A study was conducted to determine if students from low socioeconomic environments have lower academic achievement compared to the academic achievement of students from higher socioeconomic environments. The sample consisted of 66 6th-grade science students at Travis Middle School, Temple, Texas. The students were divided into a low-income group and a nonlow-income group. Midterm and final grade averages were determined for each group. Data were entered into a Statworks program on a Macintosh computer and t-tests produced. When the t-tests were analyzed, the significance of the relationship between academic achievement and socioeconomic environment was apparent. Results indicate that "p" was 0.011 for the midterm and 0.000 for the final semester grade. The null hypothesis was rejected on the evidence that there was a statistically significant difference between the academic achievement of students from low socioeconomic environments compared to that of students from higher socioeconomic environments. Three appendixes contain the study cover letter and questionnaire for teachers, a table of raw data, and three tables of results. (Contains two figures, two text tables, four appendix tables, and seven references.) (SLD)