Didactic Methodology and Learning Performance in Compulsory Education (Primary and Secondary) in the Community of Madrid

Abstract

There is currently a clear increasing relationship between education quality and students' academic performance. That is the reason why this article shows a study whose goal is to find out what is the most effective didactic methodology at the Primary and Secondary education stages and what is the possible correlation between both stages. This study based on quantitative, non-experimental research addressed the students born in 1999 who had undergone different didactic methodologies: active, bilingual or traditional education at Primary Education centers and subsequently at Secondary Education ones as well. The measurement tools used in the study were the external tests on Indispensable Knowledge and Skills applied by Community of Madrid to the Primary Education sixth grade students in 2011 and to the same students at the third grade of Compulsory Secondary Education three years later in 2014. The results show that at the Primary Education stage there are no substantial differences in the students' learning performance whereas they do exist at the Secondary Education stage and besides there is a positive and imperfect correlation between both stages