The American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting is taking place in Chicago this year on April 13–16. If you’re looking for a better understanding of the relationships between noncognitive constructs (often referred to as “soft skills”) and achievement, check out the “Noncognitive Constructs and Academic Outcomes: Using NAEP Data to Understand Differences in Achievement” symposium at AERA 2023 on Saturday, April 15, from 10:50 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. ET.

At the symposium, NAEP researchers and discussants from the American Institutes for Research (AIR), Westat, and the U.S. Department of Education will present and discuss the following papers:

• How Noncognitive Constructs Vary by Student Subgroups Across Grades and Subjects

This paper provides more empirical evidence on the relationships between noncognitive constructs and academic achievement using nationally representative data. The study uses 2019 NAEP grades 4 and 8 mathematics and reading assessment data to provide an overview of these constructs, whether and how they differ by student group within each grade/subject, and whether their relationship to NAEP achievement is similar or different across subjects and grades.

• Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Noncognitive Constructs and Their Relationships With NAEP Performance

This paper builds upon the exploratory results from the previous study on 2019 NAEP data, using regression models with interaction terms to examine the relationship between noncognitive constructs and performance as well as whether the relationship varies by student characteristics such as gender, race, and socioeconomic status.

• Noncognitive Skills and Their Relationship With NAEP Performance by NAEP Achievement Levels

This paper shares the results of a study using 2019 NAEP grades 4 and 8 reading assessment data to examine the relationship between five noncognitive constructs (persistence, academic self-discipline, enjoyment of complex problems, confidence in reading, and interest in reading) and NAEP achievement by level (i.e., below NAEP Basic, NAEP Basic, and NAEP Proficient and above).

• Noncognitive Skills and Their Relationship With NAEP Performance by NAEP Achievement Levels

This paper discusses a study using 2019 NAEP grade 8 assessment data (and the associated teacher and student contextual questionnaires) to investigate how teacher perceptions about students’ mathematics ability relate to students’ noncognitive constructs and achievement. The study also analyzes demographic variables (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity) at the student level to explore possible group differences.

You can find more specific session details and register for the 2023 AERA Annual Meeting here. Be sure to check out this symposium if you’re interested in the relationship between NAEP achievement and noncognitive constructs, or just in the analysis of NAEP data in general.