Self-concept correlates in academic placement of secondary school students

In a large school system in the Southeastern United States 26% of the eighth grade students in the lower distribution of scores on a standardized test in reading and mathematics were assigned to vocational education courses and a career education program. One of the school counselors administered a self-concept inventory, the Me Scale (Yeatts & Morrison, 1974), to a randomized group of 43 students who were in the lower 26% of scores. The same inventory was administered to 91 randomly selected students in the upper distribution of scores. Significant differences were noted for one of five factors in the Me Scale. Lower achieving students perceived themselves as more capable in manual dexterity than higher achieving students.