Within-School Socioeconomic Disparities in Academic Achievement: A Qualitative Case Study of Study-Regulation Supports among Indian Secondary Students
Downloads
Objective: This study explored how socioeconomic contexts shape students’ study strategies and how these differences relate to academic achievement within the same school setting.
Methods and Materials: A single-site qualitative case study was conducted in a private, unaided English-medium CBSE school in Bengaluru, India, enrolling students from diverse socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Thirty students in Grades 8–9 (aged 13–15) were selected through purposive sampling, representing all achievement levels and residence types (day scholars and residential/hostel students). SES classification was informed by parental education/occupation and the Modified Kuppuswamy Scale (2019). Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews, audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed iteratively using line-by-line and focused coding guided by Charmaz’s grounded theory approach, leading to theme development.
Findings: Three themes explained within-school achievement disparities: (1) parental engagement and access to cultural/social capital varied by SES, shaping monitoring, subject support, and study regulation at home; (2) hostel routines and mentoring provided compensatory structures resembling middle-class “concerted cultivation,” supporting academic regulation for some low-SES residential students; and (3) for low-SES day scholars, teachers and remedial support served as the primary learning resource, often framed in skill-deficit terms rather than culturally responsive pedagogy.
Conclusion: Equal access to school resources does not necessarily produce equal outcomes because study regulation develops within unequal family and institutional support ecologies. Equity-oriented, culturally responsive, and relational school practices—alongside targeted academic mentoring—may help reduce persistent achievement gaps.
Downloads
Antony-Newman, M., Niyozov, S., & Pashchenko, K. (2024). Middle-class parental engagement in pandemic times: developing strategies and mobilizing capitals. British Journal of sociology of Education, 45(2), 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2023.2294687
Batruch, A., Autin, F., & Butera, F. (2019). The paradoxical role of meritocratic selection in the perpetuation of social inequalities at school. In The social psychology of inequality (pp. 123-137). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28856-3_8
Boonk, L., Gijselaers, H. J., Ritzen, H., & Brand-Gruwel, S. (2018). A review of the relationship between parental involvement indicators and academic achievement. Educational research review, 24, 10-30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2018.02.001
Bourdieu, P. (2002). Against the policy of depoliticization. Studies in Political Economy, 69(1), 31-41. https://doi.org/10.1080/19187033.2002.11675179
Bradley, R. H., & Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Socioeconomic status and child development. Annual review of psychology, 53(2002), 371-399. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). Contexts of child rearing: Problems and prospects. American psychologist, 34(10), 844. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.844
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. sage.
Das, A. (2020). Understanding equity through Section 12 (1)(c) of the Right to Education Act in India. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.58327
DiPerna, J. C. (2006). Academic enablers and student achievement: Implications for assessment and intervention services in the schools. Psychology in the Schools, 43(1), 7-17. https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20125
Fatimaningrum, A. S. (2021). Parental involvement and academic achievement: a meta-analysis. Psychological Research and Intervention, 4(2), 57-67. https://doi.org/10.21831/pri.v4i2.45507
Gowda, S. (2020). Public-private partnerships in education: a vertical case study of the Right to Education Act (2009), India. University of Massachusetts Boston.
Kantova, K. (2024). Parental involvement and education outcomes of their children. Applied Economics, 56(48), 5683-5698. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2024.2314569
Lareau, A. (2018). Unequal childhoods: Class, race, and family life. In Inequality in the 21st Century (pp. 444-451). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429499821-75
Matsuoka, R. (2019). Concerted cultivation developed in a standardized education system. Social Science Research, 77, 161-178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2018.08.011
Mishra, S. (2020). Social networks, social capital, social support and academic success in higher education: A systematic review with a special focus on ‘underrepresented’students. Educational research review, 29, 100307. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2019.100307
Park, S., & Holloway, S. D. (2017). The effects of school-based parental involvement on academic achievement at the child and elementary school level: A longitudinal study. The Journal of Educational Research, 110(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2015.1016600
Pintrich, P. R., & De Groot, E. V. (1990). Motivational and self-regulated learning components of classroom academic performance. Journal of educational psychology, 82(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.82.1.33
Reardon, S. F. (2018). The widening academic achievement gap between the rich and the poor. In Social stratification (pp. 536-550). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429499821-33
Robinson-Pant, A., Aikman, S., Dyer, C., Rao, N., Rogers, A., & Themelis, S. (2015). BAICE Thematic Forum: Challenging deficit discourses in international education and development. In: University of East Anglia. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58080/
Rodríguez, M. S., Tinajero, C., & Páramo, M. F. (2017). Pre-entry characteristics, perceived social support, adjustment and academic achievement in first-year Spanish university students: A path model. The Journal of psychology, 151(8), 722-738. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.2017.1372351
Rogošić, S., & Baranović, B. (2016). Social capital and educational achievements: Coleman vs. Bourdieu. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 6(2), 81–100-181–100. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.89
Saleem, S. M., & Jan, S. S. (2019). Modified Kuppuswamy socioeconomic scale updated for the year 2019. Indian J Forensic Community Med, 6(1), 1-3. https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijfcm.2021.001
Sengonul, T. (2022). A Review of the Relationship between Parental Involvement and Children's Academic Achievement and the Role of Family Socioeconomic Status in This Relationship. Pegem Journal of Education and Instruction, 12(2), 32-57. https://doi.org/10.47750/pegegog.12.02.04
Singh, P., & Choudhary, G. (2015). Impact of socio-economic status on academic achievement of school students: An investigation. International journal of applied research, 1(4), 266-272.
Smit, R. (2012). Towards a clearer understanding of student disadvantage in higher education: Problematising deficit thinking. Higher education research & development, 31(3), 369-380. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2011.634383
Tan, G. L. C., & Fang, Z. (2023). Family social and cultural capital: an analysis of effects on adolescents’ educational outcomes in China. The Journal of Chinese Sociology, 10(1), 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-023-00200-w
Valencia, R. R. (2019). International deficit thinking: Educational thought and practice. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367855581
Wang, H., Liu, Y., Wang, Z., & Wang, T. (2023). The influences of the Big Five personality traits on academic achievements: Chain mediating effect based on major identity and self-efficacy. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1065554. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1065554
West, C., & Sadoski, M. (2011). Do study strategies predict academic performance in medical school? Medical education, 45(7), 696-703. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2923.2011.03929.x
Zhang, P., & Hu, Y. (2019). What Role Does School Play in Helping Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Students Succeed against the Odds? Best Evidence in Chinese Education, 2(2), 243-263. https://doi.org/10.15354/bece.19.ar1051
Zimmerman, B. J. (1990). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement: An overview. Educational psychologist, 25(1), 3-17. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326985ep2501_2
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Body, Mind and Culture
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
