The Relationship Between Poverty and School Performance in South Carolina

• In Event: Sociodemographic Considerations in School Climate, Culture, and Community

Abstract

The persistent achievement gap for students in high poverty schools in the United States calls for research that examines different school information associated with poverty levels and strategies for promoting resilience. We investigated the relationship between high and low poverty school levels and state report card variables in South Carolina for different school types (i.e., elementary, middle, and high school). State report card variables are organized in the following main domains: academic achievement, student engagement, classroom environment, school climate, student safety, and financial data. An analysis of 1058 public schools in 82 school districts revealed that for different school types (i.e., elementary, middle, high), the poverty level showed significantly different relationships with certain school performance variables.

Authors

• Fan Pan, University of South Carolina - Columbia

• Tammiee S. Dickenson, University of South Carolina - Columbia

• Kara D. Brown, University of South Carolina

• Xumei Fan, University of Northern Iowa

• Gina M Kunz, University of South Carolina - Columbia

• Thomas Edward Hodges, University of South Carolina