Chapter 4: Academic Optimism and Achievement: A Path Model

More than 4 decades ago the Coleman Report concluded that student socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of academic achievement. However, subsequent research on the contexts of effective schools identified other school variables strongly related to student achievement—variables that school professionals can influence. This study examined the relationships between a recently introduced construct, academic optimism (AO), and the factors of another organizational characteristic, school climate, which have been associated with student achievement, despite SES. We confirmed the factor structure of academic optimism and found a significant relationship between academic optimism and student achievement, while controlling for SES. We also found a significant relationship between academic optimism and factors of school climate. Finally, we developed a path model illustrating the relationship of academic optimism to achievement and one of the factors of school climate, community engagement, to academic optimism.