Research PaperIn a child's life, many factors can affect academic success. One of the things we talk about most often is parental involvement. However, a child's family income can be just as important. There are several reasons why income is important. Families with higher incomes generally live in better neighborhoods, which means better schools. Higher income can also mean more educational programs available to a child and the ability to choose a school. Here are some factors explaining why family income is important in academic success. A high-income family will generally live in a better neighborhood than a low-income family. Very often, the nicer the neighborhood, the better the school. High-income neighborhoods generally do better in school than low-income neighborhoods. This usually happens because wealthier students tend to have more resources and better teachers tend to teach in wealthier schools. Studies have shown that a family's economic situation plays a role in academic success. The more money a family has, the more resources the child has, which improves their success. Reynolds and Temple (1998) studied low-income African American children living in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Chicago. These are some of the most disadvantaged children in the Chicago school system. The study examined the programs available to students in this field. In doing so, they were able to see how effective public service programs were and whether they actually produced better academic outcomes. The program's emphasis has been on parent involvement and smaller classes that also provide more personalized instruction. These two ideas... middle of article...... Entwisle, D. and Alexander, K. (1995). The economic shadow of a parent: Family structure and family resources influenced by young children's academic success. Journal of Marriage and Family, 57, 399-409.Pong, Suet-Ling; Ju, Dong-Beom. (2000). The effects of change in family structure and income on middle and high school dropout. Journal of Family Issues, 21, 147. Reynolds, A. and Temple, J. (1998). Extended early childhood intervention and academic achievement: Results from the Chicago Age Thirteen Longitudinal Study. ChildDevelopment, 69, 231246. Shumow, L., Kang K., & Vandell, D. (1996). School choice, family characteristics and home-school relationships: factors contributing to academic success? Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 451-460.