過去國內的教育研究由於原住民樣本數不足，大多將原住民併為一類與漢人做比較。本研究運用「臺東縣教育長期資料庫」的六年級學生及其家長、教師與校長普查資料做分析，涵蓋足夠的原住民樣本，可分別就臺東縣六族原住民與漢人的成績做比較，以釐清原住民各族與漢人的成績差異及造成差異的可能因素機制。研究發現，臺東原住民各族成績均比漢人低許多，特別是平地原住民，而非一般認為的山地原住民，其中，學生人數最多的阿美成績很低，僅高於人數最少的達悟；阿美成績低落是造成整體原住民成績不如漢人的最主要原因，其不利因素除父母社經地位較低、不完整家庭比率較高外，「負面文化」較多也是原因。原住民中成績較高的反而是山地原住民，如布農因學校財務資本較高，而提高成績。

The majority of studies in the past have failed to include sufficient indigenous samples to enrich analysis, or the indigenous samples were lumped together to compare or contrast with the non-indigenous samples. The study uses the database of Taiwan Taitung Educational Panel Survey, including data from sixth graders, their parents, teachers, and principals. The abundant indigenous samples in the database are beneficial to compare the school and non-school factors resulting in the achievement gaps between students from the six indigenous tribes and the Hans in Taitung. Results indicate that the achievements of any indigenous students are significantly below those of the Han students, especially in the case of plain indigenous students, not mountain indigenous ones as we usually think of, and factors resulting in the gaps are explored. The Amis, who live in the plain areas, has the largest population among the indigenous students, but has next to the lowest average in achievement scores, only higher than the Dawu, who has the fewest population. The low achievement of the Amis students is the main factor for achievement gap between the indigenous students and the Hans. The factors affecting the low achievement of the Amis are attributed to the lower SES, the high percentage of the broken family structure, more “negative cultures.” The Bunun, who live in the mountain villages, produce higher average achievement scores than the other indigenous students. The causal effects are found in the fact that the Bunun students have higher financial resources in school.