Family- and Individual-Level Predictors of Academic Success for African American Students

Abstract

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), path analytic procedures were performed to test an ecological model of the effects of family- and individual-level characteristics on the academic achievement of African American students. The study results show that several of the family influence variables directly or indirectly affected 12th-grade academic achievement. Furthermore, most of the individual influence variables were directly related to 12th-grade achievement. A surprising finding from this study was the nonsignificant effect of family income on 12th-grade achievement. Overall, the findings support the notion that family- and individual-level characteristics are important predictors of academic success among African American students.