Interclassroom differences in instructional quality and interindividual differences in cognitive development

In the literature, there is now sufficient empirical evidence for many specific and short-term effects of differences in the quality of classroom teaching on student learning and achievement. Simultaneously, there is a lack of longitudinal studies suited to estimate the cumulative impact of instructional quality on various aspects of cognitive development. This article presents selected results from a 4-year longitudinal study in elementary schools. The findings indicate (a) that the temporal stability of scholastic achievement remains high even when intelligence is partialed out and/or the classroom teacher has changed and (b) that math achievement measured in second grade predicts both math achievement and intellectual performance in fourth grade. In addition, cognitive variables are highly stable over time. These findings are discussed with respect to models of cognitive development and with regard of the impact of different classroom experiences for student cognitive outcomes.