| Black students growing up in the United States are faced with multiple risk factors that threaten their academic careers. Many of these students disproportionately grow up living in poverty, putting them at additional risk for attending inadequate schools, living in unsafe neighborhoods, being in dysfunctional families, and having poor physical health. Despite these risk factors, many Black students do go on to lead academically successful lives. The present study examined the relationships between Black high school students' academic achievement, parent and teacher support, and socioeconomic status via a secondary analysis of the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 archival data set. This study also explored the role of gender in these relationships. Results indicated a significant positive relationship existed between Black students' socioeconomic status and academic achievement. In addition, results indicated that parent and teacher support moderated the strength of the relationship between academic achievement and socioeconomic status for Black high school students. These associations did not significantly change across gender groups, suggesting gender did not moderate the effects. These results suggest that parent and teacher support may serve as buffers between socioeconomic status and academic achievement. These findings add to the literature that social support may help change the negative trajectory found between poverty and academic achievement. Based on these findings, schools and other community organizations should consider providing parent trainings in at risk communities on the types of behaviors that parents can engage in to promote their children's educational achievement. As for teachers, school districts should consider providing trainings on effective ways to develop the student and teacher relationship and expand their own cultural awareness of others (Flowers & Flowers, 2008). |
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