Abstract

A Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to examine the relationship between household purchases of PC hardware/software and students' academic achievement as indicated by norm-referenced standardized state reading and math test scores. Geographic patterns in the thematic maps show that, in Duval County, Florida, a centralized area exists which contains a number of tracts with a high concentration of minority students who did not do well in school (as measured by the state-wide Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in reading and math) and who lived, for the most part, in low-income households whose purchases of PCs were below average. A preliminary statistical analysis confirmed the findings of the GIS and helped to clarify the relationships between academic achievement and race, income and home computer access. This study includes household purchasing behavior as an explanatory factor in academic achievement.

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