Academic Performance of Primary School-aged Students in Spain and Colombia: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

One of the challenges of education is to ensure that students are competent in society, which demands not only cognitive, but also emotional and social skills. This study aims to analyze and compare the academic performance (grades, reading comprehension, multiple intelligence, and creativity) of Spanish and Colombian students ages 6–9. The non-experimental design consisted of a descriptive, correlational, and comparative study of two groups (Spanish and Colombian students). At the descriptive level, the sample attained medium and medium-high levels on all variables. We found relationships between most of the variables analyzed. In terms of the comparison made, Colombian students achieved higher levels in performance on the degree of reorganization of reading information and creativity. In contrast, Spanish students scored higher on literal, critical, and inferential understanding. The study provides clear evidence of the importance and necessity of providing an integrated intervention regarding the analyzed variables in order to optimize the general performance.