FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE OF AMERICAN JEWISH AND ASIAN STUDENTS

The study reported in this article examined factors that contribute to the academic excellence of Jewish and Asian students in the United States. Two potential explanations of the achievement edge were considered: the socioeconomic and the cultural. In a four-step model, the relative contribution of each group of variables to standardized mathematics and English scores was estimated. The study found that traditional socioeconomic measures explain a portion of the advantage of these groups over other racial-ethnic groups and cancel the advantage of Jewish over Asian students. Parents' and students' attitudes and actions related to schoolwork mediate the effects of parents' education and income and further explain the Jewish advantage in mathematics scores. Private school attendance explains the rest of Jewish students' mathematics advantage, but not that of Asian students.