An analysis of the relationship between external assets, internal assets and academic achievement among urban students

This study explored the relationships between external assets and resilience (internal assets) and, between these assets and academic achievement in an urban school district. To achieve this objective, 482 students in an urban high school who had taken the state-standardized tests were surveyed. The questionnaire consisted of 56 questions, which were used to gather information on students' perception of their relationships with adults at home, school, in the community and with peers and internal assets (communication and cooperation, empathy, self-efficacy, problem solving, self-awareness and goals and aspirations). The questionnaire also requested for information on race, gender and grade levels.;Perpetuation theory and network-analysis were the lenses used to conceptualize the study. The locus of network analysis was on strong tie (students' relation with family and peers) and weak ties (students' relation with adults in school and community). Perpetuation theory focused on students' perception of caring relations, high expectations and meaningful participation within the home, peer, school and community environments. Completed data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and multivariate analyses (Pearson Product Moment Correlation, multiple regression and Analysis of Variance).;The analyses indicated that there was a strong relation between respondents' external assets and internal assets. When students experience environments rich in support and opportunities, their basic developmental needs are met and they are likely to develop resilience (internal assets). The analyses also suggested that there was a weak relation between students' assets (external and internal) and academic achievement.;Strong ties (home and peer) had a stronger relation with internal assets and academic achievement than weak ties (school and community). Race was found to have a significant influence on academic achievement and the independent variables home, peer, cooperation and communication and self-efficacy. Female respondents scored significantly higher than males on all external assets and had higher mean scores in academic achievement. On internal assets, female respondents scored significantly higher in communication and cooperation, empathy, problem solving and goals and aspirations. Twelfth grade respondents had significantly higher mean scores than 9th grade respondents in peer, school, cooperation and communication, empathy and problem solving.;These findings suggested that individuals that have consistently been in the child's life (family and peer-strong ties) have the greatest influence on the development of resilience (internal assets) and academic achievement. Students' perception of caring relations, high expectations and meaningful participation in the home, peer environment, school and community influenced the development of resilience (internal assets). Implications for practice and further research were discussed.