EDP 650 Diversity Seminar
Spring, 2005
Socioeconomic Factors
Lawrence W. Sherman, Ph. D.
Professor, Department of Educational
Psychology
http://www.users.muohio.edu/shermalw
The British Scene: Late 19th to early 20th Century
cousins
Sir Francis Galton
Sir Charles Darwin
r
regression
correlation
(Pearson-Product Moment
Correlation)
Charles Spearman:
H. Carl Pearson
Nephew of Galton
Factor Analysis
Validity
Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient
Primary medium or index of validity.
Three important forms of Validity
•Predictive Validity
•Concurrent Validity
•Construct Validity
Related definitions of “Validity”
• The state, quality, or fact of being valid in:
•
•
•
•
law or in
argument,
proof,
authority, etc.
Social Darwinism (Spencer)
Late 1800’s early 1900’s
Nurture vs. Nature battles
Justification for maintaining power
British Empire at turn of the century
Validation of the use of power
“White man’s Burden”
Wealth and Privilege
Social Class
Intelligence
Many different approaches to defining the
construct:
Good overview in February, 2003 issue of APA
Monitor, Volume 34, No. 2




Intelligent Intelligence Testing
Breaking New Ground
Intelligence Across Cultures!
Essence of G: Scientists search for the biology of
smarts. ScienceNews, February 8, 2003, Vol 163, No.
6, pages 92-93.
Validation of Intelligence I
As Construct Validity
Should Predict Achievement (Predictive Validity)

Why?
Benet’s Initial original mission:


“identifying children with mental retardation”
Strong Statistically Significant correlations between
“Intelligence” and “Achievement” obtained (usually in
the .50 to high .60’s)
Validation of Intelligence II
As Concurrent Validity.
Many “Intelligence” tests are correlated (r)
with each other: e.g.,:
WISC with Stanford Binet and vice-a-versa
 Kaufman with each of the above
 All are good predictors of School Achievement

ACHIEVEMENT
Intelligence Test scores Second strongest
predictor of Achievement test scores!

Usually in the .50 to .60’s range!
Socioeconomic Status (SES) First and
strongest predictor of Achievement test
scores.

Usually in the high .70’s and above range!
Proxy Variables
Dictionary definition: “The authority to act
for another”
One variable might substitute for another
Is Intelligence also Achievement?
 Are they the same?
 Do they measure the same things?
 Might one be a “proxy” for another?

Socioeconomic Status (SES)
“The generic idea is that all known complex societies are characterized
by one or more forms of institutionalized social inequality. However,
there are variations between societies and presumably, within a society
over time in the degree of opportunity, that is, the extent to which
persons are recruited or assigned to roles bearing unequal rewards on
the basis of the circumstances of birth or rearing in a particular family,
locality, cultural or enthnic group, or social milieu. To the extent that
achievement depends upon such circumstances over which the
individual has little or no control, we say that a society is stratified.”
(Duncan, Featherman, & Duncan, (1972).
Socioeconomic Background and Achievement.
New York: Seminar Press.
Measurement Scales of SES
Miller, D. (1977). Handbook of Research Design
and Social Measurement (3rd edition). New York:
Longman. A good general source:
Duncan’s Socioeconomic Index (SEI)
U.S. Census Socioeconomic Status Scores
Hollingshead’s two factor Index of Social Position
Warner Index of Status Characteristics
Variables Usually Included in
Measures of SES
Father’s Education (head of household)
Father’s Occupation (head of household
Number of Siblings
Income
Example of Father’s level of
education:
7.
Graduate Professional training
Standard College graduate
Partial college training
High school graduation
Partial high school
Junior High school
Less than 7th grade
8.
Hollingshead 2 factor scale (7 education levels)
9.
His occupations also have 7 levels from Higher
Executives (1) to unskilled laborer’s (7)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Duncan’s analysis of Turner’s data
.90
Ambition
index
.27
Family
Background
.23
.19
.06
Class Values
Index
.15
.46
.92
.12
.37
.11
IQ
School SES
rating
.12
.87
Turner (1964) Interpretations
Family Background
affects ambition
Ambition affects both


IQ and
Class Values
Lesser direct influences
are:

Family background to



class values
IQ
IQ and class values
In discussing the relationship between Family Background and School SES ratings, he notes that
“families may choose their place of residence,” but he also concedes that “by introducing
neighborhood, we may only be measuring family background more precisely.”
Turner, R. H. (1964). The Social context of ambition. San Francisco, CA: Chandler Press.
Equality of Educational Opportunity Report (1966):
“Coleman Report”
James Coleman is a “Sociologist”.
Research examined the predictors (correlations) of
School Achievement.
Primary correlates predicting school achievement
scores included:



Socioeconomic index (Duncan’s SEI)
Destiny Control (similar to Locus of Control)
Racial composition (proportions) of school districts,
primarily African Americans to Whites proportions aggregated data.
Implications of Coleman Report
in the 1970’s to 1990’s
Desegregate American Schools:
Redistricting
 Busing
 Community Control
 Full Inclusion classrooms (PL 94-142, and later
IDEA legislation).
 At the Higher Education Level, “Affirmative
Action”

Richard Hofmann’s Research on
Ohio Proficiency Test Scores
While Hofmann does not use the term SES, his construct,
“Poverty,” is strongly related. He uses a combination of
three of the 1990 U.S. Census variables to define a
“Community Poverty Index:”.



% of adult high school dropouts,
% of single parent homes,
% of school age children receiving welfare (ADC).
Over a 11 year period of time, the Community Poverty Index derived from
1990 U.S. Census data continued to be The strongest and statistically most
significant predictor of 1990 to 2000 Ohio Proficiency Test pass rates, with
correlations being in the high .70’s and low .80’s, predicting 2000 pass rates
as well if not better than 1990 pass rates.
The Present: 2003
Last year President Bush celebrated the one
year anniversary of the “No Child Left
Behind” legislation signed off at Hamilton
Ohio, 2002
Nation still concerned with effective
schools!
Accountability and “Standards” based
reform.
The Present: 2003
Higher Education
U.S. Supreme Court decision on University
of Michigan Law School’s Affirmitive
Action plan last summer (July, 2003).
Analysis of Texas and California
Universities after they do away with
Affirmative Action.
Some conclusions:
The statistical tool, Pearson Product Moment Correlation,
r, has historical significance for inter class validation
issues:
If Biology (nature) then what?
If Environment (nurture) then what?
Social Class and Social Stratification continue to be a
problem for education and our American society in
general.
“Gaps” in achievement and SES among diverse
populations are not being overcome, but rather widening!
Stephen Jay Gould, 1996:
“Mismeasure of Man,” p. 28
“…resurgences of biological determinism correlate with
episodes of political retrenchment, particularly with
campaigns for reduced government spending on social
programs, or at times of fear among ruling elites, when
disadvantaged groups show serious social unrest or even
threaten to usurp power. What argument against social
change could be more chillingly effective than the claim
that established orders, with some groups on top and others
at the bottom, exist as an accurate reflection of the innate
unchangeable intellectual capacities of people so ranked?