RESEARCH ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF PARENTS AND ACDEMIC

PERFORMANCES OF STUDENTS

ABABA, SHERYL ANN B.

GALLARDE, KHIZEL JANE P.

GICA, AILEEN L.

GILLADO, LOR-ANN B.

LAOC, IGIE R.

ONCONE, MAD B.

RESEARCH SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF EDUCATION OF THE

COLLEGE OF AGICULTURAL SCIENCES SOUTHERN

PHILIPPINES AGRIBUSINESS AND MARINE

AND AQUATIC SCHOOL OF

TECHNOLOGY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE SUBJECT

INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH AND RESEARCH WORKS

MARCH 2012
 CHAPTER I

PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially

the youth. This is because the development of any nation or community depends

largely on the quality of education of such a nation. It is generally believed that

the basis for any true development must commence with the development of

human resources. Much then is said that formal education remains the vehicle

for social-economic development and social mobilization in any society.

Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined

total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family’s

economic and social position in relation to others, based on income, education,

and occupation. When analyzing a family’s SES, the household income, earners'

education, and occupation are examined, as well as combined income, versus

with an individual, when their own attributes are assessed. (National Center for

Educational Statistics, 2008).

 2

Philippines, like any other ”third world countries”, is suffering from

economic crisis which largely affect on education status of the people. One in six

school-age-children are deprived of education, tells us of what is in store in our

country’ future (National Statistical Coordination Board).

Research indicates that children from low-SES households and

communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from

higher SES groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemier, & Maczuga, 2009).

In America, many children who are poor, regardless of race, come from

homes that lack stability, continuity of care, adequate nutrition, and medical care

creating a level of environmental stress that can affect the young child’s

development. As a result, these children enter school with decreased word

knowledge that can affect their language skills, influence their experience with

books, and create different perceptions and expectations in the classroom

context. (Hart and Risley 1995).

 3

Poverty has the strongest correlation with high dropout rates; in 2007, it is

estimated that dropout rates for students living in lowest quartile of family income

were more than 7 times higher than those of students in the highest family

income quartile (i.e., 16.4% vs. 2.2%). 5 (NCES, 2007).

The school system in low-SES communities are often under resourced,

negatively affecting student’s academic progress (Aikens & Barbarin,2008).

Inadequate education and increased dropout rates affect children’s academic

achievement, perpetuating the low-SES status of the community.

In order to prove that socio-economic status of the parents affect the

academic performances of the students, this study will be conducted by the

Bachelor in Secondary Education(BSED) students at Southern Philippines Agri-

Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology College of Agricultural

Sciences(SPAMAST-CAS) at Matti, Digos City.

 4

Statement of the Problem

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

1.1 Income
1.2 Parent’s educational attainment
1.3 Family size

2. What is the academic performance of the students during the first semester of

the school year 2011-2012?

3. Is there a significant difference in the student’s academic performance in relation

to:
a. Parents income
b. Educational attainment
c. Family size

4. Is there a significant degree of relationship between the socio-economic status

and student’s academic performance?

Significance of the Study

 To the SPAMAST Administration, the result of the study will help the

school administration in planning and revising the curricular program of the

school in relation to the differences of students in socio-economic status.

To the guidance counselors, they will be given information as bases in

guiding and counseling student with low academic performances.

To the classroom teachers, they will be guided to be flexible in dealing and

handling student with different economic background and will be given bases on

what are the things to do to improve the academic performances of the students

who are in the lower class family.

To the students, students will develop self-confidence to excel

academically motivated by their parents. Students will be confident in uplifting

their academic status as a result of the motivation and support from their parents.

Students also will be encouraged to study more.

Definition of Terms
 The following are the terms and their meaning which are made by the

authors in the purpose of helping the readers for easily understanding.

SPAMAST Students – Students who are officially enrolled in SPAMAST-CAS in

the courses of BSED, BSIT, BSAB, BSAE, BSA, BSAF.

Socio economic Status – A students individual position with in a hierarchical

social structure based in their family member’s occupation, education, income,

wealth, and place of residence.

Academic Performances – Refers to how students deal with their studies and

how they cope with or accomplish different task given by their teacher. As used in

the study, this refers to the grade during the 1 st semester S.Y. 2011-2012.

Scope and Limitation

This study will focus only in the effects of the socio-economic status of the

parents on the academic performances of the students of SPAMAST-CAS

students in the second semester S.Y. 2011-2012. All of the courses of the school

will be the respondents of this study.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW ON RELATED LITERATURE

 Socio-economic Status

A family's socioeconomic status is based on family income, parental

education level, parental occupation, and social status in the community (such as

contacts within the community, group associations, and the community's

perception of the family), note Demarest, Reisner, Anderson, Humphrey,

Farquhar, and Stein (1993).

The segregating nature of social class, ethnicity, and race may well reduce

the variety of enriching experiences thought to be prerequisite for creating

readiness to learn among children. Social class, ethnicity, and race entail a set of

'contextual givens' that dictate neighborhood, housing, and access to resources

that affect enrichment or deprivation as well as the acquisition of specific value

systems (Crnic and Lamberty, 1994).

Across all socioeconomic groups, parents face major challenges when it

comes to providing optimal care and education for their children. For families in

poverty, these challenges can be formidable. Sometimes, when basic necessities

are lacking, parents must place top priority on housing, food, clothing, and health

care. Educational toys, games, and books may appear to be luxuries, and

8
parents may not have the time, energy, or knowledge to find innovative and less-

expensive ways to foster young children's development (Ramey and Ramey

1994).

Similar results are found by Teese (2003) in his analysis of the

performance of students in Victoria. He found clear and consistent trends for

children from lower socio-economic status families to have lower VCE scores

(Year 12 results) and Year 5 benchmarking test results. The same relationship

was found for other measures of student engagement with schooling, such as

attendance rates. Teese introduces the concept of equity density, drawing

together a number of factors such as family status, family occupation, and

language background status and so on.

The ACER study1 examined student achievement scores on tests of

reading comprehension and mathematics from five studies that tested the literacy

and numeracy levels of 14 yearolds in Australian schools conducted between

1975 and 1998, as well as trends for all students and for smaller groups of

students. Students’ results were discussed through examining averages,

medians and the distributions of results and changes over time. Results were

9
reported by socio-economic status (SES), language background, gender and

location. The overall conclusion of the ACER study (Rothman, 2002; 2003) was

that while overall achievement levels of students remained relatively stable

between 1975 and 1998, notable differences were found between students by

socio-economic status, both at an individual level and between schools.

Ainley (2003) discusses further analyses of the Longitudinal Surveys of

Australian Youth data in terms of the factors that impact on Equivalent Tertiary

Entrance Ranks (a means of generating equivalent Year 12 results between

Australian states). Ainley found that the most significant influence on Year 12

score is a student’s demonstrated proficiency in literacy and numeracy in earlier

years of schooling (Year 9 in this study), which represents an accumulation of the

student’s skills in foundation areas of learning. The second greatest influence is

the particular school a student attends. Ainley suggests, in line with other

research, that school culture or environment, teaching practices, student

confidence and motivation, organisation and resources may contribute to

differences among schools. Socioeconomic background, as measured by

parental education, wealth and occupational status, was the third most important

influence on tertiary entrance performance. Students whose parents are

10
professionals, (and to a lesser extent, managers), achieve higher tertiary

entrance scores. It is not difficult to envisage how socio-economic factors also

impact on the two former variables (prior performance and school attended), over

and above the unique effect of the individual socio-economic status of individual

students.

The PISA study also undertook more sophisticated analyses that

examined how the students’ achievement is associated with their own

background and also how it is associated with school factors. The between-

school variance in Australia, although relatively small, was largely explained by

the socio-economic status of the students. However for Indigenous students, the

relationship between socio-economic status and reading achievement was much

weaker, indicating that Indigenous students from higher socio-economic status

families do not perform substantially better than those from lower socio-economic

status families. This suggests that other factors besides socio-economic status

operate in relation to the achievement of Indigenous students (Greenwood, Frigo

and Hughes, 2002).

11
 Academic Performances

Perceived cognitive competence is defined as the extent to which children

believe that they possess the necessary cognitive skills to be successful when

completing academic tasks, such as reading, writing, and arithmetic (Harter &

Pike, 1984).

There are theoretical pathways through which children's perceptions and

expectations of their cognitive competence are influenced by others: (a)

performance accomplishments/performance mastery, (b) vicarious reinforcement,

(c) verbal persuasion, and (d) emotion regulation (Bandura, 1977).

In addition, a child's increased perception of cognitive competence is

consistently related to higher academic performance (Chapman, Skinner, &

Baltes, 1990; Ladd & Price, 1986; Schunk, 1981).

A positive student-teacher relationship has been defined as the teacher's

perception that his or her relationship with the child is characterized by closeness

and a lack of dependency and conflict (Birch & Ladd, 1997).

12
 The significance of parent attitudes toward education and school is less

well understood, although attitudes are believed to comprise a key dimension of

the relationship between parents and school (Eccles & Harold, 1996). Parents

convey attitudes about education to their children during out-of-school hours and

these attitudes are reflected in the child's classroom behavior and in the

teacher's relationship with the child and the parents (Kellaghan, Sloane, Alvarez,

& Bloom, 1993).

Another influential study into student achievement was reported in 2001

by ACER (Lokan, Greenwood and Cresswell, 2001). The OECD Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA) was conducted in 2000 and measured
the performance of 15 year old students in reading, Mathematical and Scientific
Literacy Skills. Students from 32 countries were involved in this assessment
program. Altogether, more than a quarter of a million students were involved in
PISA 2000.

CHAPTER III
 METHODOLOGY

Research Locale

This study will be conducted in the SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES AND

MARINE AND AQUATIC SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY (SPAMAST)-CAS Matti,

Digos City, Davao Del Sur.

The Respondents

The respondents of the study will be the students of SPAMAST-CAS,

Matti, Digos, City in this school year 2011-2012. All students in all courses will be

its respondents.

Research Design

This research will use a descriptive survey with questionnaire that will

serve as an instrument in gathering the data. This will determine the impact of

socio-economic status of parents to the academic performance and

achievements of the students.

14

Research Instrument
 The socio-economic status of parents in relation to the academic

performance of education student in SPAMAST will be determined through a

questionnaire.

The questionnaire will be answered by the student-respondent regarding

their academic performance during the first semester (S.Y.2011-2012) and their

family background of their parents and family size.

Sampling Design and Techniques

Sampling will be drawn from the Education students of SPAMAST-CAS,

Matti, Digos City. The Stratified Random Sampling (SRS) will be used in the

study.

In determining the sample size of the total population of students, the

slovin formula will be used with 5% margin of error. The formula is expressed as:

n= N/1 + Ne2

Where:

n= sample size

N= population

e= 5% margin error

15
 To determine the number of samples, 15% margin of error will be used:

Number total of students= N/1 + Ne2

Where:

N=300

Data Gathering

The following steps will be done in gathering data:

1. Submission of permission letter to conduct a research to each department

to the dean of SPAMAST-CAS.

2. Distribution of permission letter to the department head of each

department.
3. Formulation of questionnaire.
4. Distribution of questionnaire to the chosen respondents.
5. Retrieval of the questionnaires.

16

Conceptual Framework
Independent Variable Dependent

Variable Variable

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDENTS’
STATUS OF PARENTS ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE

17

Statistical Tool

The statistical tool to be used in the interpretation of data.

 1. Descriptive statistics such as mean and frequency distribution to describe

the students level of satisfaction. The mean will be computed as:

X=∑FX/N
The following will be used for the interpretation of mean for the students

satisfaction questionnaire (SSPF) will be based on:

Rating:

5 = Very High
4 = High
3 = Moderate
2 = Low
1 = Very Low

18

Literature Cited

Ainley, J. (2003). Early literacy and numeracy achievement influences ENTER

scores. ACER

Bandura A. Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change.

Psychological Review. 1977;84:191–215. [PubMed]

Birch SH, Ladd GW. The teacher-child relationship and children's early school

adjustment. Journal of School Psychology. 1997;35:61–79.

Chapman M, Skinner EA, Baltes PB. Interpreting correlations between children's

perceived control and cognitive performance: Control, agency, or means-ends

beliefs? Developmental Psychology. 1990;26:246–253.

Crnic, K., & Lamberty G. (1994, April). Reconsidering school readiness:

Conceptual and applied perspectives. Early Education and Development 5(2),

99-105. Available online: http://readyweb.crc.uiuc.edu/library/1994/crnic1.html

Demarest, E.J., Reisner, E.R., Anderson, L.M., Humphrey, D.C., Farquhar, E., &

Stein, S.E. (1993). Review of research on achieving the nation's readiness goal.

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

19

Greenwood, L., Frigo, T. and Hughes, P. (2002). Messages for minority groups in

Australia from international studies. ACER Research Conference 2002, p.25.

Harter S, Pike R. The pictorial scale of perceived competence and social

acceptance for young children. Child Development. 1984;55:1969–1982.

[PubMed]
 Kellaghan T, Sloane K, Alvarez B, Bloom B. The Home Environment and School

Learning. Jossey-Bass Publishers; San Francisco: 1993.

Ramey, S.L., & Ramey, C. T. (1994, November). The transition to school: Why

the first few years matter for a lifetime. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(30), 194-198.

Research Highlights, 2003, p. 8-9.

Rothman, S. (2003). The changing influence of socioeconomic status on student

Teese, R. (2003). Blueprint Funding reform. A presentation to the Department of

Education and Training, Victoria.

Zill, N., Collins, M., West, J., & Hausken, E.G., (1995, December). School

readiness and children's developmental status. ERIC Digest [Online]. Available:

http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/1995/zill95.html

Name of Ag Year Level Academic

Siblings e Achievements
Pre- Elementary secondar College
school y
SPECIFIC QUESTIONS:

ANSWERS
QUESTIONS
YES NO
1. Do you think the income of your family is enough for your
daily needs?
2. Is your study continuous?
3. Do you think your allowance affects your performance in
school?
4. Do all your siblings have a continuous study?
5. Do you submit your school requirements on time?
6. Do you have any scholarship?
7. Do you have any personal computer at home?
8. Do you have any laptops?
9. Do you have any failing grades?

10. Do you have any unfinished requirements last semester?