The Negative Effects of School-Average Ability on Academic Self-Concept: An Application of Multilevel Modelling

Abstract

This study examines the effects of attending higher-ability high schools on students' academic self-concept, and demonstrates a multilevel modelling approach for evaluating school effects on individual students. Equally able students in higher-ability schools had lower academic self-concepts than those in lower-ability schools, and this effect generalised across a nationally representative sample of 1628 students drawn from 87 high schools. Although the effects were negative for students of all ability levels, the effects were slightly smaller for the most able students and the least able students (a linear school-average ability by quadratic individual student ability interaction). A multilevel analysis of the data provided stronger support for the robustness of this effect than procedures used previously.