Socioeconomic Status and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Review of Research

  • The primary research objective was to determine the magnitude of the relation between SES and academic achievement.
  • The study found a medium level association between SES and achievement at the student level and a high level association at the school level.
  • Family SES is one of the strongest correlates is very influential on academic achievement. The type of SES measure and achievement measure affect the strength of the correlations found.
  • Researchers must consider four factors: unit of analysis for SES, type of SES measure, range of SES variable, and source of SES data.
  • The findings suggest that relationship between SES and academic achievement increases across levels of schooling, except high school where gap tends to remain the same.
  • SES is a strong predictor for Whites, and the more minority students in a sample, the weaker the association between SES and achievement.
  • Limitations of the study: only includes studies from 1990 to 2000; no unpublished data included; limited to the US; searches may have missed some relevant work; and the analysis is limited by the quality of the studies included.