I would not write I'll just attach one interesting 'joke' which partly explain the change in the education and scholars or students performance.

I am tempted to say living conditions, both material and family-related. Students who come from unstable turbulent homes would obviously be affected at the psychological level and this woudl impact their results significantly negatively. The material environment in which they live would also have an influence on their performance, although it would be difficult to establish to what extent. A student whose parents cannot afford internet access, while all his colleagues benefit from such access would be disadvantaged to a certain degree.

Student`s family income is the main factor that is likely to contribute to the poor performance of students. In addition to that, I believe the instability or the misunderstanding between parents is another facor that affects the poor performance of students.

Family - Health - Neighbor hood affects the contribution of performance.

Student performance depends on many factors. Student’s ability, class environment, home environment, encouragement the student receives at school and home, support that the student gets at home for studies, and his/her extracurricular activities all will contribute to the performance in many different ways. Harmonious home with lot of encouragement and support for studies at home will go a long way to improve the student performance.

I would not write I'll just attach one interesting 'joke' which partly explain the change in the education and scholars or students performance.

Interesting discussion and nice joke. However, I would also put a sociological perspective in. There is some interesting research that where you were born predicts how successful you will be. Children of parents with a labour background will receive a socialization that emphasizes obedience. Thats how the parents achieved what they have. They learnt to follow instructions. Since parents want always the best for their children they will socialize them in a way that they are obedient in school. That does not include thinking out of the box. Children from intellectual parents will receive a socialize that is based on reflection and innovation...Hence, they grow up learning to solve problems. Obviously an obedient child can be a good student, but then we also would need to discuss about the definition of a good student...

Dear Charles

t is undeniable that the family plays an important role in school life of children. In early childhood education , it can be perceived association between school performance / student learning and some aspects of the family environment , especially with regard to the availability of toys and cultural objects ( books , newspapers and magazines ) as well as the amount of activity meetings and shared with parents .

The school should take on the responsibility of providing your students with a fun and rich environment in terms of objects and cultural practices , regardless of the features present in the family environment .

Regarding family constitution exists a significant number of families in which the father figure is absent , there is a dependency relationship between the level of maternal education and the resources of the family environment and the more educated a mother is , are more targeted the resources of the family environment to influence positively on educational issues . However , not always the parent or guardian of the child , has a high level of education , which again points to the importance of teachers as key mediators in the construction of school knowledge .

Do not just blame the family when this will often try and fulfill , according to their capacities, their role in supporting the child in relation to school issues . On the other hand , family support , very charged by the school , is usually also hampered by a lack of better guidance from the school, on how best to help the family with the child's school career

It is therefore necessary to encourage joint working between family and school , seeking closer ties these educational contexts ,

So is there any magic bullet to address the poor performance of students taking into consideration the fact that the causes of this issue is multifacetted

Some factors are Parents' level of education and social Econ. status (SES)

Firstly , it is the lack of parental motivation and the socialisation process that they had given to their children. Socialisation process is the first and basic fundamental need for the children to have but if it is not well transmitted then definitely it will have a repercussion on the children output.

A good family background , where the children comes from. its plays a major role in the schooling because the better environment the family gives to the child , the better he/she will perform well at school. For example , the son of a doctor will perform well at school simply because the father had already had the notion of high schooling and he will tend to make his son follow the same pathway whereas the son of a labourer will perform also well but he will lack support and motivation because his father has a poor level of education.

Interaction of parents at home. In this Era, family contact and communication is not present . Dinner around the table is no more compared as in the past . The child will simply eat in his room and waste his time on facebook.Social network has destroyed the life of good and brilliant students because it has consume too much of their time.

Good nutrition at home result to a good health and hence , the child will perform better with a good and harmonious health instead of eating fast food which is undigested and creates ill health children.Good food at home result to a better performance also in terms of academic perspective.- Ref: Nutrition and facts about education on google.

I think that the performance of the student are related with the purpose for studying of the same students. The better performance is obtained with a good natural family where the parents are motivating their children to study because their education in values, in virtues and in knowledge are perceived as a mean to become happy, autonomous and useful for him/herself and for the persons that the children love. The good interaction between the parents and their children produces that this motivation was transmited to the children who make of it their own purpose.

If additionaly this family has parents with a good level of education and high economical status, it is a plus, and we may have better results. But if you have the education of the parents and the socioeconomical status, but the purpose of the children is lacking, the performance can be very poor, and if you have not the education of the parents nor the high socioeconomical status but the purpose is great, you may have an acceptable performance.

The school may increase or decrease the purpose of study that students bring from home but the first educators are the parents.

In fact the problem begins if the children start to model the other members of the family. We may review the social cognitive theory in order to put all causes of poor grade into a valid framework.

Although there are associations with children's performance and parental SES, it is the attitude of the parents toward the child's abilities and the educational system that has a far-reaching influence. For example, parents that believe their child can achieve and also believe it is important for the child to achieve will be more likely to have a successful child in school. The problem is when the system fails the parent and the parent loses belief that hard work leads to success. Language literacy issues can be overcome with a good school system; attitudes are more difficult to change.

Katharine, linking your point with Joan's above, early reading weaknesses impact on ease of learning but more importantly they set the student up to regard themselves as failures. This comes about because the student who can't read well must get more limited results from a reasonably early time in school and progressively they come to believe that they can not achieve and disengage resulting in a widening skills deficit which compounds the problem. In fact any early deficit, including social skills deficits positions students to develop poor self-efficacy and eventually disengage.

I have found in a recent evaluation that being a first generation academic performer (i.e. first person in a family to get to a certain academic level, which seems to also be associated with low income) can have an impact on student performance. We often attribute low income parenting with uninterested or unmotivated parenting. Typically, I think the issue is more that low income parents may often not have knowledge of the kind of skills that are necessary to support a student in learning how to learn, since they may not have had the opportunity to learn this themselves. My grandmother is a good example - she had to drop out of school to take care of her parents when they were dying. When my mother and i both went to college, my grandmother could only offer the advice to "work harder" to succeed. She had no idea to tell us to stay organized, talk to professors, etc. These factors have a primary influence, and also an influence on self-efficacy in the student.

Research on educational risk and resilience in African American youth, points to the idea that interpersonal contexts shape the individual’s beliefs about him or herself within particular cultural endeavors such as school, and these beliefs result in patterns of action reflecting engagement or alienation (p.494). This model of development identifies specific patterns of action that contribute to culturally defined outcomes including successful and unsuccessful performance in school. In the Latino or Hispanic culture risk factors such as poverty, violence, and exposure to family conflict are associated with poor developmental outcomes (see Shetgiri, et.al, 2009 for summary) and could also be tied to academic success.

I outlined a research project last summer for a class I was taking that focused on Race, Identity and Resilience : Stereotype and Race Theory Applied to Academic Achievement in People of Color.

I was interested in how a heightened sense of self and cultural identity might influence academic effort/achievement and resilience against the psychological issues that result from being targeted by negative academic ability stereotypes.

Parental education, expectation, home environment, parenting style, and family pathology are some home related factors correlated with children's academic performance.

In rural areas of the United States, children are being kept awake until late night early morning or allowed to stay up to those times so children come to school tired and not prepared for the day mentally. Another issue is social media. Parents provide cell phones, televisions, computers, etc and children have Facebook, texting, Instagram and others. Too many options for distraction are allowed ad parents provide them so that they will not have to be engaged with their children.

Another problem is that many children are fortunate if they eat one meal a day. The schools will provide a free meal to those who qualify but usually it one meal. Sometimes these children have no dinner the night before because both parents are working or they may have McDonalds or pizza, etc. Also, those children who are poverty stricken and have to wear unclean clothing or shoes with holes, etc are bullied and made fun of so being at school is torture in itself.

Finally, as a nurse I have witnessed instances where entire generations are on public assistance or Medicaid. During a week long clinical rotation at a rural North Carolina Health Department, I had over thirteen 12-15 year old girls tell me they got pregnant because they will get a check. The more children they have the bigger the check. Several of the girls stated that they knew they had no chance at a real education so the only way to make money was to prostitute themselves, have children, or sell drugs. Having children was the safest. Where are the parents, the teachers, the church families, peers parents? We have become a society that believes that someone else will teach our children. While not all parents believe this, in my experience in the medical field, we see it everyday.

Jason, those are certainly home factors that contribute to poor performance in children! How do you propose teachers could make a difference? I think the bullying children with old clothes would be the easiest to tackle compared to children who believe they could never attain more than their family.

I have found that encouragement and providing the child with a loving environment at school even if they do not receive it home, can often be beneficial. Some children want to make their teachers proud of them because they do not hear praise at home. Something that I encouraged a friend of mine who teaches in an elementary school in North Carolina to do was to have a stash of peanut butter crackers or snacks of some sort.

Another suggestion is making a classroom a "hate free zone". By providing a secure place for children to come and be themselves free from any bullying or abuse can help children develop a positive self-esteem and allow them to develop a sense of belonging. I know when a teacher has 30+ students and/or several classes throughout the day it can be very difficult providing these things to one or two students. I will admit, I was raised in an abusive household and had it not been for a special teacher who taught me that I am significant and I can do anything I set my mind to. God Bless teachers.

Jason, these are excellent methods to empower children. I think the reward with food could be dangerous for obesity. Perhaps school supplies or small toys might help.

I think perhaps I was not clear in my discussion. The food is not so much as a reward but for those who go without breakfast and/or dinner the night before. This was a fall back stash so that children at least have something in their stomach before starting the day. while I agree that school supplies are great, we found that small toys or toys of any kind provide a distraction to learning. I went to the Dollar Store and bought several packages of the party trophies. Of course everyone received a trophy throughout the day or week but if work was completed on time, they received a trophy. If behavior was focused, they received a trophy. It was an amazing tool because it was something they could take home and show their parents. It improved the self-esteem of so many children especially those who never played sports to take home a trophy. You should have seen the children and how their focus and work ethic improved. It was amazing!

One theoretical approach to answering this question is attachment theory developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. This theory proposes that the attachment style, either secure or insecure, with the primary attachment figure, usually the mother, builds in a child a sense of a positive self. This positive self-image is displayed in self-confidence in interpersonal relationships and success in whatever tasks in which the chld engages. A secure attachment style assures positive outcomes in school that is the primary social arena for children. An insecure attachment style, whether ambivalent, avoidant or disorganized, has characteristics of perceptions of self and others that inhibit success in intellectual pursuits and social functioning.

In some studies, parents' educational attainment and parenting styles are correlated with children's academic performance. Authoritative parenting has positive influence on children's motivation to study, while the too strict authoritarian parenting style and permissive parenting have less positive influence on children's motivation to learn. 

Acccordin to Harruison:

"One enormously important matter in school effectiveness research, upon which researchers largely agree, is that a child’s background (intelligence, pre-school learning, home circumstances, parents, etc) contributes approximately 85% to what is achieved in school. The other 15% is contributed by schooling. Of this, about 5% is generally held to be a school factor, 7% a teacher factor, and as little as 3% a method factor. In this respect the Bullock report (1975) was perhaps correct: the teacher is more important than the method.

Harrison, Colin. Methods of Teaching Reading: Key Issues in Research and Implications for Practice. Interchange 39. Edinburgh, SOEID: RIU, 1996.

Does anyone known which researcher he may have had in mind?

Parental literacy , family income, social problems and a approach of parents towards kids problems do play a role.

Dear Charles Gyan ,

An interesting discussion.

Dear Charles Gyan ,

Mainly depend on parents interest in education. If they have an interest, they will follow up on the kids even if they do not know anything. Enthusiasm for education is contagious from parent to the child, and if there is interest, success will follow.

With Regards,

Mohammed.