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Educational Performance of Latino and Non-Latino Youth Ethnic Studies Cal Poly University Using the High School and Beyond dataset, this report attempts to determine whether the economic concept known as "social capital" can help explain the academic achievement of Latino students. The report also relates the pre-labor market environment of youth to the basic economic theories which try to account for the status of Latinos in the labor market. Specifically, the report assesses the importance of human, financial and social capital in determining the academic (and life) outcomes of Latino youth. While the report initially posits the role of financial, human
and social capital available in the three separate pre-labor
market environments of the home, school and community, many of
these aspects of the study eventually drop out. The concepts
of financial and human capital provided by the home are replaced
by the composite variable of socioeconomic status (SES). In addition,
the High School and Beyond dataset does not provide sufficient
information on the community to allow for measurement of any
type of "capital" in that realm; nor is the human and
financial capital provided by the school environment operationalized.
Hence, the report is left to focus on measuring the social capital
available to the student (Latino and non-Latino) at home and
in the school, holding in consideration the SES and the student's
own effort level (measured in hours spent on homework). Confirmatory
Factor Analysis is the selected method; Latino and White The targeted populations are divided into four categories based on race and educational tracking: Latinos in college-bound or vocational programs, and Whites in college-bound or vocational programs. Although a number of the theoretical factors are not measured, the study shows that, amongst these four groups, educational attainment is by far the lowest for those in vocational programs, whether Latino or White. SES does not appear to fully explain this outcome, because Latinos in college-bound programs out-perform Whites in vocational programs despite the two groups' similar socioeconomic backgrounds. This is to say that Whites in vocational programs perform just the same as or worse than Latinos in vocational programs, despite the White students' higher SES. Picking twelve variables which are meant to quantitatively measure the social capital of the student's home, the study then goes on to see whether "social capital" is more useful than SES in predicting educational outcomes of Latinos and non-Latinos. The twelve variables selected focus on the parents' involvement in the student's high school activities. These dimensions of "social capital" appear to be more useful than "socioeconomic status" (SES), because, upon quantifying the twelve variables within the four different groups, it is found that Whites in vocational programs have less social capital available from home than Latinos in college-bound programs. White youth in vocational programs even have slightly less "social capital" than Latino youth in vocational programs. This also holds true when the social capital of school is measured, using six variables which focus on the influence of teachers and guidance counselors. The study concludes that the "social capital" from
the home and school environments are very important factors in
determining educational outcomes of both White and Latino youth,
holding SES constant. Citing the small amount of time spent on
homework, it further concludes that the idea of individual intelligence
is overemphasized in our public school system. What is statistically
significant is the importance of "social capital" for
all students, strongly suggesting that home and school environments
which foster guided reading and writing activities, are more
conducive to improved educational outcomes than the "socioeconomic
status" (SES) of students. The study recommends that further
work is needed to better qualify social capital in the pre-labor
market environment of youth. Hardcopy Price: $5.00
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