Effective factors that increase academic achievement among low SES youth Alex Anley November 30, 2016

Problem Statement and Research Question Children that come from low socioeconomic families are at a disadvantage due to lack of resources in and around the home. As a result, their academic achievement in school suffers compared to those who come from high socioeconomic families. This discrepancy needs to be addressed in order to promote equal educational opportunities to foster a promising future for children from all backgrounds. There are several influences that can contribute to academic success, including parental involvement and access to quality education. What are the most effective factors that facilitate academic achievement among children that come from low socioeconomic families?

What are some effective factors? Parental involvement Teacher efficacy and expectations School culture and leadership Individual characteristics

Parental Involvement Jeynes (2007), in his study, defines parental involvement as, “parental participation in the educational processes and experiences of their children” Can distinguish parental involvement as school based vs home based Homework monitoring, active communication with teachers, volunteering for school functions, expectations, and parenting style Can be voluntary or as a result of a school program that encourages parental participation

What does the research say about parental involvement? Parental involvement is associated with higher levels of academic achievement for students of all races (Jeynes, 2007) The strongest predictors of students academic achievement included parent-school involvement, expectations for current/long term performance, and positive parenting styles (Watkins & Howard, 2015) “The gap between predominantly white and predominantly minority schools [parental participation] is greatest when there are no efforts by the school. However, as the number of school policies to encourage and support parent involvement increases, the gap between predominantly white and minority schools decreases,” (Marschall and Shah, 2016) Mayo & Siraj (2015) identified two ways of parental involvement that significantly contributed to the child’s academic achievement, including emotional and practical support with school and learning. Verbal communication was important for emotional support and supervision and help with homework was a type of practical support.

Teacher efficacy and expectations Teacher efficacy and expectations are critical for sustaining academic achievement among kids Teachers must be adequately prepared to teach in urban settings Beliefs and practices must not decrease expectations of low SES children “Many teachers whom schools must accept, particularly in poor urban neighborhoods, do not meet the criteria of high quality, especially in terms of their beliefs about the students they teach,” (Warren, 2002)

How Expectations and Efficacy of Diverse Teachers Affect the Academic Performance of Children in Poor Urban Schools, Warren (2002) How do teachers describe the differences between their own children and the children they teach? Most of teachers in the study acknowledged low academic achievement as the major difference between their children and the children they teach. They attributed their student’s lack of skills to social class differences, deficient backgrounds/families/life experiences, primary language other than English, ethnicity, poverty, and changes in society over the years How do teachers express the possibility of their own efficacy in educating or intervening with their students? Most of the teachers in the study had lower expectations for their students than for their own children and a low sense of teaching efficacy What differences in beliefs exist between teachers who teach children of color and from a lower SES and those who do not? 8/18 teachers from poor urban schools didn’t believe in the effectiveness of public schools and sent their own children to private schools

School culture/climate Socioeconomic context and location Number of students Academic performance Leadership Social problems School cohesion Educational resources

What does the research say about school culture? Connecting learning to real-life experience, stressing practical applications, and making the curriculum relevant to daily lives has been found to be important to low SES kids (Mujis, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, & Russ, 2004) A US study found that advanced skills curriculum programs improved academic achievement among high poverty ethnic minority students (Mujis, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, & Russ, 2004) Teachers involvement with school improvement strategies has been shown to be effective in sustaining academic improvement in low SES schools (Mujis, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, & Russ, 2004) School cohesion shows a significant/positive relationship with GPA (Stewart, 2008) “Low-SES African American and Latino students were consistently more likely than low-SES white students to attend schools with high proportions of low-achieving students from low-SES and minority backgrounds,” (Borman & Rachuba, 2001)

Individual Level Characteristics School attachment School involvement Locus of control Self esteem Self efficacy Interpersonal skills Expectations Peer associations

What does the research say about individual traits? School attachment and school commitment are significant and positively associated with GPA (Stewart, 2008) “Greater engagement in academic activities, an internal locus of control, efficaciousness in math, a more positive outlook toward school, and a more positive self-esteem were characteristics of all low-SES students who achieved resilient outcomes,” (Borman & Rachuba, 2001) Findings were mostly consistent with ethnic/racial groups Positive peer associations are significantly and positively associated with academic achievement (Stewart, 2008) Resilient students usually develop more supportive relationships with teachers than do non-resilient students (Borman & Rachuba, 2001)

So what, now what? School reform is essential, however, it cannot be accomplished with a “one size fits all” model Increase parental involvement policies in schools While there are still disparities between predominantly white and predominantly minority schools, “the number of policies in place to support and encourage participation increases, predominantly minority schools achieve significant gains in parent involvement, in some cases nearly matching levels in predominantly white schools,” (Marschall and Shah, 2016) Careful teacher selection and preparation “Those involved in reform must understand the impact of teachers’ beliefs and how they are reflected in practices that may perpetuate inequalities for children of color and poverty,” (Warren, 2002) Other school reform strategies Some strategies that schools can adopt include a focus on teaching and learning, effective distributed leadership, creating an information-rich environment, creating a positive school culture, creating a learning environment and a strong emphasis on continuous professional development (Mujis, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, & Russ, 2004)