School effect and parental education: relations between neuropsychological profile and arithmetic achievement of 4th and 6th grade students

Abstract

This study seeks to characterize three different schools regarding physical and human resources, as well as verifying the relations of the school effect and parental education with arithmetical and neuropsychological achievement of 4th and 6th graders. In order to do so, the investigation counted with a sample of 166 subjects ranging from 9 to 12 years old studying in the fourth and sixth grade of Elementary School. The assessments employed were intelligence quotient, neuropsychological functions, arithmetical achievement and a socioeconomic questionnaire. The results were analyzed using the ANOVA statistical technique and Spearman’s correlation. The three schools displayed quite distinct results, especially concerning arithmetic performance. Such difference was not significant for most of the neuropsychological tasks, proving the importance of the school effect. The level of education of the mother and the father did not have a statistically notable impact on arithmetic performance, though it proved to be important for language development. Special attention is given to the role of the school in the arithmetic performance of students, in which the teacher is a key figure in the intervention processes, as well as the importance of family to the development of their neuropsychological skills. This study highlights the importance of school-parent integration to enhance students’ performance as a whole.