Family and academic performance: identifying high school student profiles

Abstract

The objective of this study was to identify profiles of high school students, based on variables related to academic performance, socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family organization. A total of 21,724 high school students, from the five municipalities of the state of Baja California, took part. A K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify the profiles. The analyses identified two clearly-defined clusters: Cluster 1 grouped together students with high academic performance and who achieved higher scores for socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family involvement, whereas Cluster 2 brought together students with low academic achievement, and who also obtained lower scores for socioeconomic status and cultural capital, and had less family involvement. It is concluded that the family variables analyzed form student profiles that can be related to academic achievement.