| The purpose of this study was to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that are helpful in producing academic resilience in a sample of high school foster youth. Participants include 80 foster youth from seven Fresno County high schools. Demographic and academic data: gender, grade level, attendance rate, suspension rate, current grade point average, CST English Language Arts scale scores, and CST Mathematics scale scores were obtained from the district foster youth liaison. Assessment of Academic Self-Concept and Motivation (AASCM), a survey instrument to assess students’ goals, self-concept and motivation was administered to participants. Follow-up interviews were conducted by the researcher with eight participants, four with GPA of 2.0 or higher, considered academically resilient and four with GPA below 2.0, considered not academically resilient. This study posed minimal risks to foster youth. Participants were voluntary and assured of their confidentiality.;Cronbach’s Alpha yielded reliabilities for the AASCM ranging from 0.77 to 0.93. Multiple analysis of variances (MANOVAs) and subsequent ANOVAs were used to examine differences between groups in both placement settings and grade point average (GPA). The findings did not prove statistically significant within-groups differences for placement settings. However, results did reveal statistical significance within-group differences that vary from one GPA group to another.;Correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between academic variables and various potential predictor variables and were not statistically significant. Additionally, a Canonical Correlational Analysis (CCA) was conducted and did not prove statistically significant for the full model. However, the first three functions were considered noteworthy in the context of this study due to the substantial amounts of variance accounted for: 44.3%, 28.1% and 22.6%, respectively. The qualitative component revealed two emerging themes: students’ attitude toward school and students’ perceived support at school. |
