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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter covers a set of information that provides support to the research topic at

hand. This includes literature and study that can expand ideas and it can be a worthy basis for

the researcher’s study. A study by Jo Blanden and Paul Gregg is written as “It is widely

recognized that, on average, children from poorer backgrounds have worse educational

outcomes than their better off peers. There is less evidence on how this relationship has

changed over time and, indeed, what exactly leads to these inequalities. In this paper we

demonstrate that the correlation between family background (as measured by family income)

and educational attainment has been rising between children born in the late 1950s and those

born two decades later. The remainder of the paper is spent considering the extent to which

these associations are due to the causal effects of income rather than the result of other

dimensions of family background. We review the approaches taken to answering this

question, drawing mainly in the US literature, and then present our own evidence from the

UK, discussing the plausible range for the true impact of income on education. Our results

indicate that income has a causal relationship with educational attainment.” This study is

related to this research as it also banks on the ideology that income of the parents or family

can be a factor that may affect education of students but it is specific on educational

attainment rather than on academic achievement, this means that there are more factors to

consider when reasoning that family income or family’s economic status can affect the

education of a person. Meanwhile the article from the website Bold Expert mentions a

statement when Meeri Kim interviewed Sean Reardon an American sociologist who currently

serves as the Endowed Professor of Poverty and Inequality in Education at the Stanford

Graduate School of Education that had a research on Causes, patterns, trends, and
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consequences of social and educational inequality specifically on the topic of income-

achievement gap in educational system of US. “We’ve looked back at data over the last 50

years of test scores of children from kindergarten through 12th grade, and, in particular, at the

achievement gap between children from high- and low-income families. As income

inequality has grown in the U.S. over the last few decades, the income achievement gap has

also grown; this gap was about 40% larger among children born in the 1990s than among

those born in the 1970s. So where does this widening gap come from? It isn’t because low-

income kids’ test scores have gone down — actually test scores have gone up for both low-

and high-income kids over time. But the test scores of children from high-income families

have increased more rapidly than those from low-income families, and particularly the test

score gap between the affluent and middle class has widened significantly. We think that this

is due to two main factors: widening income inequality and an increased investment in kids’

cognitive development by affluent families.”

A study by Zhonglu Li and Zeqi Qiu states that “Education is a lasting process.

Academic performance in primary education plays a crucial role in obtaining further

educational opportunities. Thus, it is necessary to examine how family background affects

children’s academic achievement at an early stage. Through analysis of data from the Chinese

Family Panel Study in 2010(CFPS2010), this paper proposes two pathways through which

family influences children’s academic performance. Firstly, parents compete for high-quality

educational opportunities for their children and better educational opportunities lead to better

academic performance. Secondly, parenting behavior and educational support for their

children could cultivate children’s learning habits and affect academic performance. We also

find urban students’ academic performance are more heavily affected by their families’

socioeconomic status compared with rural students. These findings bear important

implications for how to reduce the class difference in students’ academic performance and
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promote educational equity in contemporary China.” Their results states that “Although

parents in China generally have high educational expectations for their children (Ma 2010),

parents of different socioeconomic status may provide different behavioral support for their

children’s education due to constraints in their own abilities and resources (such as discussing

what happens in schools with their children and checking the homework for their children).

Figure 3 and Table 6 show that family socio-economic status explains 20% of the difference

in parental support for children’s education, with a standardized coefficient of 0.45. Even

though most parents recognize the importance of education, families with different

socioeconomic status may create different learning environments (Zhao and Hong 2012;

Wang and Shi 2014). Thus, the hypothesis 2 of this study (the higher the social economic

status of the family, the higher the degree of parental participation in the education of the

children) is supported by the data.” Their research has concluded that the socioeconomic

status affects the student’s achievement or performance in class as higher social economic

status family can create a higher parental participation in the education in the children which

can be a factor that may affect the students. The higher social economic status of the family,

the higher the rate of involvement of the parents in supporting their children in terms of

financial support or time spent in teaching and disciplinary policies regarding studying.

According to an article from American Psychological Association, Socioeconomic

status (SES) encompasses not just income but also educational attainment, financial security,

and subjective perceptions of social status and social class. Socioeconomic status can

encompass quality of life attributes as well as the opportunities and privileges afforded to

people within society. Poverty, specifically, is not a single factor but rather is characterized

by multiple physical and psychosocial stressors. Further, SES is a consistent and reliable

predictor of a vast array of outcomes across the life span, including physical and

psychological health. Thus, SES is relevant to all realms of behavioral and social science,
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including research, practice, education and advocacy. Research indicates that children from

low-SES households and communities develop academic skills slower than children from

higher SES groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009). For instance, low SES

in childhood is related to poor cognitive development, language, memory, socioemotional

processing, and consequently poor income and health in adulthood. The school systems in

low-SES communities are often underresourced, negatively affecting students’ academic

progress and outcomes (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008). Inadequate education and increased

dropout rates affect children’s academic achievement, perpetuating the low-SES status of the

community. Improving school systems and early intervention programs may help to reduce

some of these risk factors; therefore, increased research on the correlation between SES and

education is essential.

Another study that has been reviewed is by Davis, Gordon, and Burns, (2011). In this

study the authors showed another example of the low-income families and their children

education, who are suffering from asthma. These kinds of children are having problem with

education since their preschool. The author represent that students absences affected their

education and how their family are having problem with their medical cares. The author did

not show methods or results but it showed facts about children from early childhood. These

students are behind others from different family background that is suffering from asthma

too. The family income can affect their children education in their early years (Davis,

Gordon, &Burns, 2011).

Abraham, Crais, and Vernon-Feagans (2013) reviewed the third study of low-income

family and their children education. The study shows how the mother language can affect her

children education. The languages differences are results of the low income and

environments of the mothers. This study took months from variety children and homes. The

results were very clear and show how students can learn from their mothers. The percentage
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represents how students learning are connected to their homes. The language that mothers

used with their children can affect their education skills. In the study, mothers with low

income are using simple sentences and vocabularies with their children. On the other hand,

complex sentences and vocabularies are used from high-income mothers with their children.

Sean (2013) represents in his study how students from families with high income are

having best performance than low-income families’ students. His study took a place in United

States for several years. He shows how timing is important for the families’ income. The

impact of the income can be shown in the early of the student’s learning. This may show

better results to the student’s academic achievement. Moreover, students from high income

have the opportunity to get in any colleges or universities than others.

Kathy (2013) wrote a study about some strategies to help and support students from

poor communities. These students need motivate and some help to build their skills. Reading

is one of the skills that this study shows as an example. The study represents some ways to

help students with reading in summer and school time. Moreover, students from poor areas

do not learn during their summers. Teachers need to help and direct their students to work in

their skills.

According to Jennifer Barry’s “The effect of Socioeconomic Status on Academic

Achievement”, there is no significant relationship that exists between the respondents’

academic performance and their parents’ marital status, educational attainment , occupation

and income which imply that pupil-related factors are not predictors to the respondent’s

academic performance.

Another study by Zebun Khan entitled “Impact of Socio-Economic Status on

Academic Achievement Among the Senior Secondary School Students”, the findings of the

study showed that there is positive correlation exist between Socio-economic Status and
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Academic Achievement of Senior Secondary School students, it also highlight that

significance difference is present among different SES group in their Academic

Achievement. It further revealed that there is no significant difference between male and

female students in their Academic Achievement.