The Determinants of Scholastic Achievement-An Appraisal of Some Recent Evidence

This study assesses some of the more highly publicized and controversial conclusions of Equality of Educational Opportunity by James S. Coleman et al. The Coleman Report, published by the U.S. Office of Education in 1966, concluded that per-pupil expenditures and school facilities show very little relation to student achievement levels, and the effect of a student's peers on his achievement level is more important than any other school influence. The present paper scrutinizes the data and the statistical analysis on which these findings are based. It is suggested that because of poor measurement of school resources, inadequate control for social background, and inappropriate statistical techniques used in the presence of interdependence among the independent variables, many of the findings of the Report are not supported.