Clarifying the Relationship between Academic Success and Overt Classroom Behavior

Using the Devereux Elementary School Behavior Rating Scale, a device developed to identify achievement related classroom behaviors in kindergarten through sixth grade, 298 ratings were made of children designated as achievers and underachievers at the fifth grade level. Achievement criteria were subtest scores on a group test and teacher assigned report card marks. The analysis of the relationship between classroom behavior and the achievement criteria indicates that when a child is underachieving, this is evident not only in the grade or test scores he receives but also in his broader functioning in the classroom. In addition to the poor achievement scores they receive, underachievers are clearly different, in terms of maladaptive overt behavior, from their achieving peers. This is particularly true when the achievement criterion is the teacher's judgment of the quality of the child's efforts.