Direct and indirect influences of school learning on Hispanic-American eighth grade students' academic achievement

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the direct and indirect influence of previous grades, quality of instruction, motivation, quantity of instruction, and homework on Hispanic-American eighth grade students' academic achievement, while controlling for important background variables (family background, student's English proficiency, and gender). Few researchers have examined both direct and indirect effects of school learning variables and background influences simultaneously. Path analytic techniques were used to test a model of school learning on Hispanic-American eighth grade students' achievement, while controlling for background variables. The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) was used to test the model. NELS:88 is a large, nationally representative survey of eighth graders developed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Results indicate that the achievement of Hispanic-American students was strongly influenced by previous grades, motivation, quantity of instruction, and time spent on homework. The most influential background variables were family background and English proficiency, while gender had a small but significant influence, indicating boys doing better than girls on achievement. These results support both the variables tested and the framework derived from school learning theory.