Academic Performance: Understanding Complex Student Outcomes Through an Integrative Lens

Dear Colleagues,

As has been increasingly acknowledged and supported by research, the academic performance of children is complexly associated with a host of cognitive factors (e.g., executive functions, attention, and working memory), interpersonal and intrapersonal variables (e.g., parent–child relations, the quality of teacher–student interaction quality, and students’ perceived competence), and contextual influences. To date, considerable research has examined each of these sets of influences in a primarily isolated manner. Generally, therefore, a unified understanding of how such variables impact K12 students’ performance in school is lacking. Moreover, strong theoretical models for understanding these complex processes have not yet been articulated well. This Special Issue of Behavioral Sciences seeks contributions from experts in cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, educational psychology, school psychology and other related areas that aim to fully elucidate the complex interactions among the myriad of variables that affect school performance. The primary objective of this Special Issue is to present studies across multiple specialty areas that have each made their own unique contribution to understanding children’s experience of school. As the Guest Editors of this Special Issue, we are particularly interested in projects that have a strong conceptual basis and have been conducted within applied settings. Specifically, manuscripts that contribute to our theoretical understanding of children’s educational experience and/or focus on evidence-based applications in the school setting are encouraged. Original research articles, meta-analyses, and theoretical/discussion papers are welcome.

Dr. Eugene Wong
Dr. Lisa Looney
Dr. Kevin Rosales
Guest Editors

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