A Brief Note on the Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Test Performance among Ugandan Primary School Children

Abstract

PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS into the patterns associated with educational attainment in Africa closely parallel findings from the United States: children of better educated parents and dominant ethnic groups are over-represented in comparison to their proportion in the population.2 We do not know as yet exactly why this should occur, but there appear to be three possibilities: one has been researched, the second has not yet been investigated, while this study has begun to examine the third. First, differential representation might occur because of differential spatial diffusion of schools.3 Second, some individuals or groups might be better represented because schooling is expensive in both direct and opportunity costs, and the paying of school fees differs according to wealth and willingness. But third, overor under-representation could occur because of differing abilities to perform academically on the national selection examinations which is used as the criterion for the trickle of movement between the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. Ample evidence exists from industrial societies which would lead one to suspect that children of lower socioeconomic backgrounds might perform less well on tests of academic achievement.4 In sum, of all the variables in-