Within-School Socioeconomic Disparities in Academic Achievement: A Qualitative Case Study of Study-Regulation Supports among Indian Secondary Students
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Objective: This study explored how students’ study strategies are shaped by socioeconomic contexts and how these differences relate to academic achievement within the same school setting.
Methods and Materials: A single-site qualitative case study was conducted in a private, unaided English-medium CBSE school in Bengaluru, India, enrolling students from diverse socioeconomic status (SES) groups. Thirty students in Grades 8–9 (aged 13–15) were selected through purposive sampling across achievement levels and residence types (day scholars and residential/hostel students). SES classification was informed by parental education/occupation and the Modified Kuppuswamy Scale (2019). Data were collected via semi-structured individual interviews, audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed through iterative line-by-line and focused coding guided by Charmaz’s grounded theory approach, leading to theme development.
Findings: Three themes explained within-school achievement disparities: (1) parental engagement and access to cultural/social capital varied by SES, shaping monitoring, subject support, and study regulation at home; (2) hostel routines and mentoring provided compensatory structures resembling middle-class “concerted cultivation,” supporting academic regulation for some low-SES residential students; and (3) for low-SES day scholars, teachers and remedial support served as the primary learning resource, often framed in skill-deficit terms rather than culturally responsive pedagogy.
Conclusion: Equal access to school resources does not necessarily produce equal outcomes because study regulation develops within unequal family and institutional support ecologies. Equity-oriented, culturally responsive, and relational school practices—alongside targeted academic mentoring—may help reduce persistent achievement gaps.
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