| Nitika Tolani
Teachers College, Columbia University
Social contexts and adolescent achievement: The interrelated effects of families, peers. and schools on disadvantaged youth in OECD countries
FINAL REPORT
The present study sought to explore the unique and cumulative effects of financial, human and social capital provided by families and schools on youth achievement, an idea grounded in the hypothesis that the multiplicative effects of protective factors may explain greater variance in educational outcomes than the unique effects of such factors. This question has received little attention in current research examining the effects of social capital on academic outcomes, especially amongst disadvantaged youth. The approach of the current study is unique in its focus on the types and quantities of assets that disadvantaged youth have at home and at school in order to highlight how families and schools can work together to improve student achievement using resources readily available to disadvantaged students.
Achievement data was drawn from the 2000 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in order to examine associations between family- and school-level capital and achievement in the United States and five other countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) techniques were used in which two-level models were specified (Level 1 included student characteristics and family-level capital; Level 2 included school-level forms of capital). Analyses were guided by the following three research questions: (1) Do group-level differences in social capital within families contribute to differences in reading and mathematics achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged students?; (2) Do group-level differences in social capital within schools contribute to differences in reading and mathematics achievement between these students?; and (3) Do indices of social capital within schools condition the effects of family-level financial, human and social capital on reading and mathematics achievement?
Family financial and human capital (i.e. socioeconomic status, home educational resources) had the largest effect on student achievement explaining approximately one-third of the variation in reading and math scores across countries. Family social capital (i.e. family educational support and parent-child social communication) had a smaller but uniquely positive effect on disadvantaged students' achievement scores across countries. School-level social capital (i.e. teacher support, teacher-student relationships, teacher behaviors/school climate) explained almost no variation in scores and had an insignificant effect in most countries (when significant, teacher support was associated with better math performance). School-level financial and human capital (i.e. physical infrastructure and educational resources, teacher shortages, teacher qualifications) also maintained an inconsistent pattern of effects across countries, suggesting that future studies of this kind should include variables representing national educational policies and institutional factors in multilevel analyses. Finally, cross-level interactions between school-level social capital and all forms of family-level capital were significant in both full sample and disadvantaged subsample analyses, providing support for the hypothesis that students who have greater access to educational support at home and teacher support at school have an added advantage (effect sizes were greatest for disadvantaged students).
Educational policies and the interventions inspired by them must take a comprehensive approach, capitalizing upon the potential within students' relationships with parents, teachers and peers. Although legislative emphasis is often placed on increasing levels of financial and human capital, the present study found that non-financial forms of support also had a positive effect on reading and math achievement for disadvantaged students. Programs designed to increase social capital provided by families and schools may find the most success within schools as these institutions are at the crossroads between families and communities.
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