The Role of Socioeconomic Status in SAT–Freshman Grade Relationships Across Gender and Racial Subgroups

Recent research has shown that admissions tests retain the vast majority of their predictive power after controlling for socioeconomic status (SES), and that SES provides only a slight increment over SAT and high school grades (high school grade point average [HSGPA]) in predicting academic performance. To address the possibility that these overall analyses obscure differences by race/ethnicity or gender, we examine the role of SES in the test‒grade relationship for men and women as well as for various racial/ethnic subgroups within the United States. For each subgroup, the test‒grade relationship is only slightly diminished when controlling for SES. Further, SES is a substantially less powerful predictor of academic performance than both SAT and HSGPA. Among the indicators of SES (i.e., father's education, mother's education, and parental income), father's education appears to be strongest predictor of freshman grades across subgroups, with the exception of the Asian subgroup. In general, SES appears to behave similarly across subgroups in the prediction of freshman grades with SAT scores and HSGPA.     

Predicting College Performance of American Indians: A Large‐Sample Examination of the SAT

Extensive research has examined the validity and fairness of standardized tests in academic admissions. However, due to their underrepresentation in higher education, American Indians have gained much less attention in this research. In the present study, we examined for American Indian students (1) group differences on SAT scores, (2) the predictive and incremental validity of SAT over high school grades, (3) the effect of socioeconomic status on SAT validity, (4) differential prediction in the use of SAT scores, and (5) potential omitted variables that could explain differential prediction for American Indian students. Results provided evidence of predictive and incremental validity of SAT scores, and the validity of SAT scores was largely independent of socioeconomic status. Overprediction was found when using SAT scores to predict college performance and it was reduced when including high school grades as an additional predictor. This study provides substantial evidence of the validity and fairness of SAT scores for American Indians.     

Socioeconomic status, self-efficacy, and mathematics achievement in Australia: a secondary analysis

Previous studies have shown that both student and school socioeconomic status (SES) are strongly associated with student outcomes, but less is known about how these relationships may vary for different students, schools and nations. In this study we use a large international dataset to examine how student SES, school SES and self-efficacy are associated with mathematics performance among 15-year-old students in Australia. We found that increases in school SES are consistently associated with substantial increases in achievement in mathematics and this phenomenon holds for all groups, regardless of their individual SES. Furthermore, our findings show that the association of school SES with maths achievement persists even when subject-specific self-efficacy is taken into account. However, our findings also suggest modest differences among student groups disaggregated by these factors. In particular, the association between maths achievement and school SES appears moderately stronger for students with higher levels of self-efficacy compared with their peers with lower self-efficacy. Furthermore, among students with similar levels of self-efficacy, the association between maths achievement and school SES tends to be stronger for lower SES students than for their more privileged peers. From these findings, we highlight the importance of the Australian case for comparable systems of education, and provide a discussion of policy implications and strategies for mitigating the influence of school socioeconomic composition on academic achievement more generally.     

The Effect of High School Socioeconomic Status on the Predictive Validity of SAT Scores and High School Grade‐Point Average

Research has often found that, when high school grades and SAT scores are used to predict first‐year college grade‐point average (FGPA) via regression analysis, African‐American and Latino students, are, on average, predicted to earn higher FGPAs than they actually do. Under various plausible models, this phenomenon can be explained in terms of the unreliability of predictor variables. Attributing overprediction to measurement error, however, is not fully satisfactory: Might the measurement errors in the predictor variables be systematic in part, and could they be reduced? The research hypothesis in the current study was that the overprediction of Latino and African‐American performance occurs, at least in part, because these students are more likely than White students to attend high schools with fewer resources. The study provided some support for this hypothesis and showed that the prediction of college grades can be improved using information about high school socioeconomic status. An interesting peripheral finding was that grades provided by students’ high schools were stronger predictors of FGPA than were students’ self‐reported high school grades. Correlations between the two types of high school grades (computed for each of 18 colleges) ranged from .59 to .85.     

Alleviating or exacerbating disadvantage: does school attended mediate the association between family background and educational attainment?

ABSTRACT

Opportunities for social mobility are generated by education systems designed to alleviate the effects of social origin by providing equality of opportunities and resources. The persistence of the strong association between socioeconomic status (SES) and child’s educational achievement and attainment suggests that social origin continues to play an integral role in the educational outcomes of successive generations of Australians. Sociologists draw on a range of theoretical perspectives to explain this association including Bourdieu’s cultural and social capital theories. Using data collected by the Longitudinal Survey of Australian Youth 2009 (LSAY09) project, I examine the associations between student SES, school SES and two outcome variables: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) score and university enrolment. The results indicate that low SES students attending high SES schools perform better on PISA tests than low SES students attending low SES schools. After controlling for PISA score, low SES students were less likely than their high SES peers to enrol at university. Furthermore, students attending low SES schools were less likely than their peers attending high SES schools to enrol at university, net of their individual SES and their PISA scores.     

Schooling,Socioeconomic Context and Literacy Development

This longitudinal study examined the relationship between schooling, literacy development, and socioeconomic context, as reflected by a composite measure of socioeconomic status (SES). Reading, spelling, and phonological abilities were assessed from kindergarten to grade three in Canadian children in a school district with intensive literacy activities. In kindergarten, there were significant associations between SES and all the abilities assessed but these associations declined systematically to non‐significant levels by grade three. Risk and prevalence of reading failure also decreased with more schooling. The results suggest that the attenuation of the association between SES and literacy‐related skills, and the progressive reduction of the risk for reading failure, were positive outcomes associated with the literacy school program, especially in the early grades.     

The role of schools in bridging within-school achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status: a cross-national comparative study

Since the publication of the Coleman report in 1966, research on the role of schools in influencing student achievement relative to the role of family background has generated considerable interest and controversy. A large volume of international and comparative research has also been devoted to studying school effects on student achievement. Relatively few studies have examined international differences in the importance of schools in bridging achievement gaps based on socioeconomic status (SES). Using PISA 2012 data, this study examines the role of schools in bridging within-school SES gaps in achievement and compares findings across 61 countries. Contrary to prior research, we find that schools may have limited ability in bridging SES gaps that exist within schools. We also find that across all countries included in the study, specific factors such as the school’s learning environment and school context are not systematically associated with within-school SES gaps.     

Examination of Indices of High School Performance Based on the Graded Response Model

We examined summary indices of high school performance (coursework, grades, and test scores) based on the graded response model (GRM). The indices varied by inclusion of ACT test scores and whether high school courses were constrained to have the same difficulty and discrimination across groups of schools. The indices were examined with respect to skewness, incremental prediction of college degree attainment, and differences across racial/ethnic and socioeconomic subgroups. The most difficult high school courses to earn an “A” grade included calculus, chemistry, trigonometry, other advanced math, physics, algebra 2, and geometry. The GRM‐based indices were less skewed than simple high school grade point average (HSGPA) and had higher correlations with ACT Composite score. The index that included ACT test scores and allowed item parameters to vary by school group was most predictive of college degree attainment, but had larger subgroup differences. Implications for implementing multiple measure models for college readiness are discussed.     

School ethnic composition and aspirations of immigrant students in Belgium

This article examines the association between school ethnic composition and immigrant students’ intentions to finish high school and to move on to higher education. We used data from 1324 immigrant and 10,546 native students gathered in the school year 2004–2005 in a sample of 85 Flemish (Belgian) secondary schools. Logistic multilevel analyses (HLM6) show that students attending schools with a majority of native students (enrolling less than 20% immigrant students) were twice as likely to plan to finish high school and to plan for higher education than those attending high concentration schools (more than 50% immigrant students). These associations were due to students’ socio‐economic status (SES) and there was no difference in aspirations between high and low concentration schools after controlling for students’ SES and the SES context of the school. All else being equal, immigrant students in high concentration schools tended to aspire to finish high school and move on to higher education slightly more than those attending medium concentration schools (20–50% immigrant students). The analyses further show that these differences between high and medium concentration schools can be explained by the more optimistic culture in high concentration schools. The main conclusion is that high concentration schools are not necessarily detrimental for students’ educational aspirations.     

School socioeconomic compositional effect on shadow education participation: evidence from Japan

While shadow education, organized learning activities outside formal school, has grown greatly around the world, the relationship between formal schooling and shadow education has not been well investigated. This study is therefore intended to empirically test whether formal education’s structure (i.e. tracking) affects students’ shadow education participation by utilizing a nationally representative dataset consisting of 10th-grade students in Japan. Results of multilevel logistic regression analyses show school socioeconomic compositional and cross-level interaction effects on shadow education participation: students in high-socioeconomic status (SES) schools are more likely to seek shadow education lessons than those in schools of lower SES; and higher SES students tend to take shadow education lessons, especially when in high-SES schools. Additionally, the study finds that the school composition effect becomes relatively weak when extra lessons are free of charge, highlighting the importance of family economic capital to obtain additional learning opportunities.     

The quadratic relationship between socioeconomic status and learning performance in China by multilevel analysis: Implications for policies to foster education equity

The purpose of the present study is to explore the relationship between family socioeconomic status and mathematics performance on the base of a multi-level analysis involving a large sample of Chinese primary school students. A weak relationship is found between socioeconomic status and performance in the Chinese context. The relationship does not follow a linear, but a quadratic curve, implying that students from a disadvantaged family and higher socioeconomic background have a higher probability to attain higher mathematics scores. This can be explained on the basis of Chinese cultural beliefs about education, exams and social class mobility. Moreover, the aggregated socioeconomic status at the school level seems to moderate in the relation between individual SES and academic performance. This suggests that individuals from a disadvantaged family will achieve higher in the school with a higher family socioeconomic status than students who are enrolled in schools with a lower and average family socioeconomic status.     

THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ON THE PREDICTABILITY OF COLLEGE PERFORMANCE

Although numerous studies have examined the validity of scholastic aptitude measures as predictors of college performance for black and white students, few studies have investigated the validity of these predictors for different socioeconomic levels within a racially homogeneous population. To study the influence of socioeconomic status (SES) on the predictability of college performance, a sample of 1,631 white freshmen attending a large urban university was divided into homogeneous subgroups on each of three measures: (a) family income, (b) father's occupation, and (c) mother's education. Verbal and Quantitative Scholastic Aptitude Test scores and high school class rank were used to predict freshman grade-point average within each subgroup. For all three socioeconomic measures, lower cross-validated multiple correlations were associated with lower levels of SES. Possible explanations for these results are discussed and implications for research are presented.     

School effects and ethnic,gender and socio-economic gaps in educational achievement at age 11

There are long-standing achievement gaps in England associated with socio-economic status (SES), ethnicity and gender, but relatively little research has evaluated interactions between these variables or explored school effects on such gaps. This paper analyses the national test results at age 7 and age 11 of 2,836 pupils attending 68 mainstream primary schools in an ethnically diverse inner London borough. The groups with the lowest educational achievement and poorest progress were both Black Caribbean and White British low SES pupils. White British middle and high SES pupils made substantially more progress than White British low SES pupils, significantly increasing the SES gap over time. However low and high SES Black pupils made equally poor progress age 7–11. School effects on pupil progress were large, but there was no evidence of differential school effectiveness in relation to SES, ethnicity or gender. Low SES pupils in the more effective schools performed significantly better than high SES pupils in the less effective schools, but all pupils (both low and high SES) benefit from attending the more effective schools and so these schools do not eliminate the SES gap. The limits to change that may be achieved by schools alone are discussed.     

The Stability of School Effectiveness Indices Across Grade Levels and Subject Areas

School effectiveness indices (SEIs) based on regressing achievement test performance onto earlier test performance and a socioeconomic status (SES) measure were obtained for eight subject–grade level combinations for a large sample of elementary schools. School means based on longitudinally matched student scores comprised the data set used in the analysis. The resulting SEIs were found to be somewhat unstable across subject areas (reading and mathematics) and very unstable across grade levels (1 through 4). Grade-to-grade correlations of the SEIs measuring mathematics performance, although small, tended to be statistically significant, whereas those measuring reading performance were generally nonsignificant. Thus, school effects may be more readily discernible in some subject areas than in others. Implications for research on effective schools and for the design of school recognition programs based on student test performance are discussed.     

International determinants of private school attendance

The current study uses Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 data to investigate international determinants of private school attendance. In particular, we seek to understand whether student achievement and home background factors such as socioeconomic status (SES) or motivational and goal-oriented factors are more predictive of private school attendance – in line with the concept of “cream-skimming’. Using baseline category logit models for nominal responses, our findings indicate that SES, rather than achievement or attitude, is the strongest, most consistent international predictor of attending a school managed or funded in large part by the private sector. Instead of traditional cream-skimming, our analysis suggests that a sorting effect of another kind exists – private schools (managed or funded) tend to lure students from better socioeconomic backgrounds, while public schools tend to attract the most engaged students.     

SAT Validity for Linguistic Minorities at the University of California, Santa Barbara

The validity of the SAT as an admissions criterion for Latinos and Asian Americans who are not native English speakers was examined. The analyses, based on 1997 and 1998 UCSB freshmen, focused on the effectiveness of SAT scores and high school grade-point average (HSGPA) in predicting college freshman grade-point average (FGPA). When regression equations were estimated based on all students combined, some systematic prediction errors occurred. For language minorities, using only high school grades as a predictor led to predicted FGPAs that tended to exceed actual FGPAs, particularly for Latinos. Including SAT scores in the equation notably reduced prediction bias. Further analyses showed that, while HSGPA had the highest correlation with FGPA for most groups, SAT verbal score was the strongest predictor of FGPA for language minorities in 1998. An overriding conclusion is that combining data across language groups can obscure important test validity information.     

The effects of preliteracy knowledge,schooling, and summer vacation on literacy acquisition

What causes the literacy gap and can schools compensate for it? The authors investigated 3 drivers of the gap: preliteracy knowledge, schooling, and the summer vacation. Longitudinal literacy data over 5 time points were collected on 126 five-year-olds attending higher or lower socioeconomic status (SES) schools during their first 15 months of school. There were several noteworthy findings: (a) gaps in preliteracy knowledge at school entry favor higher SES schools, (b) preliteracy knowledge predicted later progress over and above SES and gender, (c) during the school year there was a widening of the gap between higher SES schools and lower SES schools in reading and spelling skills, and (d) children attending lower SES schools exhibited losses during summer whereas children attending higher SES schools nearly always gained. Contrary to previous studies, the present results indicated that when there are concentrations of children from higher and lower SES in schools located in the children's respective SES areas, the achievement gap widens.     

Private tutoring intensity in schools: a comparison between high and low socio-economic schools

Private tutoring (PT) is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. In Israel too, about a third of elementary school students participate in PT. Based on sociological and school quality considerations, we examined school characteristics that are associated with PT intensity at school. The data encompassed a random state wide sample of 389 Israeli elementary schools collected by the Ministry of Education in 2012. The results showed that in high school socioeconomic status (SES) schools the percentage of students who participated in PT was higher compared to low SES schools. In high SES, schools with high PT intensity were characterized by high school achievements whereas in low SES, schools were characterized with low school achievements. PT seems to be a factor that increases the social distinction between high and low SES schools. In Israel, PT seems to create distinct ‘school enclaves’ that reproduce social inequality.     

Mobility in sixth graders as related to achievement,adjustment, and socioeconomic status

The present study dealt with the relationship between mobility and academic achievement, classroom adjustment, and socioeconomic status (SES). Mobility was defined as the number of schools a child had attended. The school records of 1,007 sixth-grade students were examined for the above variables. Pearson product moment correlations and Spearman rank order correlations were employed to determine the relationship among these variables. Results indicated mobility to be inversely related to achievement (p <.001), adjustment (p <.001), and SES (p <.05). The implications for use of these data in schools are discussed.     

School demographic variables and out‐of‐school suspension rates: A quantitative and qualitative analysis of a large,ethnically diverse school district

This study examined out‐of‐school suspensions (OSS) in a large, ethnically diverse school district using both quantitative and qualitative procedures. Pearson product moment correlations and semi‐partial correlations were used to identify those school‐level variables that showed the strongest relationships to the duplicated OSS rate among elementary schools (n = 97) and secondary schools (n = 45). Additionally, interviews were conducted with administrators and student support personnel from the 24 schools in the district with the highest suspension rates and 24 demographically matched schools with significantly lower suspension rates. The majority of these schools served a high percentage of children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Although the correlational analyses indicated that student demographic variables (e.g., percentage of White students, percentage of Black students, percentage of students receiving free or reduced price lunch) were strongly related to a school's suspension rate, the school comparisons showed that not all schools serving a high percentage of children placed at risk have high suspension rates. Implications of the findings for school discipline reform are discussed. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.