Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Dissertation Chair for Grace Thomas Nickerson, Dissertation Proposal PPT.

FACTORS THAT IMPACT THE
ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF
MINORITY STUDENTS:
A COMPARISON AMONG ASIAN-
AMERICAN, AFRICAN-AMERICAN,
AND HISPANIC STUDENTS IN LARGE
URBAN SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Grace Thomas Nickerson
Dr. William Kritsonis- Dissertation Chair
Spring 2008

INTRODUCTION
• Bridging the achievement gap between Asian
American, African American, and Hispanic students
has been a well discussed topic within America.
Research gained in the study will identify the factors
that must be considered in order to effectively
bridge the achievement gap between Asian
American, African American, and Hispanic students,
thus allowing all students to learn at their optimal
level.

BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM
• Performance levels among minority groups in
the United States are in sharp contrast
across all academic subjects.
AsianAmericans perform higher than any
other minority group, and sometimes above
their white counterparts.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
• There is an achievement gap between Asian
American, African American, and Hispanic
students. Discovering what factors contribute
or inhibit the high academic performance of
Asian American, African American, and
Hispanic students will give educational
leaders insight on how to bridge the
academic achievement gap.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
• Discovering what causes the disparities in
performance between Asian American,
African American, and Hispanic students may
assist us in finding ways to improve the
educational performance of low performing
minority students.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
The study will aim to answer the following questions:
1. How does frequency of individual study modes, frequency
of group study modes, time spent doing homework, and
parental involvement affect the academic achievement of
African American students in an urban high school?
Hispanic students in an urban high school?
Asian American students in an urban high school?

NULL HYPOTHESES
• Ho1.1 - There are no statistically significant relationships between the academic achievement
of African American students and the frequency of individual study modes, frequency of
group study modes, time spent on English homework, and parental involvement.
of African American students and frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group
study modes, time spent on Math homework, and parental involvement.
study modes, time spent on Science homework, and parental involvement.
study modes, time spent on Social Studies homework, and parental involvement.

NULL HYPOTHESES cont.
of Hispanic students and frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group study
modes, time spent on English homework, and parental involvement.
modes, time spent on Math homework, and parental involvement.
modes, time spent on Science homework, and parental involvement.
modes, time spent on Social Studies homework, and parental involvement.

NULL HYPOTHESES cont.
of Asian American students and frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group
study modes, time spent on English homework, and parental involvement.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
• The study seeks to find what factors
contribute or hinder the academic
achievement among Asian American, African
American, and Hispanic students.
Discovering the factors that contribute to the
academic achievement of each minority
group will increase the effectiveness of
American education.

DEFINITION OF TERMS
• Frequency of study modes (group
study and individual study) explain
how often and what methods are
used by students to study. This can
include study groups and individual
studying (Yan, 2005).
• Time on homework explains the
amount of time spent on
studying, doing school work,
and/or anything dealing with the
student’s education and
academic success (Yan, 2005).
• Parental involvement explains
the amount of interaction and
involvement the parent has in
their children’s education. This
ranges from attending school
functions, reading to their child,
helping with the child homework,
calling teachers and providing
curfews for the children’s
academics. This is a broad area
because it can also include
talking to other parents about
education which does not involve
the student (Yan, 2005).

DEFINITION OF TERMS cont.
• Asian- American are people of Asian
ancestry or origin who was born in or is
an immigrant to the United States
(Wikipedia, 2006).
• African Americans (also Afro-American or
Black American, or Black) is a member of
an ethnic group in the United States
whose ancestors, usually in predominant
part, were indigenous to Africa. In
general, the cultural assumption in the
U.S. is that if a person is Black, native
English-speaking and living in the United
States, he or she is "African American
(Wikipedia, 2006).
• Hispanic as used in the United States, is
one of several terms used to categorize
persons whose ancestry hails either from
Spain, the Spanish-speaking countries of
Latin America, or the original settlers of
the traditionally Spanish-held
Southwestern United States. The term is
used as a broad form of classification in
the U.S. census, local and federal
employment, and numerous business
market researches (Wikipedia, 2006).
• Success is measured by students’
mastery on the Exit-Level TAKS (Texas
Assessment of Knowledge and Skills)
test.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1. A possible limitation may exist in the difference of cultures and traditions within
each minority group.
2. Socio-economic status may also be bias among minority groups regarding
education.
3. The learning styles among the cultures may vary.
4. Racially and culturally diverse schools may yield different results than
predominately Asian American, African American, and Hispanic schools.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY cont.
5. The study is limited to urban school districts in Texas.
6. The size of the ethnic groups present in the participating
high schools may give disproportionate results.
7. There may be a difference in academic achievement in
minority students in rural school districts.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
FREQUENCY OF STUDY MODES
PRACTICED
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
TIME SPENT ON HOMEWORK
MINORITY STUDENTS
(Asian American, African American, and Hispanic Students)

CHAPTER II
Review of Literature

PROBLEM FORMULATION
• Overview of the Subject
– Discover the factors that contribute to or hinder the
academic achievement among Asian Americans, African
Americans, and Hispanics students.
• Parental Involvement
• Frequency of individual study modes
• Frequency of group study modes
• Time spent on Homework

SUPPORTING LITERATURE:
The Minorities’ Academic History
• Curtis Crawford, 2000
– At the advanced reading level, Whites and Asians were ahead of
Hispanics and Blacks. In proficient reading, whites led the other minority
groups. However, at the advanced math level, Asians were ahead of
whites (Crawford, 2000, p.38).
• College Board, 1999
– the elimination of racial inequalities in academic achievement is a moral
and pragmatic imperative (College Board, 1999, p. 1-2).
• Bhattacharyya, 2000
– Researchers have been perplexed at the academic and professional
success of Asian Americans as compared to other ethnic minority groups

American Education vs. Asian Education
• L. Ellington, 2005
– The content of Japanese textbooks is based upon the national curriculum,
while most American texts tend to cover a wider array of topics (Ellington,
2005, p. 3) .
• Elaine Wu, 2005
– The only way we ( the United States) measure how well students do is
through testing, teachers end up teaching how to take the test and not
necessarily the subject matter (Wu, 2005, p. 2).
• Gary Decoker, 2002
– America has tried to mimic the Japanese systems by overemphasizing its
homogeneity and equating national curriculum guidelines with national
standards (Decoker, 2002, p. 21).

Parental Involvement
• Joyce Epstein, 2002
– Involve families with their children in academic learning at home, including
homework, goal-setting, and other curriculum-related activities. Encourage
teachers to design homework that enables students to share and discuss
interesting tasks (Epstein, 2002, p.14 ) .
• S. Gregory, 2000
– The more roles parents’ play in their children’s education, at home and at
school, the more successful children will be academically and socially
(Gregory, 2000, p. 164).
• W. Yan, 2005
– Family obligation is related to parents’ intensive investment in the well-being
of the school outcome in particular and the value of education in general
(Yan, 2005, p. 116-117).

Time Spent on Homework
• Rosanne Paschal, 1984
– Extensive classroom research on “time on homework” and international
comparisons of year-round time for study suggest that additional homework
might promote U. S. students’ achievement (Paschel, 1984, p. 97) .
• John Lofty, 1995
– Students need to know the time values and practices of academic life, and
that their difficulties accommodating the timescapes of the academy can
become good reason for their exclusion (Lofty, 1995, p. 33).
• Steven Ingles, 2002
– Asians spend more time on homework outside of school than Blacks,
Hispanics and Whites (Ingles, 2002, p. 4).

Cont. of SUPPORTING LITERATURE:
Frequency of Individual Study Modes
&Frequency of Group Study Modes
• Robert Slavin, 1980
– Learning team techniques have generally had positive effects on such
student outcomes as academic achievement, mutual attraction among
students (Slavin, 1980, p. 253).
• Gary Decoker, 2002
– Rapid learners can help those who are slower, and students who do not
understand the lesson can ask questions of the fast learners. (Decoker, 2002,
p. 98-99).
• Monica Lambert, 2006
– Although secondary level teachers often assume that all students have
acquired sufficient study skills by the time they reach high school, many have
not (Lambert, 2006, p. 241).

OPPOSING LITERATURE
• F. Elsmary, 2005
– Asian parents can learn something from non-Asian parents by expressing
that their child’s happiness does mean as much as any educational
achievements (Elsmary, 2005, p. 2).
• D. Kuhn, 2006
– Asian parents can inculcate in their children the belief that excellence in their
schoolwork leads to family pride, material wealth and social status, and failure
to achieve excellence leads to the opposite – shame and disgrace (Kuhn,
2006, p. 29).
• E. Shrake, 2004
– Overshadowed by the popular model minority image of Asian American
students and high levels of academic achievement among a portion of this
group, their problem behaviors have often been overlooked in educational as
well as research communities (Shrake, 2004, 602).

SUMMARY: CHAPTER II
• After researching this topic, the factors that are
most noted to contribute to the success of Asian
American, African American, and Hispanic students
is parental involvement, time spent on homework,
the frequency of individual study modes, and
frequency group study modes. There are many
other factors that contribute to the academic
success of Asian American, African American, and
Hispanic students; however, this study is focusing
on the three, common components mentioned
above.

PROBLEM STATEMENT
The problem of the study is what factors best
contribute and what factors hinder the
academic achievement of Asian American,
African American, and Hispanic students.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of the study is to determine the
relationships between parental involvement,
frequency of individual study, frequency of group
study, time spent on homework, and the
academic achievement of Asian American,

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How does frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group study
modes, time spent doing homework, and parental involvement affect the
academic achievement of African American students in an urban high school?
academic achievement of Hispanic students in an urban high school?
academic achievement of Asian American students in an urban high school?

HYPOTHESES
• H1.1 - There are statistically significant relationships between the academic achievement of
African American students and frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group
• H 1.2 - There are statistically significant relationships between the academic achievement of

HYPOTHESES cont.
Hispanic students and frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group study
modes, time spent on English homework, and parental involvement.
modes, time spent on Math homework, and parental involvement.
modes, time spent on Science homework, and parental involvement.
modes, time spent on Social Studies homework, and parental involvement.

HYPOTHESES cont.
Asian American students and frequency of individual study modes, frequency of group

RESEARCH DESIGN
• Variables
– Independent Variable
• Student Race
– Asian American
– African American
– Hispanic
– Dependent Variables
• Parental involvement
• Frequency of individual study modes
• Frequency of group study modes
• Time spent on Homework (hours per week)

RESEARCH DESIGN cont.
• Quanitative Design
– The Causal Correlational statistical method, utilizing the statistical
analysis of Multiple Regression, will be used to note relationships
between the factors of frequency of individual study modes,
frequency of groups study modes, time spent on homework, and
parental involvement on academic achievement of Asian American,
• Qualitative Design
– Questionnaire
– Closed-end, Likert-type questions

SAMPLE SELECTION
• Sample Selection
– High school senior students
• How selected
– The students will complete the questionnaire during their Social
Studies classes. All students will have the opportunity to participate
in the study because Social Studies is a required course.
• Expert Case
– The participants will be Asian American, African American, and
Hispanic high school senior students.

INSTRUMENTATION
• Qualitative
– Questionnaire
• The instrument used is a Likert-style questionnaire.
The questionnaire will be based on parental
involvement, frequency of individual study modes,
frequency of group study modes, and time spent on
homework.

INSTRUMENT cont.
• Quanitative
– Results from the questionnaire on parental involvement, time spent
on homework, and frequency of study modes (group study and
individual study) practiced will be ranked from 1-4 (4: having more
influence and 1: having least influence). An average will be taken
from each section of the questionnaire.
– The average from each section will be placed in SPSS and the
Casual Correlational statistical method of multiple regression will be
used to determine the relationship of the parental involvement, time
spent on homework, frequency of individual study modes, frequency
of group study modes, and the academic achievement of the three
minority groups using their Exit-Level TAKS scores.

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURES
• Confidentiality
– To assure confidentiality, the student completing the questionnaire will not have to log on to the
computer to complete the questionnaire.
– The results on the demographic section of the questionnaire will be used to correlate the TAKS
scores based on demographics.
– After the data has been collected, it will be stored in a secure location in bank safe deposit box for
7 years. After 7 years, the data will be destroyed by way of incineration.
• Validity
– A pilot questionnaire will be conducted to ensure the questions on the questionnaire are clear and
pertinent to the study.
• Credibility
– A peer debriefing will be conducted to ensure the participants’ responses have not changed.
• Confirmability
– Findings will be confirmed with the data from NCES (National Center of Educational Statistics) that
details relationships between the tested racial groups and the frequency of study modes
(individual and group study), parental involvement, and time spent on task.

DATA ANALYSIS
• Multiple Regression statistics will be used to analyze the information
gathered from the respondents’ answers to the questionnaire.
• Each answer will be coded with a particular number to be entered into
SPSS to determine which factor predicts the most success from the
three minority groups.
• The Exit-Level TAKS scores will be used to measure and connect
success to the respondents’ answers on the questionnaire.
• The data from NCES that details the factors being investigated will be
used to confirm the SPSS results of the respondents’ answers.

SUMMARY: CHAPTER III
• The procedure detailed in this chapter will establish
relationships between Asian American, African
American, and Hispanic students and parental
involvement, time spent on homework, and
frequency of individual study modes, and frequency
of group study modes. Determining which factors
have the greatest impact for each minority group will
establish guidelines for educational leaders to follow
to produce academically successful students.

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Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Dissertation Chair for Grace Thomas Nickerson, Dissertation Proposal PPT.

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