Relationship of family support and ethnic minority students' achievement in science and mathematics

Abstract

The academic interest and competencies in science and mathematics of children are often begun in families. This research seeks to identify those aspects of family support that have the most influence on students' learning in mathematics and science. It examines the relationship of the mother's support and participation to the eighth grade ethnic minority child's score on standardized tests, particularly mathematics and science. Mothers of 80 students responded via telephone to 63 questions on their behavior, on the physical environment of the home, on their attitudes toward science and mathematics, and four demographic questions. Alpha reliabilities of groups of questions, frequencies, factor analysis using varimax rotation and principle components, and ANOVAs were computed. Finally, multivariate analyses ended with three stepwise multiple regressions using the test scores as dependent variables. This preliminary research on involvement of parents of ethnic minority students shows that students have higher test scores if parents help them see the importance of taking advanced science and mathematics courses, emphasize the importance of mathematics in today's careers, set limits, and visit science/mathematics exhibits and fairs with their child. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 82:111–125, 1998.