SELF-CONCEPT AND SCHOOL-ACHIEVEMENT - INTERACTION DYNAMICS AND A TOOL FOR ASSESSING THE SELF-CONCEPT COMPONENT

This article briefly reviews a large body of research done within approximately the past 25 years and points our that not only is there a consistent and moderately strong relationship between self-concept and academic ability but that these two variables ave highly interactive and reciprocal. Although it is easy enough to see the achievement side of this interaction, it is difficult to see the self-concept component because that involves hidden feelings and personal perceptions. In an effort to help school personnel know which behaviors to look for as possible indications of self-concept status, a self-concept inventory designed to be used informally reflecting behavior that previous research has associated with positive or negative feelings about the self is proposed as a tool that can help guide one's perceptions when trying to identify and understand the general nature of a student's self-concept dynamics.