Monday, February 27, 2017

Research Blog #3


Academic Sources

'Can Students Themselves Narrow the Socioeconomic-status-based Achievement Gap Through Their Own Persistence and Learning Time?'
Haigen Huang, University of Missouri

This academic source begins by discussing the achievement gap between students from low and high socioeconomic backgrounds. This achievement gap between low and high is around 30 to 40 percent higher for children born in 2001 than it is for those born 25 years earlier. This means, this is becoming an increasingly prominent phenomenon among today's youth, in particular. Haigen Huang contrasts these numbers to the overarching idea of the 'American Dream', i.e. the ideology that if you work hard enough, no matter your background, you will succeed. Huang ponders the idea that perhaps students from low socioeconomic backgrounds achieve less because of the way they see themselves. This source then has a lengthy literature review of previous academic articles and studies that have taken a look into this topic. The topic has ignited more research in the past few decades as a stronger connection between SES (socioeconomic status) and achievement level among students has been identified. There has also been more research on the topic as it is becoming more of an issue today than it ever has been. Huang then performed his own study on the topic. The research question at hand-- whether or not low socioeconomic students could reduce their SES-based achievement gap through their effort and persistence. The results from his study did not support a conclusion that individual students could make a difference to narrow the SES-based achievement gap. Huang does note, however, that there was a small portion of low-SES students who performed as well as high-SES students. Therefore, it is not impossible for students to narrow the achievement gap through their own efforts, though it is less likely. 
- This source is helping me to refine my topic because it focuses on the work and effort of low-SES students and how that relates to their success, if it affects it at all. This is helpful because many studies focus on other factors, but this one solely has to do with the efforts of the student. This source also helps to refute a common counterargument from others-- that it does not matter what SES you were born into, if you work hard you can achieve anything. Unfortunately, this is generally not the case. 

This source talks about the differences in achievement levels between low-SES and high-SES students, and how integration of the two in academic settings can be beneficial. The benefits of having low-SES students attend schools in high-SES neighborhoods, rather than their own, include a decrease in the achievement gap between low and high. A potential con, however, is that integrating low-SES students into high-SES student school systems can bring down the overall level of achievement because it lowers the achievement of high-SES students. "The results presented above show that, in general, attending a socioeconomically integrated school yields higher achievement for disadvantaged students but an equal achievement loss to advantaged students when compared to disadvantaged students attending disadvantaged schools and advantaged students attending advantaged schools." 
- This source is valuable in helping me to refine my research topic, by helping me to explore possible solutions to the socioeconomic issues that students face
- This study found that integrating low-SES students into more advantaged school systems benefits those lower income students, but poses a disadvantage for the high-SES students already in attendance 
- This poses a problem: to integrate or not to integrate? This is something I would like to explore in my paper, and perhaps offer some type of solution for 



'Who are the Most Disadvantaged? Factors Associated with the Achievement of Students with Low SocioEconomic Backgrounds'
Mehmet Sukru Bellibas, Adıyaman University

The purpose of this study is to investigate the individual SES factors that contribute to achievement or lack thereof, something that most studies do not pay as close attention to. This study, however, focuses on students in Turkey rather than the United States. The study asks the question of which student, school, and household factors are more important for low-SES than high-SES students. The study found that several factors, including mother's education, perseverance, home educational resources, quality of school educational resources, class size, and total school enrollment, were significant predictors of student achievement in math, reading, and science. The study also found that home educational resources, reduced class size, and ICT availability at home are the three most critical factors that provide the greatest contribution to the achievement of low-SES students in all subject areas. 
- This study is important to my topic because, although it was not performed in the United States, it takes a look into the specific FACTORS that inhibit low-SES students or help them to succeed. I believe being able to hone in on certain factors will help me to provide a solution in my research paper and to dissect the root causes of lower achievement for lower-SES students. 

















1 comment:

  1. Very good sources. I think I have a book that will be useful to your project, titled Paying the Price. I'll bring it to class.

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