Volume 24, Number 3 (Summer) 1989
Datcher-Loury, Linda. 1989. "Family Background and School Achievement Among Low Income Blacks." Journal of Human Resources 24(3):528-544.
Although parents' socioeconomic status has large and important effects on their children's school achievement, it is clear that there are substantial variations in children's outcomes across families that are identical in parents' education and work history, family income, family size, and other standard measures of social and economic well-being. This paper finds evidence that much of the variation in academic performance of young children from low-income black results from differences in behavior and attitudes among the families.
The author is a professor of economics at Tufts University. She is thankful for the support of Joan Baratz-Snowden, J. Brooks-Gunn, Virginia Shipman, and the assistance provided by others at the Educational Testing Service who were essential for the completion of this study.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X