The Relationship Between Students' Socioeconomic Status And Their Turkish Achievements

The relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and student achievement is well documented and indicates that students from more advantaged backgrounds perform better at school. Numerous international and national studies have reported a significant association between students' socioeconomic status and their achievement at school. This study aims to examine how the students' Turkish achievement is associated with their own socioeconomic status. The study is a descriptive survey. Data were collected via an assessment test conducted by Altindag Counseling and Research Center (ACRS) and the questionnaire the students answered after the test. The aim of the assessment test is to evaluate the students' performance and their literacy skills in Turkish Language Class. The assessment instruments were developed by ACRS. The target population of the study consists of 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades at primary schools around Altindag district in Ankara. 23036 students participated in the survey. The findings of the study are as follow: the association between students' socio-economic status and the performance in the Turkish achievement test is statistically significant and positive (r=.20 p=.000). The association is significant (r=.13) at 4th grade and (r=.26) at 8th grade. Education level of the father is closely associated with the performance. Education level of mother is the second one that is closely associated with the performance. The association between after school activities (tutoring and courses) and the performance is weak. It was found a consistent negative relationship between getting help in outside of class and Turkish achievement in grade 4 and 5. However, it also found that an inconsistent negative relationship in grade 6 and a consistent positive relationship in grade 7 and 8. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd.