PSYCHOLOGYPSYCHOLOGY
Thesis: There is a significant relationship between low academic achievement and low socioeconomic status among minority students.
Financially disadvantaged minority students in urban schools are less inclined to perform well academically than their more economically advantaged counterparts. Schultz (1993) used the Basic Achievement Skills Individual Screener (BASIS) to examine the relationship between economic background and academic performance. The sample consisted of 130 children in the fourth through six grades from the three local elementary schools in a large urban community in the upper Midwest. Sixty-six students were identified as less advantaged, and sixty-four were identified as more advantaged. In his study, Schultz focused on the mathematics and reading subtests of the BASIS. The adjusted mean mathematics and reading scores of the more advantaged students were 94.3 and 92.5, respectively. The adjusted mean mathematics and reading scores for the less advantaged students were 91.7 and 89.5. This confirms Schultz's assumption that "minority elementary students who were more socioeconomically advantaged were more likely to achieve higher in mathematics and reading than peers with less socioeconomic advantage" (Schultz, 1993, p. 228). Thus socioeconomic status is an associated indicator of academic achievement among minority students.
Schultz, G.F. (1993). Socioeconomic advantage and achievement motivation: Important mediators of academic performance in minority children in urban schools. Urban Review, 25(3), 221-232.
THESIS: Children perceive behavior inconsistent with gender stereotypes as more acceptable for girls than for boys.
Children's conceptions about stereotypes affect their inferences about other people. Berndit and Heller (l987) assessed the stereotypical beliefs of 36 children from kindergarten, third grade, and sixth grade. The children were told that either a boy or girl "actor" has selected activities consistent or inconsistent with stereotypes. The subjects judged the actor's popularity based on the activity chosen. Boy actors who had picked feminine activities were rated as less popular than girl actors who had picked masculine activities. These girls "received popularity ratings as high as other girls" (Berndit & Heller, 1986, p. 986).
Berndit, T.J., & Heller, K.A., (l986). Gender stereotypes and social inferences: A developmental study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 889-989.
THESIS: Gender does not affect mathematical achievement at the primary grade level.
Research indicates that gender differences in mathematical performance
cannot be conclusively demonstrated among students in grades one through
six. For example, Hall and Hoff (l988) studied the mathematical achievement
of students in grades two, four, and six from a small midwestern rural school
district for a period of eleven years (l97l-l982). The study included those
students who placed within two standard deviations of the mean on the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) or the revised WISC (males 105.5
+ SD 11.98; females 108.9 + SD 15.26). These students were given the Science
Research
Associates (SRA) Achievement Series at grade levels two, four, and/or six.
The normal curve equivalency scores were examined in areas of Total Mathematics,
Mathematical Computation, and Mathematical Concepts. Multivariate analysis
of covariance of pooled data indicted no gender differences in mathematical
performance, (F(3,258)=2.36; p=.072).
Hall, C.W. and Hoff, C. (1989). Gender differences in mathematical performance. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 19, 395-401.
Back to the Psychology
500 Homepage.