relied upon by a significant proportion of educational administrators in the development of programs for specific groups of students and, at times, for entire schools. And it is used as a basis for the assignment of either individual students or groups of students to specific programs (Jencks and Mayer, 1988, pp. 4-6). It is, therefore, essential to clarify the rela-tionship between socioeconomic background and minority student academic achievement (Longshore and Praeger, 1985, pp. 75-91).
Research Questions to Be Investigated
and Research Hypotheses to Be Tested
Five research questions will be investigated through the
conduct of the proposed study. These research questions are as follows:
1. Is student academic achievement related to racial or ethnic background?
2. Is student academic achievement related to family income level?
3. Is student academic achievement related to parental living arrangements?
4. Is student academic achievement related to parental
5. Is student academic achievement related to social
services intervention in family life?
Research hypotheses will be tested in relation to each of
the research questions. These hypotheses are as follows:
1. Student academic achievement is lower among racial and ethnic minority groups than among Anglo students.
2. Student academic achievement is positively correlated with family income level.
3. Student academic achievement is lower in single parent households.
4. Student academic achievement is positively correlated with the formal educational attainment of parents living in the household.
5. Student academic achievement is lower in households
characterized by social services intervention.
6. Student academic achievement does not vary according to racial and ethnic background when controlled for family income level, parental living arrangements, the formal educational attainment of parents living in the househol...