Abstract:

This study analyzes disaggregated data, on academic performance of students from low income versus middle- high income families, on reading and mathematics sections of a state standardized content test. The relationship between school achievement and poverty was analyzed for 1999-2005. The effects of school poverty were much greater for the middle-high income populations, i.e., greater numbers of middle-high income families in the school, than for the low-income population. In the study population (1) low-income students were less sensitive to the benefits of high school family income, and (2) effects of school poverty on student achievement were felt most strongly, and negatively, by middle-high income students, not the poor. The implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed.