Roscigno, Vincent J., Tomaskovic-Devey, Donald, & Crowley, Martha
University Affiliation: Ohio State University
Email: Roscigno.1@osu.edu
Research Question:
Examine resource availability, investment inequalities and implications for achievement and attainment among urban, rural, and suburban adolescents.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Social Forces
Journal Entry: Vol. 84, No. 4, pp. 2121-2145
Year: 2006
Findings:
- The most problematic feature of institutional resource disadvantage, with potential implications for inner city achievement/attainment deficits, stems from disparities in income and parental education at the family level, and social class composition and racial segregation at the school level.
- Significant portions of family investment differences are tied to inner-city, rural and suburban inequalities in the availability of resources.
- Educational expenditure decreases student-teacher ratios and increases the availability of a more diverse, rigorous curriculum.
- Educational resources and the investment of those resources at both family and school levels vary significantly between rural, inner city and suburban places.
- Resource disparities at both family and school levels translate into inequalities in potentially influential investments, most notably household educational items, cultural capital, parental involvement, teacher encouragement and the availability of advanced placement classes.
- Families and schools in America’s inner cities and rural places simply lack many of the resources that promote educational achievement and attainment. Families in these locales have lower family income, less parental educational and more siblings per household. Inner city schools have high concentrations of poor and non-white students, Rural schools have high concentrations of poor students and lower per-pupil expenditures. These resources shortfalls explain most inner city and rural deficits in achievement and attainment.
- Find no clear evidence of subcultural patterns or of lower achieving or higher dropout rates after we control for educational resources.
- Institutional resource differentials play a significant role in pattering achievement and attainment differences.
- Household educational items and cultural capital have strong consequences for achievement and the likelihood of dropping out of high school. Parental involvement, however, has no direct impact on achievement, but does not reduce the likelihood of dropping out.
- School investments matter as well for achievement. Their impact on attainment, however, is less clear.