Model of Academic Competence (DiPerna &
Elliott, 2002)
The most recent attempt to circumscribe the
learner characteristic domain is reflected in the work of DiPerna
and Elliott (2000, 2002). In their Model of Academic
Competence (MAC), they defined academic competence as “a
multidimensional construct consisting of the skills, attitudes, and
behaviors of learners that contribute to success in the
classrooms” (p. 294). Academic competence includes the
domains of academic skills and academic enablers. According
to DiPerna and Elliott (2002), “academic skills are the basic
and complex skills that are the primary focus of academic
instruction in elementary and secondary schools. In contrast,
academic enablers are attitudes and behaviors that allow a learner
to participate in, and ultimately benefit from, academic
instruction in the classroom” (p.
294).
Both the MAC academic skill and enabler domains
include narrower and specific skills and behaviors. The
academic domain reflects the acquired declarative and procedural
knowledge domains of language-based achievement (reading and
writing), mathematics, and critical thinking. DiPerna
and Elliott’s (2000) research led to the identification of
four specific categories of academic enabling
behaviors—interpersonal skills, motivation, study skills, and
engagement (all four are included in Table 1).
According to Keith (2002), the MAC-based research
of DiPerna and Elliott illustrates the benefits of using an
over-arching learner characteristic framework. As stated by
Keith (2002):
-
"Identifying the most salient learner and
environmental factors that affect achievement, specifying a
comprehensive model of how these factors influence each other, and
determining the specific causal mechanisms that explain the
relationships between enablers and achievement will result in the
development of a comprehensive assessment and intervention
framework for learners experiencing academic difficulty. This
framework, in turn, will allow practitioners to more efficiently
prioritize learner and environmental factors that may be
contributing to a learner's academic difficulty "(p.
295).
Despite the promise of DiPerna and Elliott’s
(2002) MAC, I concur with Keith (2002) that the MAC model does not
provide the necessary breadth and depth of coverage of potential
academic enablers. The list of important MACM variables
identified in this document (see Table 1) far exceeds the behaviors
and skills listed in the DiPerna and Elliot MAC. Although the more
circumscribed scope of the DiPerna and Elliott MAC framework is
necessary when operationalizing and conducting manageable research
studies, I believe that a much more comprehensive taxonomic
framework (viz., the MACM), including one that subsumes the major
components of the DiPerna and Elliott MAC framework, is required to
capture the richness of the potentially important essential
non-cognitive learner characteristics.
