Information Technology Education Journal
Vol. 5, No. 3, August (2026)

Clustering Elementary School Students’ Academic Achievement Profiles Using K-Means, the Elbow Method, and Silhouette Evaluation

Irmayanti (Universitas Labuhanbatu)
Hamni Fadlilah Nasution (Universitas Islam Negeri Syekh Ali Hasan Ahmad Addary)
Rohani (Universitas Labuhanbatu)



Article Info

Publish Date
21 Aug 2026

Abstract

Purpose – This study examined relative academic-score profiles among sixth-grade students at SD Negeri 05 Bilah Barat using Educational Data Mining and K-Means clustering. It compared candidate cluster solutions using the Elbow Method, Silhouette evaluation, repeated-run stability, and educational interpretability. Design/methodology/approach – First-semester report-card scores from 50 students across Civic Education, Indonesian Language, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences were Min–Max normalized and processed through one Python-based pipeline. K-Means used k-means++ initialization, 100 initializations, a fixed random seed of 42, a maximum of 300 iterations, Euclidean distance, and the Lloyd algorithm. Candidate solutions were evaluated using WCSS, overall and cluster-specific Silhouette Scores, the Adjusted Rand Index, and PCA visualization. Findings – K = 4 produced the highest overall Silhouette Score (0.4606) and the highest mean repeated-run ARI (0.9619), compared with K = 3 and K = 5. The selected solution comprised higher-score (n = 16), intermediate balanced (n = 24), mixed subject (n = 7), and lower-score profiles (n = 3). The first two principal components explained 87.87% of the variance. Research implications/limitations – The profiles are preliminary decision-support information and should not be used as formal classifications or as the sole basis for consequential educational decisions. Originality/value – The study provides a transparent and reproducible comparison of candidate solutions, including stability testing, inverse-transformed centroids, and cautious educational interpretation.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

INTEC

Publisher

Subject

Computer Science & IT Education

Description

INTEC Journal is published by the Informatics and Computer Engineering Education Study Program at Makassar State University. INTEC Journal is published periodically three times a year, containing articles on research results and / or critical studies in the field of Informatics and Computer ...