Poverty and Achievement: Re-examining the Relationship between School Poverty and Student Achievement: An Examination of Eighth Grade Student Achievement Using the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988.

A study was done of the relationship between public school poverty and student achievement among eighth graders, focusing on the poorest schools that are most likely to receive Chapter 1 assistance and on those students who seem to be achieving against all odds as compared to their peers who are not doing well in the same school. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), which contains detailed information on the characteristics of schools that eighth grade students attend as well as information on the students, their families, and their teachers. The 1988 base year survey included 24,599 students. Analysis of the data led to the conclusion that high poverty public schools in the sample show a considerably greater need for special educational support programs than do low poverty schools; that students in these schools, whatever their family socioeconomic status, have lower achievement than do students in the low poverty schools; and that schools with more than 50 percent of their students eligible for free or reduced price lunches enroll large numbers of students who may be at risk of academic failure. Included are 12 tables and 4 figures. (JB)