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CARIBBEAN ADVANCED PROFIECIENCY EXAMINATIONS
[CAPE]
How does the family structure of students in grade 11 at the Vere Technical High
School affect their academic performance?
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements 1
Introduction 2
Literature Review 5
Data Collection Sources 7
Presentation of Data 8
Interpretation of Findings 16
Discussion of Findings 19
Conclusion/Recommendations/Limitations 20
Bibliography 22
Appendices 23
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to show my gratitude by thanking everyone who aided, in the compilation and
completion of this research. Especially to my teacher, Ms. Halstead who has been most patient
and understanding, my mother for encouraging me and ensuring that my needs were met in
relation to this research and God, who strengthened me throughout. I also must show
appreciation to the respondents, because without them this research would not be possible.
INTRODUCTION
Problem Statement
“How does the family structure of students in grade eleven at the Vere Technical
Background
The researcher has observed that students in grade eleven at the Vere Technical High School are
from varying family structures, and that most students from Nuclear family structures perform
exceptionally well in comparison to many of those from Extended and Single-Parent family
structures who otherwise perform at an average level. As a result, the researcher took the
initiative to conduct the research to decipher whether or not this is indeed factual, since it is an
area of great concern, and the findings will be beneficial to not only the researcher, but also the
school’s administration, who is very concerned about the academic well-being of their students.
It can be argued that this problem is psychological in nature and as a result respondents might be
reluctant to participate, in addition to the fact that the researcher is not an expert and might
misinterpret what the respondents actually mean. This problem implies that there is a definite
correlation between family structure and a child’s education, and as such, parents ought to pay
more attention.
Purpose of Research
The purpose of this investigation is to ascertain whether or not these observations are factual, and
to see how great an impact the family structure has on children’s academic abilities.
Statement of Problem
It is indeed evident that there is a correlation between the family structure and a child’s academic
performance. However, one needs to ascertain the extent to which the family structure poses a
What are the varying familiar structures present at the Vere Technical High School?
How do the students perform academically?
Why do some students perform exceptionally well, while others underperform?
What are the family structures that correlate with the highest and lowest average in
academic performance?
The value of this research will benefit school officials and in particular, Guidance Counselors on
how to help and assist students who are underperforming in their academics. The researcher
believes that these finding will be of great benefit in helping the vast number of students at Vere
who are underperforming. This statement is factual because no more than 40% of the student
population is able to make it to make it to the honor roll which is achieved by getting a mere
average of 70% and over. It will also help to inform parents and other family members about the
impact they have on their children’s academic wellbeing. This research can generate further studies
by the relevant authorities and/or academic groups to not just focus on Vere but all high schools
Academic Performance- refers to how students deal with their studies and how they cope with
or accomplish different tasks given to them by their teachers.
Extended family -A family that includes three or more generations, normally, that would
include grandparents, their sons or daughters, and their children, as opposed to a "nuclear
family," which is only a married couple and their offspring.
Family- A social institution which embodies the valued ideas and beliefs that society has about
how children should be reared and socialized and how human reproduction should take place
Family Structure- The organizational framework that determines family membership, and the
functions and hierarchical position of family members
Nuclear Family- A nuclear family is a family group consisting of a father and mother and their
children, who share living quarters.
Single-Parent Family- A family in which only one parent is present to care for the children, can
be either mother or father
Social Institution- A socially approved system of values, norms, and roles that exists to
accomplish specific societal goals.
Stability- constancy: the quality of being enduring and free from change or variation
The researcher’s topic is one which is of great concern to others, and as such extensive research
has been carried out, providing the researcher with a profusion of documents and articles to
better support the topic. Three of these sources were utilized to assist with the research.
Schneider, Atteberry, and Owens (2005), comments on the relationship between family
structures and the outcome of the child. This very detailed research paper indicates explicitly
that there is indeed a fundamental connection between family structure and a child’s educational
outcome. “As early as age three, children’s ability to adapt to classroom routines appears to be
influenced to some degree by the marital situation of their parents.” The research paper also
states that “A family structure can constrain the availability of economic and social resources
such as parents’ ability to spend time with their child, be involved in educational activities, and
expend monetary resources that can promote positive educational outcomes and well-being.”
This impacts the research positively as it is explicitly connects family structure to academic
performance, and provides substantial information for the researcher, to make a conclusion.
The article “Too many single- parents” published on Sunday April 10, 2011 implies that one of
the main reasons for the society’s current state in terms of low academic performance of students
and their bad behavior occurred as a result of too many single parents. Hill (2011), states “the
problem stems from the absence of a nuclear family, which he says is critical for the early stages
of a child's development.” The article also mentions that “Many single-parent households face
specific social and economic challenges for both the parent and the children”. About 45 per cent
of all Jamaican households are female headed. Female-headed households, according to 2002
data from the Planning Institute of Jamaica, also have a larger number of children and adult
females, but have a lower per capita consumption than those headed by males. This article
provides the researcher with statistical information to further prove the hypothesis. However the
article also limits their study to single-parent families as being the main cause of mediocre or
Al Miller’s “All in the family – Part 2” published on Sunday May 21 2017, outlines the problems
associated with single parent families and in particular, single mothers, “ chief of which is that
single mothers have the lowest median income net worth of all family types”. He further went on
to write that “children of single-parent families are more likely to have lower levels of income
over their lifetime”. Though he did not provide statistical data or supporting articles, the article
itself reinforces the researcher’s hypothesis that family structure certainly plays a paramount role
The article entitled “Reid examines Jamaica’s poor CSEC results” published on Wednesday
February 23rd 2016, blames to a large extent, the current family structures for the island’s
underperformance in the regional examinations. Reid (2016) indicates that “the factors impacting
student performance are diverse and interrelated. These include: Limited parental support and the
and involvement impact student performance.” Parents' socio-economic status can be considered
an important factor which affects not only cognitive function, but also academic performance.
Reid also draws on statistics to further prove his account, in addition to evidence from Maureen
Samms-Vaughan (2004) (please see bibliography) . Reid’s article takes the researchers
depth analysis of how one’s family structure affects academic performance, not only the direct
Over the period of two months January to April 2019, data necessary for this research was
acquired via document analysis and by surveying methods of administering questionnaires and
conducting an interview.
Document analysis was done by the review of newspaper articles in the Daily Gleaner and in the
Jamaica Observer on the correlation between family structure and children’s educational
outcome.
sample population of thirty (30) students, five (5) from each year group, excepting 6th form
where five (5) questionnaires were distributed between twelfth and thirteenth grade, by means of
the systematic random sampling method. The questionnaire consisted of fifteen easily interpreted
interpretation for the researcher as well as for respondents. It ensures anonymity and
confidentiality of information within the sample group and aids in the provision of answers to the
research questions.
A face to face interview was conducted with the Chemistry teacher Mrs. Knight of the Vere
Technical High School High School on the 27th of February 2019 at 1:50 p.m. The interview
lasted approximately twenty minutes and included six open- ended questions. These sources
PRESENTATION OF DATA
70%
60%
50%
40%
Percentage of Excellent
Respondents 30%
Good
20% Satisfactory
0%
Excellent Good Satisfactory Not well
(below 60%)
Responses
45%
Highly motivated goals and
dreams
40%
30%
Percentage of Family Encouragement
25%
Respondents
20%
Help from family when you
15% receive work you do not
understand
10%
Balanced Home life
5%
0%
Reasons of respondents
100%
90%
80% Lack of Studying
Percentage of 70%
60%
respondents who
50%
selected these High Stress Level
40%
responses
30%
20%
10%
Unbalanced Home life
0%
Reasons
60%
50%
40%
Percentage of
30%
Respondents
20%
10%
0%
Nuclear Extended Single-Parent Other
Family structure
20%
80%
Are major factors present in the household that stops you from doing work?
Figure 5.
General Responses by respondents who selected yes, there are major factors within their
household that interferes with their school work
Noise level is too high, too many persons within Having to take care of grandparents
household
Too many activities Having to take care of younger sibling and help
mother with her school work
Constant annoyance and bother from family To do all the chores for all of my siblings
members
Table1.
40%
30%
20%
10%
Percentage of
respondents 0%
Ignore the Forget the Go to a Give up on Pray about
problems school work friends everything it
and do the and worry house and
work get the
work done
Methods used to respondents to manage their work when problems arise within the
home
How respondents manage work when problems arise within the home
Figure 6.
70%
60%
50%
40%
Percentage of
Not Often
respondents
30% Regularly
20% Never
10%
0%
Not Often Regularly Never
Frequency of problems occuring within the home
Figure 7.
70.0%
60.0%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
Percentage of 10.0%
Respondents 0.0%
0%
23%
47%
20%
10%
Yes
No
50%
40%
30% Mother
Percentage of
Respondents Father
20%
Both Parents
10% Grandparents
Other
0%
50%
40%
Percentage of
30%
Respondents
20%
10%
0%
Mother Father Both parents Grandparents Other
Caregivers within household
Figure 13.
Mrs. Knight has been teaching chemistry at the Vere Technical High School for four years and
throughout her tenure she has fulfilled her job requirements. During the interview various
reasons were discussed to ascertain how the family structure affected the academic performance
of students, and while it is indeed evident that family structure is important in a child’s academic
well-being, Mrs. Knight clearly indicated that that was not the main reason at Vere. Instead she
made reference to the fact that students do not feel challenged by their school work and as a
result underperform. She recommends that parents need to ensure that they play a more integral
role within the education process of their children, as learning starts from the home and children
INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS
All thirty (30) questionnaire respondents are current students of the Vere Technical High School.
Students from grade eleven were chosen at random to complete this questionnaire. With regards
to the fifteen questions asked by the questionnaire, there was a multiplicity of responses
received.
Figure 1 indicates that more than sixty percent of respondents perform at a “Good” (70-79%)
academic level. While Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the varying reasons for students’ academic
performance. The researcher is able to realize that many of the students who underperform
indicate that there is a lack of encouragement, as well as no help received from family members
when they do not understand, in addition to their lack of studying. Since these three variables all
have the same result in can be interpreted that they are interrelated and somehow causes the child
to lose focus.
Figure 4 represents the structural divisions of respondents’ families. The two most popular
family types present at Vere are: The Nuclear and Single- Parent families. When respondents
were asked, if there were any major factors in their household that prevented them from doing
their school work the majority being 80% responded No, there were none. The remaining 20%
indicating that Yes there are major factors responded by using the answers in figure 7. Table 1
indicates the responses received from students, who agreed that major factors were indeed
Figures 6 and 7 are interrelated, most respondents indicated that problems within the household
do not occur frequently, however when they do they usually ignore it and continue their work.
As indicated by figures 8 and 9, the general responses from family members when the child
underperforms is usually that of a talk, but when the child does excellently the majority of
parents commend them. This does prove that most parents are indeed involved in their child’s
More than sixty percent of the respondents are of the opinion that the family structure does not
affect their academic performance, this is according to figure 10. Some reasons being: I have
lived in the same family structure all my life, and I have maintained good grades, my mother
plays both roles and provides help where necessary, A student determines their own success the
family structure is only a guide. The remaining thirty-three percent do believe that the family
within the household, it is indeed evident that the mother’s in most scenarios here have to take on
double roles, as the main providers as well as caregivers. In figure 13 it is fair to argue that a
majority of the students receive no additional help with homework at home, as a majority of the
parents, usually the mothers are preoccupied with other things. Most of the respondents are
Figure 14 is a representation of the most population responses received from respondents of their
typical home life, from varying family structures. The five most popular responses are as
follows: Lack of communication within the household, Quiet and calm household where
everyone gets along, Harmonious household where everyone gets along, frequent fights and
disagreements present within the household and Respectful household where everyone helps
each other. This reveals that no two households are the same.
DISCUSSIONS OF FINDINGS
From the information gathered the researcher was able to document that students at Vere
Technical High School academic performance are not solely influenced by their family
structures. In fact, their family structures are quite insignificant where their school work is
related. Each familiar structure has within itself its own problems, no one family structure is
better for academics than the other. The single- parent, nuclear and extended families which are
the varying familiar structure present at the school, have been able to provide the children with
adequate facilities and appropriate environments for them to carry out their school work. This is
Even though many believe that the ideal familiar structure is the nuclear family, in terms of
providing a child with balanced and a secure environment, it has been observed that with Vere
Technical students it is not always the case, according to their Mrs. Knight. These students
perform under whichever circumstances they have to endure, after all many of them have highly
motivated goals and are very determined that since they did not create their environments they
The information received from the secondary sources however, counteract this view. As they
have clearly indicated that the structure of one’s family does indeed affect their academic
outcome. However one must understand that this is not the only reason that a child’s academic
outcome might be affected, and in these current times, these “unconventional family structures”
as Schneider, Atteberry, and Owens (2005), puts it are proving themselves to actually to being
more stable than the nuclear family structures, despite the problems they face. The researcher has
been able to decipher that at Vere Technical High the family structure of students does not affect
CONCLUSION/LIMITATIONS/RECCOMENDATIONS
Although from varying familiar structures, age groups and backgrounds. It is indeed fair to argue
that at Vere Technical student’s academic performance is not to a great extent affected by their
familiar structures. Instead it is the student themselves who is usually responsible for their
performance. However one must keenly note that the parents or guardians role in the life of the
student is to ensure that she has all she needs for school in terms of proper materials and extra
help and support is received when necessary. Parents also need to ensure that they are involved
in their child’s school life, and make the best out of every situation even though they may not be
ideal. Always encourage the children to do their best, as they want to be recognized for their
efforts.
The research was successful as the hypothesis “How does the family structure of students of
Vere Technical High School affect their academic performance” was effectively tested. As well
Limitations
The researcher encountered quite a number of limitations while conducting this research,
namely: Research was restricted to a small sample due to financial constraints prohibiting a mass
production of printed questionnaires and time to conduct extensive interviews, the word limit
proved to be a huge limitation as it minimized the level of details to be presented and some
Recommendations
In these modern days when new family structures are evolving and are presenting themselves as
more stable and balanced than the traditional nuclear family, more researchers ought to explore
these new structures and compare their impact on children’s academic wellbeing to that of the
nuclear family. Additionally, the Ministry of Education should consider conducting research or
Atteberry, A. Schneider, B. and Owens A. (2005). Family Matters: family structure and child
outcomes. Alfred P. Sloan Centre on Parents, Children and Work. The University of Chicago and
NORC.
Haralambos, M and Holborn M. (2008) Sociology Themes and Perspective Seventh Edition.
Collins Publishing.
Hill, K. (2011) “Too many single parents” Referenced April 10th, 2011 from http://jamaica-
gleaner.com/gleaner/20110410/news/news5.html
Reid, R. (2016) “Reid examines Jamaica’s poor CSEC results” Referenced February 23rd, 2016
from http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110223/news/news1.html
8212-part-2-the-problem-and-the-solution_99374?profile=1096
requirement for the Caribbean Studies Internal Assessment, to test the hypothesis
“How does the family structure of students at The Vere Technical High School
1. How long have you been a teacher of the Vere Technical High School?
3. When Children get bad reports or perform badly in you subject what is it that you
usually do, do you call the student or the parent/ guardian first?
4. When speaking to students about their grades, what is the main reason that they
say affects their performances?
QUESTIONNAIRE
My name is Javaughn Lovelace, I am a student of The Vere Technical High School administering this questionnaire to test the
hypothesis:
“How does the family structure of students at the Vere Technical High School affect their academic
performance?”
Kindly assist me in gathering the data by answering all the questions below. DO NOT write your name on any part of this
questionnaire. Thank you for your cooperation.
3. What do you feel are the MAIN reasons for your (Good to Excellent) school performance? ( you may select more than one
response)
[ ] Disciplined Study Habits
[ ] Highly motivated goals and dreams
[ ] Natural Brilliance
[ ] Family Encouragement
[ ] Balanced Home Life
[ ] Limited or No stress
[ ] Financial Stability of the family
[ ] Help from family when you get work you don’t understand (includes immediate help
and or paying for extra classes)
4. What do you feel are the MAIN reasons for your (Not well to Satisfactory) school
performance?(you may select more than one response)
[ ] Lack of Studying
[ ] Not Caring
[ ] Lack of encouragement/ motivation from the family
[ ] Unbalanced home life
[ ] High Stress level
[ ] Financial instability of the family
[ ] No help received from family when you get work you do not understand (includes
immediate help and or extra lessons)
6. Within your household are there major factors that sometimes stop you from doing your work?
[ ] Yes [ ] No
6b. If answered yes please specify these factors on the lines provided.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. When problems arise within the home, how do you manage your school work?
[ ] Ignore the problems and do the work
[ ] Forget the School work and worry
[ ] Go to a friend’s house and get the work done
[ ] Give up on everything
[ ]Pray about it
9. What is the usual response from the family for low academic performance (if any)?
[ ] Grounding [No tv, cell phone, facebook for a long time)
[ ] Scolding and beating from parent
[ ] A talk with parents about why your performances are so low
[ ] No response, they don’t seem to care
[ ] The silent treatment
[ ] My academics are usually high so the responses are good
10. What is the usual response from the family for high academic performance (if any)?
[ ] Getting commended/ congratulated
[ ] Receiving a gift for doing well
[ ] Nothing, it is what’s expected
[ ] Told to do better
[ ] My academics are usually low so the responses are bad
11. Do you think that your family structure has anything to do with the grades you receive?
[ ] Yes [ ] No
Please explain why (for either answer) on lines below
________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________