A academic achievement. The racial make-up of
A student’seducational outcome and academic success is greatly influenced by the type ofschool that they attend. School factors include school structure, schoolcomposition, and school climate. The school one attends is the institutionalenvironment that sets the parameters of a students’ learning experience.Depending on the environment a school can either open or close the doors thatlead to academic achievement.It issuggested that schools whether they are public or private, and class size aretwo important structural components of schools.
Private schools tend to haveboth better funding and smaller class sizes than public schools. The additionalfunding of private schools leads to better academic performance and more accessto resources such as computers, which have been shown to enhance academicachievement. Smaller class sizes create more intimate settings and therefore canincrease teacher-student bonding which has also been shown to have a positiveaffect on student success. The relative social class of a student body alsoaffects academic achievement. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds whoattend poorly funded schools do not perform as well as students from highersocial classes. School composition or the general makeup of a school is anotherimportant factor regarding academic achievement.
The racial make-up of aschools’ student body has been shown to influence test scores and students’attachment to their school. Student test scores and school attachment increasewhen students’ own race matches the most common race of their schools’ studentbody. This is especially true for minority students. But, there is still aconsiderable amount of evidence linking the race of teachers to studentperformance. Teacher diversity affects non-minority and minority studentsdifferently. For non-minority students, teacher diversity can hinder or have noeffect on their academic performance. However, a larger amount of minorityteachers has been shown to positively affect the test scores and schoolattachment of minority students. The skill level of teachers is anotherindicator of student performance.
Students who attend schools with a highnumber of fully credentialed teachers perform better.Schoolclimate is closely related to the interpersonal relations between students andteachers. Trust between students and teachers increases if a school encouragesteamwork. Research shows that students who trust their teachers are moremotivated and as a result perform better in school. School policies andprograms often dictate school climate.
Therefore, minority students benefitmore from school policies if the administrators and teachers, who help createthe policies, are representative of minorities. Students can focus more clearlywhen a school is able to create an environment where students feel safe. If aschool is able to accomplish a feeling of safety students can have success despitetheir family or neighborhood backgrounds.
