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Academic Competency

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Synonyms

Academic ability; Academic performance; Educational productivity

Definition

Academic competency is the multidimensional characteristics of a learner – including skills, attitudes, and behaviors – that factor into their academic success. These characteristics can be separated and considered in one of two primary domains: academic skills or academic enablers (DiPerna and Elliot 2000; Elliot and DiPerna 2002). Academic skills are both the basic and complex skills (e.g., reading, writing, calculating, and critical thinking) needed to access and interact with content-specific knowledge. Academic enablers, however, are the attitudes and behaviors (e.g., interpersonal skills, motivation, study skills, and engagement) that a learner needs in order to take advantage of education.

Research indicates that prior achievement and interpersonal skills influence motivation, thereby impacting study skills and engagement (e.g., time on task), which are skills positively associated with...

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References and Readings

  • DiPerna, J. C., & Elliot, S. N. (2000). The academic competence evaluation scales (ACES college). San Antonio: The Psychological Association.

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  • DiPerna, J. C., Volpe, R. J., & Elliott, S. N. (2002). A model of academic enablers and elementary reading/language arts achievement. School Psychology Review, 31 (3), 298–312.

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  • DiPerna, J. C., Volpe, R. J., & Elliott, S. N. (2005). A model of academic enablers and and mathematics achievement in the elementary grades. Journal of School Psychology, 43 (5), 379–392.

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  • Edl, H. M., Jones, M. H., & Estell, D. B. (2008). Ethnicity and english proficiency: Teacher perceptions of academic and interpersonal competence in European American and Latino students. School Psychology Review, 37 (1), 38–45.

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  • Elliot, S. N., & DiPerna, J. C. (2002). Assessing the academic competence of college students: Validation of a self-report measure of skills and enablers. Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability, 15 (2), 87–100.

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  • Hutto, L. (2009). Measuring academic competence in college students: A review of research and instruments. Saarbrücken: VDM Verlag.

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  • Ma, L., Phelps, E., Lerner, J. V., & Lerner, R. M. (2009). Academic competence for adolescents who bully and who are bullied. Journal of Early Adolescence, 29 (6), 862–897.

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  • Shapiro, E. S. (2008). From research to practice: Promoting academic competence for underserved students. School Psychology Review, 37 (1), 46–51.

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Correspondence to Kristy K. Kelly .

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Kelly, K.K. (2017). Academic Competency. In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1445-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1445-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

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