Building evidence to promote educational competence of youth in foster care.
Although the academic difficulties of students living in foster care are well documented, few studies have examined factors influencing academic achievement of youth in foster care. This article reports the results of a study of educational competence in a sample of 152 foster youth in one midwestern state. Using five standardized instruments, the study explored predictors of reading ability of youth in foster care. Multiple regression analyses indicated that four factors--aspiration for higher education, placement in kinship care, participation in extracurricular activities, and drug use--accounted for 39% of the variance in reading ability scores. The article discusses implications of these findings for practice, research, and policy development.
Shin
Sunny Hyucksun
SH
School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA.
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000502:physiology / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007087:Illinois; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D012044:Regression Analysis