Common Dimensions of the School, Social, and Economic Environment in Florida: an Empirical Study

Abstract

Forty-six variables descriptive of the 67 Florida School systems and their coterminous counties were subjected to a principal axis factor analysis. Seven interpretable factors were extracted.

Two of the seven factors were school factors and tentatively labeled “School Holding Power” and “Expenditure Per Pupil.” Two other factors were determined by cultural attributes of the community and labeled “Social and Economic Stratification” and “Minority Group.” Three additional community factors were labeled: “Growth Rate,” “Community Size,” and “Local School Support.”

The two output variables, “County Achievement Mean” and “Percent Attend- ing College,” loaded appreciably on only three of the factors: “Social and Economic Stratification,” “School Holding Power,” and “Minority Group.”

Approximately one third of the systematic variance in achievement means was unrelated to the variables used in this study.