Analysis of the factors affecting educational attitudes and academic achievement of minority groups in New York City Schools

This study investigated how African American students differ from West Indian Caribbean, White, Hispanic, and other students in their attitudes towards education and academic achievement. A supplemental component of this research was to study the impact of educational attitudes on urban African American students’ academic achievements in comparison to other ethnic groups. In an effort to explore some of the reasons for low academic achievement of African American students, the theoretical foundation of this study centered on Ogbu’s Cultural Ecological (CE) theory.;This study used both primary and secondary data derived from a questionnaire and the New York City Schools’ computer database. The participants were students within the New York City School system. Over one hundred and fifty questionnaires were circulated amongst high school students enrolled in the three participating high schools, resulting in five scores being computed in relation to attitudes toward education. For the importance of Education, Perception of the school Environment, Importance of Work Ethic and Discipline, and Total Attitude scores, higher scores indicate positive attitudes (i.e., a belief that education is important, a perception of a positive school environment, a perception that work ethic and discipline are important, and an overall positive attitude), while for the Perceptions of Discrimination scale, high scores indicate a perception that discrimination is a problem at the school. The reliability of the five scores was adequate with one exception: The reliability of scores on the Perception of the School Environment scale was slightly lower than the conventional cutoff of .70 (a = .68).;Results indicated that ethnic groups differed in terms of Importance of Education scores, with White students having lower Importance of Education scores than African Americans, Hispanics, West Indian/Caribbean, and students in the “other” ethnic category. Ethnic groups also differed in terms of Importance of Work Ethic and Discipline scores, with White students having lower scores than African Americans, West Indian/Caribbean, and students in the “other” ethnic group, but not differing from Hispanic students. There were no differences between ethnic groups for the Perceptions of School Environment, Perceptions of Discrimination scores, or Total Attitudes scores. Additionally, results showed that voluntary and involuntary minorities did not differ on any of the five Attitudes toward Education scales. These findings were confirmed in both the bivariate analyses and ANCOVAs.;The results of this study also indicated that ethnic groups differed in terms of Academic Achievement scores, with students in the “other” ethnic group having higher scores than students in all other ethnic groups. The bivariate analyses and ANCOVAs indicated that there was no difference between involuntary and voluntary minorities in terms of Academic Achievement scores.;For the final component of the study, a hierarchical regression was performed to determine if attitudes toward education had an impact on academic achievement, but the result was not statistically significant when controlling for gender, type of school, father's education, mother's education, and status.;The findings of this study will inform educational administrators in the New York City School system of factors influencing African Americans’ Achievements and aid them in making informed decisions as they focus on improving the quality of their curricula. It is expected that the findings will shed light on the differences in academic achievement and attitude toward education within and between groups.