Skip to main content

1990 - The Causes of Student Achievement

Attribution: Chubb, John E., & Moe, Terry M.
Researchers: John E. ChubbTerry M. Moe
University Affiliation: Stanford University
Email: Moe@Hoover.Stanford.Edu
Research Question:
Compare the influence of family background, school financial resources, and other possible causes of student achievement.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: The Brookings Institution
Journal Entry: Politics, Markets and American Schools (Chapter 4)
Year: 1990
Findings:
  • Race – at least the Black, non-Black distinction- has no independent consequence at either individual or the school level for student achievement.
  • Student academic gains are explained by four factors: student ability, family SES, school SES, and school organization.
  • School organization has an influence on student achievement, and tracking explains 25 to 30 percent of that influence.
Keywords: Academic AchievementEconomicsMathPeer EffectsRacial CompositionReadingScienceSESRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Regression Sampling Frame:Students in Public and Private Schools
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • 1983-1984 ATS (Administrators and Teachers Survey) -HSB (High School and Beyond) data that contains information on a sample of students within each school
  • Uses test scores, individual characteristics, and school characteristics of approximately 9,000 students.
  • DV: Student achievement (total log gain scores in reading, writing, vocabulary, math and science)
  • IV: Student ability (initial test performance), family background (index of family SES status), backgrouond of student body-peer group influence (average family SES status index for students in school & a measure for racial composition of the student body-% of students who are Black), school resources (index of school economic resources), and school organization (index of school organization-4 organizational dimensions (goals, leadership, personnel and practice (this includes tracking)).
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts
Skip to toolbar