School and Behavioral Outcomes Among Inner City Children

Abstract

Educational achievement is a key determinant of future life chances, but children growing up in poverty tend to do worse by many academic measures. Family, school, and neighborhood contextual characteristics may affect academic outcomes. In an attempt to explore neighborhood and individual-level factors, we performed multilevel analyses to explain child’s behavioral problems, repeat grade, average math, and reading scores. Outcome measures were associated with specific neighborhood characteristics, above and beyond the effect of student-/family-level factors. The findings warrant further consideration of ecological interventions aiming to improve academic and behavioral outcomes of children living in poverty.