly") and be particularly sensitive to requests for further support. Any delay or objection from us might be taken as a clear hint for help avoidance!

Do you think similar results would be obtained if researchers observed our classes?
Gladys