Family Situation & Academic Achievement
NATURE OF THE STUDY
Statement of th
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Does the academic achievement of children significantly differ depending upon whether they are living in two parent families or single parent families? According to Papalia and Olds (1992), the great bulk of the research conducted to examine this issue tends to show that students from one-parent families are likely to experience several negative effects. Specifically, it has been found that children living in one parent homes achieve less in school, like school less, have more problems with peers, and to be more likely to need disciplinary action than students from two parent families; Papalia and Olds (1992) report that such findings are commonly called the "single parent effect." Moreover, the authors state that these findings hold for both primary and secondary level students. One key question that can be asked here is whether or not there is reason to believe that these findings generalize to low income African-American students? In this regard, some studies have not observed a reduction in achievement in low income families. For example, Alessandri (1992) interviewed 144 low-income, single-parent mothers and their children (aged 1012 years) using the Family Belief Interview Schedule, which assessed parent and child beliefs. Children also completed the Family Environment Scale and Self-Perception Profile; academic achievement was determined through school records. Findings showed that for this subject group:
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ses the majority of subjects in the proposed research. In this regard, it should be noted that the ITBS is routinely used as a measure of achievement for black students; this across diverse studies. For example, Schwanenberger (1991) attempted to develop and test a program for improving the achievement test scores of sixth and seventh grade students.
Regardless of the ethnic background of students (African-American, Anglo, Hispanic and Asian), the ITBS was said to be the appropriate instrument for testing achievement levels. Moreover, the developed training program improved the test-taking ability of all students regardless of their ethnic backgrounds.
Similarly, the ITBS was used by Mitchell (1993) in an examination of the achievement levels of fifth grade African American males and females attending same-gender classes and coeducational classes in two inner-city schools in Virginia.
Furthermore, McComb (1994) used the ITBS as a means of selecting gifted and non-gifted Hispanic and African-American students.
Given the foregoing review of psychometric research, which consisted of the supportive findings for a random sample of the literally hundreds of studies supporting the validity and reliability of the ITBS, it can
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 8299
Approximate Pages = 33 (250 words per page)
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