The Relationship Between Socio-Economic Status and the Academic Achievement of Culturally Diverse Students
Test results have shown that culturally diverse students from both high and low socioeconomic groups have continued to underperform when compared to the dominant group. The study focused on high achieving minority students in order to gain deeper insight of factors that lead to high academic achievement of culturally diverse students (Hispanics and Blacks) from both high and low socio-economic groups. The data for this study included the 2012 CRCT of middle school students, and interview records with 4 students, 4 parents and 4 teachers. The quantitative data were analyzed and sought to answer the following research questions: (a) Does cultural diversity make any difference in the academic achievement of students from low socio-economic group? (b) Does cultural diversity make any difference in the academic achievement of students from high socio-economic group? (c) Does the gender of culturally diverse students make any difference in their academic achievement? (d) Does the grade level of culturally diverse students make any difference in their academic achievement? The quantitative data revealed that no significant relationship existed between culturally diverse students’ socio-economic status and their academic achievement. The qualitative data were analyzed and sought to answer the following research questions: (a) What factors contribute to the high achievement of culturally diverse low socioeconomic student? (b)What factors contribute to the high achievement of culturally diverse high socioeconomic students? Through analysis of data from student, parent and teacher interviews, four predominate themes were determined: (a) communication, (b) cultural awareness, (c) motivation, and (d) teaching and learning supports.
academic achievement, communication, cultural awareness, culturally diverse, motivation, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
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