Latina/o Students in K-12 Schools: A Synthesis of Empirical Research on Factors Influencing Academic Achievement

Amanda Taggart, Utah State University

Abstract

The purpose of this systematic review is to provide a comprehensive synthesis and analysis of the empirical evidence to date on the factors related to Latina/o student academic achievement in the country’s increasingly Latina/o K-12 schools. Factors found to be related to academic achievement outcomes (e.g., grades, test scores, high school completion, college enrollment) for Latina/o students include a combination of (1) demographic variables, (2) sociocultural variables, (3) academic experiences, (4) psychological variables, and (5) school/institutional variables. In addition, this research synthesis identified several methodological trends in the research on Latina/o student success.