LA PURISIMA NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

Senior High School Department

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Palcon, Joshua Laurence Grecia & Grecia, Francia Renee Rose Lomeda (October 2023). The relationship

of socioeconomic status and academic performance of students. SHS HUMSS. La Purisima National

High School.

CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

In this chapter, the background and the introduction will be expected. This part of the paper will

present the problem and its setting. This includes the background of the study, statement of the problem,

significance of the study, scope and delimitations of the study including the respondents and boundaries

of the study, even the procedures needed in conducting the survey, and an overview of the relationship

between the academic performances of students and their socioeconomic status.

A. INTRODUCTION

Socioeconomic Status (SES) is defined as the position of an individual in a particular place or a

society. It is a measure of an individual's or group's standing in a community that is determined by the

occupation, wealth, and social class (Worthy, Lavigne, & Romero, 2020). The main problem of this study

will focus on the students and their academic performances wherein the relationship between the

academic performances and the socioeconomic status of the students will be shown. In a 1997 study by

Brooks-Gunn & Duncan on the effects of poverty on children, they propose that socioeconomic status is

still a subject that has drawn the attention of many researchers who study child development. This interest

comes from the perception that children from high SES families have access to a wide range of services,

goods, parental behaviors, and social connections that may ultimately be beneficial to children and
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Senior High School Department
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concerns that many children with low socioeconomic status do not have access to those same resources,

privileges, and experiences, putting them at risk for developmental issues. Hence, students with low

socioeconomic status faces more challenges and hardships rather than students with high socioeconomic

status that greatly affects their capabilities to perform well academically.

Faraz, Noor, and Parveen (2018) argues that since socio-economic status (SES) encompasses not

only income but also educational attainment, financial security, and perceptions of social status and social

class, it is relevant to all areas of behavioral and social sciences research, practice, education, and

advocacy. It covers various characteristics of quality of life as well as the privileges enjoyed by members

of any society. Our physical and mental health are all impacted by our socioeconomic level, as well as

how we function as a whole. Therefore, socioeconomic position is seen as a consistent and accurate

indicator of both an individual's physical and mental health that will surely affect students’ and their

academic performances. This study will investigate whether the claim that students’ socioeconomic

situation affects their academic performance is still valid today and if there are any other strategies for

academic success regardless of a student's socioeconomic background.

This research will be conducted to know the factors that affects students’ capability on studying

and to give suggestions or recommendations on how to deal with those factors. The said study will

discuss students' socioeconomic status, experiences, and other possible evidences that influence their will

to study, understand, and focus on learning. This issue is very relevant to community because it is in

relation with education and will discuss the personal problems of the students and identify if how will it

affect their academic achievement in accordance to their socioeconomic status. Studies about the

relationship between economic status and academic achievement of the children from primary to higher

education level shows that economic status greatly affect the academic condition of the students and with

the change in parent’s economic situation, the academic condition of the student also suffers, in either
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Senior High School Department
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good or bad way (Farooq, Chaudhry, Shafiq & Berhanu, 2011; Chandra & Azimuddin, 2013; Singh &

Choudhary. 2015; Bhatt, Joshi & Wani, 2016). According to Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeir, & Maczuga,

(2009), children from low socioeconomic status household and communities have lower development

skills than children from high socioeconomic status group. This idea leads to conducting the problem in a

school setting to know if the previous idea is still affecting the students' academic development and if

how much does it affects students’ academic performances or achievement.

Given that the research topic is purely academic, it will be conducted at selected Grade 11

students of La Purisima National High School. Only the said students are needed to be surveyed for the

gathering of data. Also, it will be conducted only with the adviser's and the principal's permission.

Gathered on its natural setting that the respondents will provide. This is to understand more about

student’s level of learning, how they organize their learning to achieve their objectives or target grades,

and if their socioeconomic status greatly affects their performance in school.

Bhat, Joshi, and Wani (2016) states on their study entitled “Effect of Socioeconomic Status on

Academic Performance of Secondary School Students” that the occupation and education level of a

student's parent affect the academic performances and achievement of the learner which means that

students with better family background achieve better academic performances than students with low

status. This means that socioeconomic status and academic performances of a student has a strong

connection and somehow dependable to each other. There are factors affecting students learning, possibly

a positive or negative outcomes according to its status. Murphy and Tobin’s (2012) "The Impact of

Student's Economic Status on Academic Performance", noted that poverty greatly affect a student's

performance and studies which means that students who is in poverty are generally have low average

grade. Student's background plays a vital role on achieving academic success and it is said that students in

a low status are experiencing a more difficult time on studying. This study states that these two variables
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Senior High School Department
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are very important on the said problem since socioeconomic status does not only impact students but

almost all individuals in each and every aspect of their lives.

The study involves the personal lives, circumstances, experiences of the students with their

parents or even the entire family. Barry (2006) discovered that socioeconomic class is the best predictor

of students' scores, rather than the influence of family, school, peers, and student role. This study will

determine if how much does personal situations or status influence the student's academic achievement

and what are the effects or results does it produce. Parents' socioeconomic status does not only impact on

their children's academic achievement but also adds in allowing children from lower socioeconomic

backgrounds to compete favorably with their counterparts from higher socioeconomic backgrounds in the

same academic setting (Rothestein, 2004). Additionally, it will look at how well students perform in

school and determine whether their socioeconomic status has an impact on their academic achievement.

This study will also look at how socioeconomic status affects how students behave and perform

academically, which makes it important because it requires private or personal information that is why the

researchers must provide deep questions on the survey that will surely dig the students’ private

information that they need for this study.

The research's general objective is to demonstrate how the students’ life situation or

socioeconomic status and academic achievement are related. It will examine whether a student's personal

situation is a variable or significantly affects how well he/she perform academically and if student’s

confidence will also be a factor affecting their academic performance. According to United States

Department of Education (2003), low socioeconomic level leads to environmental problems, which lower

students' self-esteem. Therefore, the focus of this study will be on students' struggles with studying and

how they make a solution to it. These pertains to challenges in terms of communication, transportation,

allowances, and many other things. This covers their access on technology together with the internet and
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other tools that will help them perform well at school, difficulties they experience while studying such as

distractions encountered like works or obligations for the family, and many more.

The research's overall purpose is to demonstrate the many effects that a student's personal

situation can have on his or her academic achievement. Many professionals argue that students with low

socioeconomic level perform poorly academically because their basic needs are not met, which is why

they do not perform better (Adams, 1996). With this, the study requires examining the various facets of

socioeconomic status, how it affects students’ academic performances, and what are the effects that it

produces. This study aims to determine how a student's socioeconomic class affects how they approach

their academic work and how they go through the hardships that it gives. Students will be able show their

advantages and disadvantages or strength and weaknesses based on their position in life. They will get an

understanding of difference and imbalance between their lives or socioeconomic status and other’s but as

well as the confidence to persevere, work hard, face challenges and move on regardless of obstacles, and

determination despite of challenges.

The researchers are inspired to conduct this study with the goal of gathering data that will help

them determine whether socioeconomic status has an impact on students' academic achievement. The

goals of the study are to raise students' academic performance regardless of their socioeconomic level, to

compile prior studies on raising academic performance, and to offer solutions to students to assist them in

resolving socioeconomic issues. This is a real challenge for the researchers in performing this study

because the question of how much socioeconomic differences affect students' performance is so

burdensome. The researchers' goal is to determine whether there is a consistent relationship between

socioeconomic position and students’ performance in school. The objective of the researchers to find if

there is a valid affinity and link between these two distinctive variables, and an insight for everyone to

know and obtain.

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B. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This research will be conducted to know the relationship of socioeconomic status and student’s

academic performance. This study seeks to answer the following questions:

1. What are the effects of socioeconomic status on students’ academic performance?

2. Why does socioeconomic status affects students’ academic performance?

3. How does socioeconomic status relates to students’ academic performance?

C. SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

This study attempts to evaluate the fundamental connection between socioeconomic status and

the academic performances of La Purisima National High School’s Grade 11 students. The six sections of

the aforementioned grade level will participate in this study during the first semester of the 2023-2024

academic year. Only the students’ socioeconomic situation and its benefits and drawbacks will be

discussed. The researchers will also keep an eye on students’ academic performance through their grades

which are influenced by their social situation. This study will only focus on students’ academic

performance that is being affected by their socioeconomic status.

Students who are not in the eleventh grade are not covered by the study's scope. It is not

necessary for this study to know the students’ names, ages, or genders from their profile. Since personal

information about their socioeconomic status will be requested, their identities should remain private that

is why those will not be required at all. Students who refuse to complete the questionnaires will not be
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Senior High School Department
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given the survey. For the accuracy of the data acquired, questions that do not elicit the required

information or data will no longer be included.

D. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Students- Awareness of students on the socioeconomic status and its impact on their academic

performances. Giving knowledge about factors associated with their socioeconomic status that affects

their performance in school and dealing with those factor despite of their status.

Teachers- Teachers will be able to identify factors that influence their students’ academic performance

including the lack of materials or equipment needed by the students in school because of financial

problems that result of them having low grades. This study will make the teachers determine effective

strategies to help the students cope-up with their lessons in accordance to student's socioeconomic status.

Parents- The result of this study is beneficial to the parents because they will be aware of the factors that

affect their child's school performance which is affected also by their socioeconomic status. They will be

able to at least lessen or even solve their child's academic problems as a result of their awareness on the

said factors. The parents will have a chance to manage their child's situation and understand that their

child’s academic performances are being affected by their socioeconomic status.

Future Researcher- This study will serve as a reference of future researchers for their future studies

related to socioeconomic status that will help them to enhance and support their claims. This will help

them to identify the correlation of this study and their study such as similarities and differences of the

topic. Additional information can be gained also. Future researchers will improve the topic better and able

to identify gaps within the existing ideas of the research problem.

School Administrator- This study will enable them to set standards in terms of students’ academic

performance after discovering the factors that affects their learning. School Administrator will determine
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how to find better ways to improve the learning capacity of the students such as projects and programs

that will discuss and focus on enhancing student's academic performances.

E. REFERENCES

Adedayo, G. (2017). SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND ACADEMIC PERFOMANCE. Retrieved

October 9, 2020, from https://www.academia.edu/40265468/SOCIO_ECONOMIC_STATUS_

AND_ACADEMIC_PERFOMANCE

Bradley, R., & Corwyn, R. (2002, February). SOCIOECONOMIC STATUS ANDCHILD

DEVELOPMENT. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/

11603895_Socioeconomic_Status_and_Child_Development

Bhat, M., Joshi, J., Wani, I. (2016, September). Effect of Socio Economic Status on Academic

Performance of Secondary School Students. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324941320_Effect_of_socio-economic_status_on_acade

mic_performance_of_secondary_school_performance

Faraz, L., Noor, H., & Parveen, Q. (2018, October). Influence of Family Economic Status on Education

and Health of Special Children in Islamabad. Retrieved October 8, 2020, from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333161831_Influence_of_Family_Economic_Status_on_

Education_and_Health_of_Special_Children_in_Islamabad

Rumbaoa, L. R., San Jose, G. V., Sanchez, J. A., & Cabauatan, R. (2022, September). Impact of

Socioeconomic Status and Parental Involvement in Students’ Academic Performance of the

Undergraduate Students in a Comprehensive University during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Retrieved October 8, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/366323758_Impact_of_

Socioeconomic_Status_and_Parental_Involvement_in_Students
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