Black Student Achievement: How Much Do Family and School Really Matter?

Improving the quality of public schooling in America has been a consuming issue over the last couple of decades of the 20th century. Improving the education of poor students and particularly non-white students has been at the centre of this issue as long as it has existed. After trying educational vouchers, charter schools, increased testing, school uniforms, and decentralized decision-making, some are concluding that schools are not the answer. This is the line of reasoning behind Dr Sampson’s study of 12 poor black families in a Chicago suburb. It shows that despite consistencies in race, income and neighbourhood, student performance varied across the board. Dr Sampson concludes that the difference is found in homes where values like discipline, order, structure, responsibility and preparing for the future were emphasized. The text focuses on the potential of the family to do what generations of reform could not, and should be useful to those involved with public policy, racial, or social issues.