The Effects of Socio-Economic Status of Educational Attainment

Academic achievement coupled with its relationship to with socioeconomic circumstances, represents one of the most enduring aspects within educational researcher. The Coleman Report of 1966 settled that the impact of schools on educational outcomes played a minimal part in in influencing the academic outcomes of students compared to the factors that brought learners to the classroom. In other words the effects of inequalities imposed on learners by their respective homes, neighborhoods as well as peer context become transformed over time into the disparities with which learners face life with upon completion of schooling (Mangino, 2014). Over the intervening 5 decades, tremendous contributions have been made to research literature concerning this topic including but not limited to high quality data such as The Effects of Socio-Economic Status of Educational Attainment data sets and superior meta-analysis ( Merolla, and Omari, 2014) . Consequently, it is becoming increasingly ubiquitous for research in the field of educational social work and policy to employ the socioeconomic background of learners coupled with that defining the institutions attended, as contextual variables in attempts to examine and understand their possible influences on academic attainment. 

Poor academic attainment due to soci0oeconomic reasons represents a most challenging aspect facing the individual learners, teachers, the community as well as the society in general. The problem being analyzed herein can be attributed to many causes but the most outstanding facet influencing it is the socioeconomic background of the student and the context of the learning environment. 

Extensive research concerning educational sociology provides the corroboration of noteworthy relationships between socioeconomic standing and a student’s academic achievement ( McLeod, and Fettes, 2017 ). In this regard, it is common for researchers to define the relative standing of individuals within a broader hierarchical social configuration in their attempts to gain or else control prosperity, authority and reputation. By gaining a superior understanding of the student academic achievement as determined by socioeconomic aspects, educational sociologists and/or policymakers assess the viability of existing policies to remedy the situation.

Variables

Various areas of interest that are thus connected to academic attainment such as school factors, family factors, Student Role Performance (SRP) as well as peer factors. School contextual factors such as neighborhood, school size, and the existing relationship between students and instructors are known to impact on academic attainment (McCabe, 2016). Research has further shown that a learner’s family background influences educational achievement. According to McCabe (2015) the status of parents from a socioeconomic standpoint, parental involvement as well as the sizes of the family unit are especially critical in family factors relating to academic accomplishment. Student role factors encompass different indicators through which institutional agents can assess the ability of learners to realize certain exceptions. These aspects are affected influenced by the institutional agents. SRP components entail race, language, and sex, effort on school assignments, extra-curricular activities, attendance, deviance, and handicap factors. The factors affecting SRP have been shown to affect test-scores and therefore academic achievement. Mickelson (2013) noted that peer pressures as well as conformity with the same are likely to lead an individual to participate in risky behaviors such drug abuses, which in turn affect performance in education. 

Summary

Education represents a process of according or receiving systematic instructions. From a socioeconomic perspective, equal access to education underlines one of the most fundamental human rights afforded to everyone throughout the world. As demonstrated by Mickelson (2013) gaps in education between different socioeconomic classifications in many parts are staggering. The implication here for the individual’s life chances, well-being as well as income are monumental. It is thus important for researchers and policy makers in the education industry to gain a clear appreciation of the hindrances or promoters of academic achievement. Essentially, an individual’s achievement in education is dependent on test scores and it is thus imperative to explore the various factors influencing the same especially from a socioeconomic standpoint. 

Literature Review

Racial Differences in Education attainment

Research exists on the correlation between completion of collage and the early adult experiences for scholars with different racial background. It is evident that financing is an important factor that affects the rate of completion of college degree among students with different racial backgrounds in the structure of postsecondary compared with the K-12 education system. A related aspect of the experiences that students have in the education system that varies by race is holding significant employment, which is 30 hours per week in combination with the education program. Analysis shows that a disproportionate number of minority students tend to hold substantial employment while attending school to cater for the schooling needs. Students working for longer hours while learning experience a negative impact in their levels of performance because most of the time for assignments is spent while working hours before or after class ( O’Donnell & Blankenship, 2018) . The stress of balancing between learning and working interferes with the sound engagement with campus life, making it even harder for the students to achieve higher grades. Consequently, lower levels of performance impact on the levels of motivation towards learning, which also influences the dropout, rate among students especially those from the minority groups with a poor economic background. 

The timing of enrollment to school has also been found out to be a predictor of degree attainment. Students entering college immediately after completion of high school tend to be more aggressive towards completing their college degree as compared to those who delay for one or two years. Benner et al. (2016) indicate that the minority groups are more likely to delay into college and to begin their carriers at community colleges as compared to the white counterparts, who join the community colleges and other non-four-year degree institutions because the economic disparity among the two groups. 

School Environment

The outcome of students and academic success is highly impacted by the type of school in which the students attend. The factors of the schooling environment include the structure, composition, and the climate ( Acacio-Claro et al., 2014) . The institutional environment tends to set the parameters of the learning experiences of students, where the school can either open or close doors to academic achievement. The school sector comprised of the public and private sectors and the class size make up two essential components that define the school environment. For instance, the additional funding of private schools leads to better levels of academic achievement and more success resources and learning materials meant to enhance academic achievement ( Wubbels et al., 2016) . Classes comprised of smaller sizes of students create more intimate settings and can increase the levels of bonding between the teacher and the student, which has a positive impact as it contributes to higher levels of performance. Moreover, the peers influence the levels of performance. 

The composition of the school is also an environmental factor that determines the levels of performance among students. The racial make-up if the body of the school influences the test scores and the levels of academic achievement. This has been confirmed to be true especially for minority students ( Hassan & Rasiah, 2017) . For instance, there are higher than average test scores at poor school districts in the USA, which is attributed to the fact that the black and Hispanics school scores are higher than the total population of the states of those population groups. On the other hand, there is a considerable amount of evidence that links race of the teachers to the performance of students ( Aesaert & Van, 2015) . For instance, the diversity of students affects non-minority and minority students, where for the diversity hinders or has no effect on the non-minority groups, while larger amount of minority teachers depicts a positive impact on the test scores and school attainment among minority groups. 

The school climate is defined as the general atmosphere of the learning environment ( Lawson, Hook & Farah, 2018). The climate is closely correlated with the interpersonal relations between the students and teachers. The levels of trust tend to increase if the climate is defined by motivation of the learner towards the process of acquisition of information. Students who build high levels of trust in their teachers are found out to be motivated with the consequent high levels of performance ( Allen et al., 2015) . This implies that minority students benefit more from the school policies whenever the management help create policies that are representative of the concerns of these groups especially policies against racial discrimination. Students can therefore focus more clearly when the school can create an environment that embraces the safety of the students. The inability of a school to accomplish the feeling of students diminishes the levels of motivation towards pedagogy because the students live in fear.

Background of the Family

The background of the family is the key to the life of the student outside the school, which also influences the system of acquisition of instructions. For instance, the background might be comprised of both parents, children from single parents, and those brought up in a biracial environment ( Acacio-Claro et al., 2014) . Students who are brought up from a biracial family background have difficulties in coping with their identity status ( Maxwell, 2016) . The socioeconomic status of a student is not determined by the educational level of the parent, his or her occupational status or income level, but by the family composition based on their racial orientation. It is evident that students who have a lower social economic status tend to earn lower test scores and are therefore more likely to drop out of school. For instance, low social economic status contributes to a 10% lower test scores as compared to the students who belong to the higher socio-economic status ( Aesaert & Van Braak, 2015) . On the other hand, students from single-parent households do not perform well as compared to the students who are raised by both parents. 

Single parents are found out to struggle with time-management issues as they try to balance different areas of concern in life unlike a situation where both parents share the responsibility of cultivating morals in the lives of their children. Consequently, divorce affects the academic achievement of the child because it impacts on the social and economic status of the outcome of such a separation between parents ( Contador et al., 2015) . Children who have experienced divorce among their parents tend to be affected psychologically, which negatively impacts their instruction acquisition skills. Moreover, the family determines the acquisition of morals and the consequent defiant behavior. Children who are taught morals at an early age are known to cope well with the school policies with the resultant high levels of performance. 

Method

Purpose 

The current research adopted a holistic method to analyze the effects on test scores based on the socioeconomic factors already identified in the preceding sections through the creation of a four-tier model. The model encompassed the different influences that research has previously associated with academic attainment. The model consisted of school factors, family factors, Student Role Performance (SRP) factors and peer factors. The study relied data from The Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002) with follow ups in 2004, 2006, and 2012. The Educational Longitudinal Study is nationwide probability database in the United States covering more than 15,000 students in the 10th grade. The researcher employed the data set in the current study to explore the impact of the above-mentioned factors on test scores and therefore academic performance from a socioeconomic viewpoint. 

Paradigm

From a personal perspective, knowledge acquisition represents a systematic process for extracting, structuring as well as organize knowledge from different sources generated by human experts to formulate pragmatic solutions for different social problems. At the heart of this paradigm is the systems approach to knowledge acquisition. Education is in itself a system composed of different factors that in turn determine the final outcome for every learner, instructors and parents. A systems approach in this regard will therefore aid the researcher in to integrally link the manner through which the brain organizes as well as represents different sets of information pertaining to the topic under study. Understanding the influence of socioeconomic on academic attainment can thus be augmented by the basic properties defining human knowledge including the ultimate functionalities of the sought after information. 

Study Design 

The current research employed a quantitative approach to assess the effects of socioeconomic status on educational attainment. The selected method allowed the researcher to place more emphasis on the aptitude to conduct effective statistical analysis of collated data. Different quantitative methods underscore the objective measurements as well as the mathematical, numerical or statistical analysis of different forms of data collected through questionnaires, surveys, and polls or through the manipulation of existing data through appropriate computational techniques. In social science research, a quantitative research design is advantageous because the results generated are reliable, valid as well as generalizable to a wider population. The chosen method was thus more appropriate to studies that entail numbers, such as the measurement of academic achievement gaps between different assemblages. The quantitative technique in this regard, helped the researcher to identify the independent variables described in the literature review section (social economic status) and the dependent variable (educational attainment).

The research further employed a survey design to assess the effects of socioeconomic status on education attainment among learners in 10th grade based on the data available in The Educational Longitudinal Study. This design was selected for various reasons. Firstly, survey research represents one of the most critical aspects of measurements in regarding social research as it involves measurement procedures that entail interviewing respondents. Secondly, surveys suitable in effectively describing the characteristics defining larger populations. Other research methods lack this wide capability and as such, surveys ensure more accurate samples to collect the desired results through a researcher can derive conclusions as well as arrive at important decisions. In this sense, a survey is more extensive relative to other quantitative methods. Thirdly, a survey design is affords a researcher more flexibility in terms of administration. Finally, survey research design is dependable. Surveys allow research subjects the anonymity to give honest and valid responses. 

Population and Sample 

Data from the current study came from the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 with follow ups in 2004, 2006, and 2012. The database consists of 1, 221 public and private schools. As a result, the current research will employ a probability sampling technique to select the sample from the school 2001-02. The researcher employed a two-step selection approach where schools were identified before randomly selecting students in ten grades in each of the sampled schools. Random sampling in this regard is appropriate as it eliminates any form of bias in the selection of the study population. Through this sampling technique, the researcher was able to identify a sample that is representative from the target population as well as remove any sampling bias. The sampling was however not limited to students in 10th grade and eligible parents, teachers, administrators and librarians. It is however important to note that the data contained in ELS: 2002 dataset based on a weight variable which in turn expands the size of the sample. This had the potential of leading to the creation of untrue significance level in the latter stages of analysis. The researcher therefore adjusted for this by creating a relative weight to address the problem created by the weight variables.

Investigative Techniques

The current research will employ open-ended questionnaires. The investigative approach has be selected because it will allow the subjects to provide extra information including attitudes, feelings as well as understanding the effects of social the effects of socioeconomic standing on educational attainment. The researcher will therefore have the latitude to acquire better access to the actual feelings of the respondents regarding the research questions. 

Independent Variables	Measurement Level
School Factors	Ordinal to depict ordered relationships between the factors listed below and academic attainment. Environment Hindrances
Family Factors	Ordinal to depict ordered relationships between the factors listed below and academic attainment. Number of siblings Parent’s Education Socioeconomic status Parental involvement Family status
Student Role Performance	Ordinal to depict ordered relationships between the factors listed below and academic attainment. Previous academic status Deviant behavior Student disability Academic honors
Peer Level Factors	Ordinal to depict ordered relationships between the factors listed below and academic attainment. Grades Positive activities Dropout rate of friends
Dependent Variable	Level of Measurement
Educational Attainment	Continuous

Instrumentation

The researcher designed a collection of instruments based on the identified variables and the intended measure levels as well as the factors underlying each independent variable. 

Data Collection

The primary data collection methods included observations and interviews, while the secondary data collection methods included the analysis of reports from the education sector. 

Data analysis

The research used descriptive/univariate statistics acquired from the entire sample SES status (low, mid, and high). The descriptive factors analyzed included standard deviations and means. The research further conducted an Ordinary Least Square regression analysis on the entire sample to identify significant SES factors. Through SPSS, the variance for the saturated model was partitioned and the change in R-squared (%) recorded for each group of factors.

Ethical Considerations

The current research will adhere to four ethical considerations underpinning social research. These will include professional competence, integrity, scientific as well as professional responsibility, respect for respondent’s dignity, diversity, and rights, and social responsibility.

Biases

The current research just like any other social research is underlined by different biases some of which the researcher might not be cognizant of. The current researcher is not immune to such biases. Bias whether intended or unintended might affect the final outcome in terms of over-generalization as the researcher is prone to thinking that the conclusions made can be generalized to a wider population not considering that different factors other than the ones assessed might be at play.

Results

Univariate

Concerning the school factors, schools within mid and low SES were less likely to be in college preparation programs (low=52, mid=59, 68) and less likely to have school administrations holding a constructive view of the institutions (low=.72, mid =.75, high =.78). 

In the family factors category, the most significant finding was that those classified as high SES were more likely to have fewer siblings (high =2.0, mid =2.3, low=2.6). Similarly, those from low SES have fewer family resources (low =6.4, mid=7.7, high 8.5). the same is true for engagement in family discussions and activities- (low=1.9, mid=2.0, high=2.1) and (low= .40, mid=.50, high=.60).

For the SRP factors, the research noted significant variance between SES and SRP. In high SES, there were less minorities (high =16%, mid=25%, low 43%). Those in high SRP were found to have better academic ranking (high=20%, mid=25%, low 32%). The high SES had less students with disabilities compared to low (4.2% against 6.7%). A statistical difference in percentage of learners with disabilities was noted between high and mid SES (4.2% against 5.8%).

For peer pressure factors, mid SES had a slightly higher occurrence rate of negative peer activities compared to low SES (2.2% against 2.1%). The high SES had less peers dropping out (high=1.1,mid=1.2,low 1.3). The lower SES had lower occurrence of constructive peer behavior (low=2.23, mid =2.28, high=2.32).

Discussion

Support was found in all of the hypotheses that were tested in this study. Regarding the school factors, schools within the mid to low SES were less likely found to enroll for college enrolment programs. The school factors depicted that schools with more students in college preparation programs scored .009 points higher on the test scores. Students who were found out to have higher opinions of the school scored 0.5 points higher, while schools having students who felt less distracted scored 1.56 points higher. It was surprising to find out that neither school hindrance nor school problems experienced a decrease in the test scores, where hindrances and school problems contributed to an increase of .40 and .80 respectively in terms of the test scores. 

Within the SRP factors, the research noted significant variance between the SES and SRP. The results showed the students in high SRP had better academic rankings, while high SES had fewer students with disabilities as compared to those in the low SES. The peer pressure factors were also analyzed, where the results depicted that the mid SES had a slightly higher occurrence rate of negative peer activities as compared to those in the low SES. This implies that support was found for the peer-level hypotheses, where students whose friends engage in negative activities experienced lower test scores. The results are in agreement with the previous research that depicts that risk-taking behaviors of friends have a negative impact on the levels of performance of students. 

Assumptions

The current research assumes that the population is homogeneous and therefore the results apply equally to the larger target population.

Limitations

Since the topic under study is extensive, the exercise therefore did not focus on the effects of educational attainment on the student in life, the community as well as the wider society. These aspects are not within the realm of the current study and will therefore not feature prominently in the discussion. Further, the data collected was cross-sectional in nature and it was thus difficult to determine the length of time a person had been confined to a specific SES status. If I had more time, I would improve on the reliability and validity of the sampling technique as well as data collection instrument to eliminate biases and acquire a deeper understanding of the research topic. 

Implications 

This study has been instrumental in finding out that the socioeconomic status and access to resources is extremely essential factors that influence the performance of students. The limited access to resource at the family and schooling environment comes about with other constraints like suffering and lagging behind in academics. The research is essential in setting up management policies towards funding of education programs to reduce the gap between the students from low economic backgrounds and those in the higher economic backgrounds in terms of access to resources. The study helps in making conclusions that providing extra funding for the poorest schools and offering incentives for quality teachers can remove the barriers for disadvantaged schools in terms of attaining high levels of performance. 

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