what affects student performance? s a nand, g ramener
DESCRIPTION
2005 First letter marks APVDSNKRBGMAPVDSNKRBGM VAPDSKNBRGMVAPDSKNBRGM 59.2% 59.9% 58.9% 58.8% 57.9% 56.3% 56.2% 56.1% 55.4% 54.5% 54.4% 66.5% 65.9% 65.8% 65.2% 64.3% 64.0% 63.4% 62.8% 62.6% 61.5% 61.1% 2011 First letter marks Why is this? Is this pattern distinguishable from randomness? Source: Karnataka State Board exams (8 – 8.5 lakh students per year)TRANSCRIPT
WHAT AFFECTSSTUDENT
PERFORMANCE?
S ANAND, GRAMENER
DOES YOUR NAME MATTER?
When I was young, I thought I was unlucky. My name starts with "A". I used to get called very early for questions, submissions, etc. in class.
Often I was unprepared, and didn't do as well as classmates whose name started with "V".
Later, I was told this was an advantage, as I'd always learn to be prepared.
Does the first letter of the name actually affect the marks?
“
2005First letter marks
APVDSNKRBGM
VAPDSKNBRGM
59.2%59.9%58.9%58.8%57.9%56.3%56.2%56.1%55.4%54.5%54.4%
66.5%65.9%65.8%65.2%64.3%64.0%63.4%62.8%62.6%61.5%61.1%
2011First letter marks
Why is this?
Is this pattern distinguishable from randomness?
Source: Karnataka State Board exams (8 – 8.5 lakh students per year)
Jain
Harini
Shweta
Sneha Pooja
Ashwin
Shah
Deepti
Sanjana
Varshini
Ezhumalai
Venkatesan
Silambarasan
Pandiyan
Kumaresan
Manikandan
Thirupathi
Agarwal
Kumar
Priya
WHAT ABOUT ASTROLOGY?
Based on the results of the 20 lakh students taking the Class XII exams at Tamil Nadu over the last 3 years, it appears that the month you were born in can make a difference of as much as 120 marks out of 1,200.
June borns score the
lowest
The marks shoot up for Aug borns
… and peaks for Sep-borns
120 marks out of 1200
explainable by month of birth
An identical pattern was observed in 2009 and 2010…
… and across districts, gender, subjects, and class X & XII.
“It’s simply that in Canada the eligibility cut-off for age-class hockey is January 1. A boy who turns ten on January 2, then, could be playing alongside someone who doesn’t turn ten until the end of the year—and at that age, in preadolescence, a twelve-month gap in age represents an enormous difference in physical maturity.”
-- Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers
Pattern of “births” in India is skewedThis is a birth date dataset that’s obtained from school admission data for over 10 million children. When we compare this with births in the US, we see none of the same patterns.
For example,• Is there an aversion to the 13th or is there a local cultural
nuance?• Are holidays avoided for births?• Which months have a higher propensity for births, and
why?• Are there any patterns not found in the US data?
Very few children are born in the month of August, and
thereafter. Most births are concentrated in the first half
of the year
We see a large number of children born on the 5th, 10th,
15th, 20th and 25th of each month – that is, round
numbered dates
Such round numbered patterns a typical indication
of fraud. Here, birthdates are brought forward to aid
early school admission
More births Fewer births … on average, for each day of the year (from 2007 to 2013)
This adversely impacts children’s marksIt’s a well established fact that older children tend to do better at school in most activities. Since many children have had their birth dates brought forward, these younger children suffer.
The average marks of children “born” on the 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th etc. of the month tend to score lower marks. • Are holidays avoided for births?• Which months have a higher propensity for births, and
why?• Are there any patterns not found in the US data?
Higher marks Lower marks… on average, for children born on a given day of the year (from 2007 to 2013)
Children “born” on round numbered days score lower marks on average,due to a higher proportion of younger children
PERFORMANCE: BOYS VS GIRLS
Subject Girs higher by Girls BoysPhysics 0 119 119Chemistry 1 123 122English 4 130 126Computers 6 137 131Biology 6 129 123Mathematics 11 123 112Language 11 152 141Accounting 12 138 126Commerce 13 127 114Economics 16 142 126
What do the children in schools know and can do at different stages of elementary
education?
Have the inputs made into the elementary education system had a beneficial effect or
not?
The report studies response distribution
Number of siblings Computer usage
Number of books read Private tuition
LET’S STUDY WHAT AFFECTS THEIR
ABILITIES
Having books improves reading abilityHaving more books at home improves the performance of children when it comes to reading. (But children typically only have only 1-10 books at home) Number of students sampled
What is the impact? How many more marks can having more books fetch?
Circle size indicates number of students with this response. Few students have no books.
Is this response (“25+ books”) good or bad? Small red bars indicate low marks. Large green bars indicate high marks. Students having 25+ books tend to score high marks.
The most common response is marked in blue. This is also the circle.
The graphic is summarized in words
Indicates whether the best response is the most popular. Blue means that it is not. Green means that it is. Red means that the worst level is the most popular response.
… but the impact in science is lessWhile having more books improves the reading % score by 8%, it only increases the science % by 4%
Having more siblings doesn’t help readingChildren with 1 sibling do much better than children with many siblings
… but helps a lot in mathematicsChildren with 4+ siblings do very well, children with 1 sibling fare poorly
Tuitions help a little
… but not children with 4+ siblings
Tuitions help a little
… but not children of illiterate parents
Children like games, and they’re good
… but playing daily hurts reading ability
Watching TV occasionally is goodChildren who watch TV every day don’t do as well as children who watch TV only once a week.
But children who never watch TV fare the worst.
Watching TV every day helps improve children’s reading ability a little bit more…
… but mathematical abilities fall dramatically at that point
Reading books every day is not good
Reading magazines every day seems to be
But having educated parents helps mostThis table shows the % improvement in score due to each factor
Its impact is less with more children
The same holds for mother’s education
Fathers help their boys study
… but mothers help the girls
… except in mathematics
We have a website that you can explore
GRAMENER.COM/NAS
WHAT NEXT?
How does school / teacher behaviour affect
marks?
What topics pose hurdles to different
segments?
Group questions into topics based on
similarity of student answers?
Group students into segments based on
similarity of answers?
EXPLORE & LEARN FROM DATA