Results of the comparison revealed that the predictive power of learning engagement on academic achievement was higher for the economically disadvantaged students. These students are similar to the general students in the following aspects: (1) school relationships, parent involvement in learning, and home education resources have significant effects on the academic self-concept, (2) positive school relationship or family relationship led to greater learning engagement, (3) academic self-concept significantly predicts learning engagement, (4) a covariant relationship exists between school relationship and family relationship, (5) academic self-concept and learning engagement positively mediated the relationship between social context and academic achievement, (6) self-concept affects academic performance through learning engagement. It is noticed that, for the economically disadvantaged students, the structural coefficients of the relationship between school relationship and the mediators (academic self-concepts and learning engagement) are larger than those between family-related context variables and the mediators. The results suggested that to enhance the academic self-concepts and learning engagement of the economically disadvantaged students, one must strengthen their school relationship in early year.

 

On the basis of the SSMMD theory, this study proposed a model called “Motivational Model of Engagement” by adding home educational resources and parental involvement as the social context factors. The model can be used systematically to identify factors affecting academic achievement for students with varied economic status. Implications for educational practices and policies are provided, especially for the allocation of social resources among economically disadvantaged students.