Establishing an evidence base for policy and program intervention: Testing a combined model of family, school and student factors underlying the academic outcomes of Mexican American youth.

Abstract

The main goal of this work was to identify promising points for policy and program interventions to promote greater academic achievement and attainment among Mexican American youth. First, a model of relationships between family, school, and individual-level factors associated with academic outcomes for Mexican American and Latino youth in prior research was developed, then translated into a structural equation model (SEM) and evaluated using a nationally representative dataset, the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS). Specifically, the subset of NELS data representing Mexican American youth who were 8<super> th</super> graders in 1988 was analyzed. The combined model assesses the effects of eight family background factors, three parenting factors, three school factors, and six student factors on 8<super>th</super> grade test scores. The model is also used to predict school dropout by the end of 12<super>th </super> grade. A total of eight parenting, school and student factors were found to directly relate to test scores, mediating the effects of background family factors. Parental involvement is found to directly influence academic achievement, while parental allocation of resources is found to have a larger although indirect effect through student expectations and English proficiency. Concentration of poor and minority students in schools is found to adversely affect achievement. Three factors---student expectations, academic achievement and family income---were found to predict school drop out. Student expectations emerged as the most influential factor predicting both test scores and school dropout, suggesting that they may be a particularly promising point for intervention. Four potential targets for intervention were identified: decreasing segregation of poor and minority students in schools; providing culturally congruent school environments; providing enriching resources and activities to foster youth development; and using a range of mechanisms to increase youth's academic and occupational expectations, as well as providing them with the means to achieve those expectations.