Academic Success Among Poor and Minority Students: An Analysis of Competing Models of School Effects. Report No. 52

摘要

Based on national data from the Prospect's study, we identified the individual characteristics that distinguished academically successful, or resilient, elementary school students from minority and low-socioeconomic-status (SES) backgrounds from their less successful, or non-resilient, counterparts. We also formulated and tested four distinct models of the risk factors and resilience-promoting features of schools: (a) the effective schools model; (b) the peer-group composition model; (c) the school resources model; and (d) the supportive school community model. Our results suggest that minority students from low-SES backgrounds were exposed to greater risks and fewer resilience-promoting conditions than otherwise similar low-SES White students. In general, though, the results supported the applicability of uniform individual and school-level models of academic resiliency to all low-SES students, regardless of their race. 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 characteristic of all low-SES students who achieved resilient outcomes.