The Influence of School Racial Context on Academic Achievement

Examination of effects on academic achievement of racial and SES components of social context. Sample: 900 black and white pupils in 36 inner-city sixth grade classrooms of various racial and SES mixtures. Cross-tabular analysis reveals higher achievement for children of both races in schools over 50 percent white. With individual and peer SES and prior achievement controlled through multiple regression, significant positive relationship is found for blacks between school percent white (current and cumulative) and achievement in Math but not Reading, and for whites between cumulative percent white and achievement in both Reading and Math. For whites, but not for blacks, a significant effect remains when more powerful controls on social class, available for a subsample, are entered into regression equations.