Student Achievement and the Changing American Family.

Perceived declines in student achievement and family environment and the perceived ineffectiveness of increases in educational expenditures have stimulated the present investigation, which focuses primarily on estimating the change in achievement test scores that can be attributed to changing family and demographic characteristics. Family characteristics included in the analysis were income, family size, parental education levels, age of the mother at the child's birth, labor-force participation of the mother, and single-parent families. The analysis estimates effects of family changes on achievement scores of a national sample of students aged 14 to 17 in 1970 to 1975 and 1990 using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1980 and the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988. Using test scores as the sole measure of the effects of changes in the family provides no evidence of a deteriorating family environment for youth in 1990 compared to the same age group in 1970-1975. This study does not support the view that the schools of the 1970s and 1980s have deteriorated in significant ways with respect to the schools of the 1950s and 1960s in their instruction, and it suggests that schools have made significant progress in decreasing educational inequalities for minorities. Eighteen tables and 44 figures illustrate the discussion. (Contains 82 references.) (SLD)