Determinants of Academic Achievement

Seminar paper from the year 1991 in the subject Sociology - Work, Profession, Education, Organisation, grade: A, University of the West Indies (School of Education), course: Sociology of Education, language: English, abstract: 'The Determinants of Academic Achievement' have been the subject of much discussion in the past and up to recent times. Extensive studies have been done and diverse conclusions have been reached. Earlier research was centered on developed countries, but recent times have seen an emphasis on developing countries and this has given rise to much controversy over the extent to which school and non-school factors influence academic achievement and the educational benefits of increasing expenditure on policy controlled schooling variables. The observation has been made by Simmons and Alexander (1980) that home background or parental socio-economic status generally has a stronger influence on student performance at primary and lower secondary grades than the policy-controlled schooling variables. Their conclusions were drawn, in part, from a review of a number of studies conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in developed countries. Using the education production function (EPF) approach, Simmons and Alexander sought to equate the relative cost of school inputs to the relative value of outputs. Their conclusions have been variously supported, challenged or contradicted by previous and subsequent research carried out in the Third World. The purpose of this study is to examine the validity of Simmons' and Alexander's conclusions through a comparative analysis of a sample of students from the 1990 Common Entrance Examination (CEE) intake of students of the Portsmouth Secondary School (P.S.S) in Dominica.