Predicting Academic Performance Using Machine Learning: Moroccan Middle School Data
摘要
In the context of increasingly heterogeneous student populations and a growing emphasis on data-driven decision-making, accurately predicting academic performance remains a m193 ajor challenge. This study investigates the use of regression-based machine learning models to estimate continuous academic outcomes, specifically the final average scores of adolescent students (Patil et al., in Int J Comput Appl 176(22):15–21, 2024, [1]). Data were collected from Moroccan schools using a cluster sampling strategy, following a methodology inspired by prior educational research (Romero et al., in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C, vol 40, no 6, pp 601–618 (2010), [2]). Several supervised learning algorithms including Linear Regression, Random Forest Regressor, Decision Tree Regressor, and K-Nearest Neighbors Regressor were trained and evaluated using a standard train-test split. Model performance was assessed with standard regression metrics: coefficient of determination ( \(R^2\) ), mean absolute error (MAE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE). The ultimate goal is to develop a reliable system that supports the early identification of at-risk students and informs personalized pedagogical interventions. Findings highlight the practical relevance of machine learning in improving academic guidance and individualized learning strategies.