The organization of student performance in American schools: Discipline, motivation, verbal learning, and nonverbal learning

Standardized measures of cognitive ability, academic achievement, classroom learning behavior, and school social-emotional adjustment were administered for a nationally representative sample of 1,268 students aged 6-17 years. Exploratory and confirmatory latent structure analyses revealed 4 distinct and reliable student performance factors (Disciplined Behavior, Motivation, Verbal Learning, Nonverbal Learning) that were generalizable to age, sex, and ethnic subgroups within the national sample. The performance factors showed substantial and consistent relationships to independent measures of school achievement (grades, test scores) and to observations of problem behavior. Differential patterns for age, sex, and ethnic groups were discovered, including female superiority for disciplined behavior, verbal learning, and motivation, and male superiority for nonverbal learning, with unique pattern variations for some ethnic minority students. Theoretical implications are explored.