The effort students put into their studies affect their performance and their access and success at the next level. Indicators of student effort include how often students are absent from school, how interested they are in their schoolwork, whether they try to do their best, whether they complete their assignments, and how much time they spend on homework and other activities such as work or watching television. For the student to be successful in the field of education, we must take into mind the students success in the society around them.
Early school problems can accumulate and may lead eventually to dropping out of school, which has long-term negative consequences. The students" progress through elementary and secondary education up to high school can be a roller coaster effect when dealing with such problems as differences by sex, race, socioeconomic status, and urban compared to rural areas. We find these problems to be most common in urban areas where black minorities are the majorities. Where as many functionalists would state stratification and ethnocentrism as being necessary. Mainly due to the fairness in society, in which each American has equal opportunity. But if this is true, then why is the black community still left with intense yoke on their shoulders. .
Issues of access, persistence, and attainment have also been major concerns in postsecondary education. Examining who prepares for college and who enrolls, monitors the transition to postsecondary education and the persistence of the students. When and where they enroll, and what factors affect the likelihood of enrolling and staying enrolled also are factors closely looked at. If tax money is being spent the board of education wants to make sure that it's never wasted.
Overall educational attainment levels in the population over time provide an indicator of the success of different population subgroups. The African American subgroups find that attaining a postsecondary education is harder than it's portrayed to be.