Abstract
Academic performance is one indicator of the success of educational systems in achieving their goals, and various factors influence it. Thus, the purpose of the study was to determine the level of influence of socio-economic status of students on their academic achievement in the school year 2025-2026. It particularly aimed to examine how the different dimensions of socioeconomic status (resource availability, social recognition and prestige, and environmental stability) relate to each other and to academic performance. Methodologically, a descriptive research design was used. A validated questionnaire was used to obtain data, which were analyzed using the best methods: mean for descriptive purposes, Mann-Whitney U test for descriptive difference, and Spearman’s rank correlation for significant relationship testing. The findings demonstrated strong socio-economic influences across the 3 areas. There was a strong difference in resources, with comparisons made between families based on income and parental educational background, by sex, and in students’ performance in studies. However, the correlational results indicated no relationship between socioeconomic backgrounds and academic performance, as evidenced by the p-value of 0.457. The study, therefore, attributes individual students’ will and the home-school-community support system as factors determining performance in studies rather than monetary resources. It further suggests that teaching needs to be responsive to sex, and local communities should run programs that would fill the resource gap in underprivileged families.
Keywords: Academic performance, descriptive research, environmental stability, resource availability, school-based intervention plan, socio-economic background