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An Evaluation of the Differences Among Lower, Middle and Upper Socio-Economic Groups in the Sixth Grades in the Ogden City Schoo

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An Evaluation of the Differences Among Lower, Middle and Upper Socio-Economic Groups in the Sixth Grades in the Ogden City Schoo Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 5-1965 An Evaluation of the Differences Among Lower, Middle and Upper Socio-Economic Groups in the Sixth Grades in the Ogden City Schools with Regard to Scholastic Achievement Milton Kendrick Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the Educational Administration and Supervision Commons Recommended Citation Kendrick, Milton, "An Evaluation of the Differences Among Lower, Middle and Upper Socio-Economic Groups in the Sixth Grades in the Ogden City Schools with Regard to Scholastic Achievement" (1965). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 2818. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/2818 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. AN EVALUAT'ION OF THE DIFFERENCES AMONG LOWER, MIDDLE AND UPPER. SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPS IN THE SIXTH GRADES IN T:HE OGDEN CITY SCHOOLS WITH REGARD TO SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT by Milton Kendrick A thesis submitted in partial fulfil lment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in Educational Administration UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 1965 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank those who have helped so much in the completion of this study. I should like to acknowledge Mr. Arthur Jackson for hi s constant encouragement and helpfulness at all times. To the other members of my committee, Miss Jean Pugmire and Mr. Ivan Pedersen, for their help and encouragement, I give thanks. I am grateful to my wife, Karen, for her continual help and encourage­ ment that have aided so much in the completion of this work. Milton Kendrick TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . Hypotheses 3 Definition of Terms 4 REVIEW OF LITERATURE 5 DESIGN OF THE STUDY 16 Selection of Subjects 16 The Index of Status Characteristics 18 The Questionnaire . 21 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 25 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 36 Findings 37 Conclusions 38 LITERATURE CITED 40 APPENDIXES . 44 Appendix A. Questio nnaire and accompanying letters 45 Appendix B. Tables 9, 10 and 11 .... 48 LIST OF TABLES Table Page l. Mean ach ievement scor es by socio-economic class boys and girls combined . 25 2. Summary: Ana l ysis of variance comparing sex and socio­ economic status with r ead ing, arithmetic and l anguage scores . 27 3. Mean achievement scores by class by sex 28 4. Summary: Analysis of variance comparing socio- economic status with reading, arithmetic and language scores 31 5. Percent of sixth grade population of predominately lower class socio- economic groups by schools ..... 32 6. Percent of s i xth grade popula tion of predominate l y middle class socio- econom i c groups by school s . ... 33 7. A comp arison of achievement of lower socio- economic c lass pupils using sel ected schools . .. 33 8. A comparison of achievement by race and socio- economic class . · 35 9. Mean achievement scores by socio-economic class by schools 48 10 . Scales for making primary ratings of four s t atus characteristics ..... ... 50 11. Optimum weights for !.S . C., based on three characteris ­ t ics, for old Ame ricans , t o be u sed 'vhen data are missing on one c haracteristic 51 LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. A comparison of total achie vement scores by soc io- economic class . 26 2. Mean achievement scores by class by sex 29 INTRODUCTION There are some inadequacies i n our American way of life. One of these is the i nadequate help and attention given t o the problem of children who become s hackled with their l owe r class environment with little or no desire or incentive t o rise above this . The major challenge t o any teacher i s the ability t o s timulate and inspire children to achieve or succeed. There a r e diffe r ent degrees of achi evement. For one child, gr eat ach i evement is not the same a s for another. The realization of this prompted the decision t o see wh at differences in achievement exist among the thre e main socio-economic class e s . In Og den the r e are several s tratified socio-economic a r eas . The three schools on the West side of Washington Boul evard are made up predominatel y of l ow socio-economic class chi ldren. Each year for sever al years, in a school of predominantly l ower socio­ economic class ch ildren, the achievement test scores have always been lower than the distri ct average. The teachers a t the school were a ll certified and had comparabl e qualifications of expe rience, training, etc., as the rest of the Ogden City t eacher s . So the possibility of less quali­ f ied t eache rs was ruled out. Since ther e were differences in s tude nt achievement, it was since de cided to de t ermine the differences in ach ievemen t among lower socio-economic groups of children and the upper and middle socio-economic groups of childre n in the Ogden City Schools. I f the lower achievement scores existed with o ther lower socio-economic groups in the other schools then we could conclude that the c hildren of lower socio-economic class achieve less wel l than those of the middle and upper cla sses. The problem was set to de termine how well children of lower socio-economic class achieved a t some of the schools made up predominantly of middle an d some upper class childr en. This should be of interest, for if the comparison showed that children of the same socio­ econom i c status achieved, by and large, better at the predominantly middle class schools of the city, then educators would want to take a good look at the schools West of Washington Boulevard t o determine the reasons for this lower achievement. The home plays an important r ole in the lives of children . Its influence determines, to a large extent, the development of habits, ideal s , initiative and attitudes toward life and school. The home en­ trenched attitudes and behavior a child has largely determine how well he will do in school, given average me ntal a bility. Socio-economic status itself i s a general factor that is very impor­ tant in differentiating children with respect to a wide variety of abili­ ties. Socio-economic status in some respects is associated with the level of intelligence, the ability to use l a nguage, a s well as the quality of general information and knowledge. This is not to say that all children f r om low socio-economic families have l ess inte lligence and do not achieve as well in s chool as those of higher socio- economic status. If children from lowe r socio - economic class schools are not achiev­ ing as we ll as like groups in some of the other schools, then the per­ sonnel of the district will want to determine why this might be so . The outcomes of this study may encourage t eachers to evaluate what they are t eaching these l ow socio-economic class students . It may be that the subject content for some of the se s tudents may have to be modified, or the values and goals changed t o some extent. Dealing with a factor such as socio-economic s tatus presents certain limitations in research. Socio-economic status is a rather subjective thing ; it is hard to measure. Social class is something that exists in the minds of people, true, but that very certainly exists in reality also . It then becomes a problem to rate people socio-economically. A limiting factor in some of the findings is that in some instances there were not enough cases for an adequate samp ling to make the findings valid. This was caused chiefly by the failure of some groups to return questionnaires. When these findings appear in the study, notation is made as to an insignificant sampling. Hypotheses This study will be investigated through the use of the following hypotheses: 1. Upper socio- economic class children achieve significantly better than the ntiddle or lower socio-economic c l ass children. The middle socio­ economic class child achieves better than the lower class child, but not as well as the upper class child. 2. Girls achieve significantly better than the boys within the same socio-economic groups. 3. Lower socio-economic class boys and girls who attend schools made up predominately of upper or middle socio -economic class children achieve better as a group than their counterparts who attend schools made up predominately of l ower socio-economic class children. 4. Comparisons within the same socio-economic classes reveal that the Oriental Race achieves highest, then Caucasians, Negroes, and Spanish Americans in that order. 4 Definition of Terms For the purpose of this study the term soci o-economic status shall be thought of as that position, or status, a person or family occupies in the community, with r eference to the c lassification members of the community assign to each. This s t atus is usually based upon income, occupation, dwelling area and participation in the affairs of the commun ­ ity. Socio-economic status is a subjective, but very real thing. It is the classification of people into groups from upper to lower. Social status is very closely allied with socio- economic status and may be thought of as a composite of a person ' s occupation, education, in­ come and his over all s t andard of living, along with his cultural possess- ions.
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