Educational Poverty and Academic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis Exploring Contextual Moderators and Policy Implications

This comprehensive meta-analysis reviews 45 studies published from 2000 to 2024 that use quantitative methods to examine how educational poverty—limited resources, poor-quality teaching, and disadvantaged school settings—affects students’ academic outcomes. Following PRISMA guidelines, effect sizes were calculated using random-effects models to account for variability across studies. Educational poverty was associated with a moderate, significant negative impact on achievement (Hedges’ g = −0.45, 95% CI: −0.50 to −0.40); this likely reflects a performance gap of about 10–15% between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students. Variability across studies led to subgroup and meta-regression analyses. The negative effects were more pronounced for primary students (g = −0.50) than secondary students, especially in high-inequality regions like North America (g = −0.55), and were largest for cognitive outcomes such as standardized test scores (g = −0.50), compared to non-cognitive metrics like attendance and graduation. Meta-regression showed that location, age group, and outcome type significantly affected effect sizes. Sensitivity tests and bias assessments confirmed consistent results. Overall, the studies highlight that educational poverty remains a major barrier to academic success, with the strongest effects seen early in education. These findings underscore the importance of early, targeted, and context-specific policies to reduce inequalities and improve learning conditions for underprivileged students.