Mark A' Johnson Ronald E' McNair Scholar

1
Factors That Affect Academic AchievementParents
Education and Racial Composition of High School
Mark A. Johnson Ronald E. McNair Scholar Dr.
Katherine Rosier Sociology Department

• Introduction
• In comparison to white students, African American
  students have a greater chance to be raised in
  families of low socio-economic status (SES) and
  live in high poverty areas with one parent
  (Goldsmith, 2004).
• High SES students of all ethnic groups show
  higher average levels of achievement on
  standardized tests, receive better grades and
  stay in school longer than low SES students
  (Alwin Thornton, 1984).
• Researchers have long acknowledged that student
  background and the composition of their school
  can affect individual student achievement
  (Coleman et al., 1966).

Discussion It was found that parents education
had a correlation with achievement for white
students. No relation was found for African
American students. This possibly could be
attributed to the burden of acting white
(Fordham and Ogbu, 1986) that African Americans
experience. The most significant finding is that
all students achieve higher in a well integrated
setting. There has been debate over segregation
and desegregation of schools since the landmark
decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
(1954). Recently the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
against the desegregation practices of two school
districts in Seattle and Jefferson County, KY
(06/28/07). With these findings, further dialogue
on the benefit of integration of schools can be
discussed.

• Methodology
• Collaborative effort between the Office of
  Institutional Diversity and Education and the
  Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work
  department
• Phone-based survey and web-based survey focused
  on diversity issues at Central Michigan
  University
• Questions devised by faculty, staff and students
• Survey design
• Phone survey consisted of a random sample of 405
  CMU students
• Web survey designed specifically for students of
  color consisted of 196 respondents

• Results
• Fathers education had more influence than
  mothers on academic achievement of white
  students. For African American students, neither
  parents education was related to achievement.
• Whites did better academically in half half
  schools. African Americans did better in
  majority white or half half schools, as
  opposed to majority non-white schools.
• In the sample, regardless of the type of high
  school setting, whites are more likely to achieve
  high college GPAs than African Americans.
• With a random and larger sample of African
  American students, future studies will yield more
  statistically significant findings.

• Goals
• Determine how a students background may inhibit
  academic achievement. This project hypothesized
  that African American students at Central
  Michigan University who attended majority white
  high schools and whose parents were highly
  educated achieved at or higher than white
  students. It was also hypothesized that mothers
  education has more influential than fathers on
  academic achievement.
• Research Questions
• 1. Does high school racial composition influence
  collegiate or post-secondary academic
  achievement?
• 2. How does fathers and mothers education
  influence students collegiate or post-secondary
  academic achievement?
• 3. Are the effects of these variables different
  for African American and white students?

• Campus Implications
• Educate the university community on how student
  backgrounds affect academic experiences and
  achievement
• Develop policies and programs that more directly
  respond to these findings
• Establish specific grant and mentoring programs
  that target minority students unique economic
  circumstances.

Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Ronald
E. McNair Program, the Sociology Department and
the Office of Institutional Diversity.
Table 1. Analysis of GPA and Dichotomized HSPOP
for African American Students
Table 2. Analysis of GPA and Dichotomized HSPOP
for White Students