Factors that may affect students’ academic achievement

Here are some of the factors that may affect a student’s academic achievement:

• The support and availability of the parents, their financial situation and standard of living. In Québec, as in other places in the world where the topic is studied, it has been observed that students in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas get lower marks.
• The geographical location of the educational institution.
For example, English as a second language is not learned in the same conditions throughout Québec.
• The percentage of students in a school whose mother tongue is not the language of instruction  
•  The diversity of student profiles in the same class
•  The grouping together, in certain schools, of students with severe learning difficulties, or with problems associated with psychosocial integration in special education classes 
• The various practices pertaining to the student admission requirements. Some educational institutions admit students indiscriminately, whereas other select them on the basis of previous academic achievement or their results on aptitude tests.