The authors examined the achievement-related beliefs and behaviors of parents of economically disadvantaged African American youth, and the relations among parental factors and children's academic self-concept and achievement. Forty-one children and their primary caregivers were interviewed. Parents reported on their academic-related beliefs and behaviors. Children completed measures of academic self-concept and 2 standardized achievement tests: 1 during the summer and 1 at the end of the following school year. Significant and positive relations were found between parental belief and behavior measures within the domains of reading and math; however, parental beliefs were more strongly linked with child outcomes than were parents' achievement-oriented behaviors. The relation between parental beliefs and child outcomes was not mediated by children's academic self-concept. Results are discussed in light of models of family influences on achievement.
The positive benefits of father involvement often reported in the literature on child health and development can be extended into the prenatal period. Father involvement is an important, but understudied, predictor of maternal behaviors during the prenatal period, and improving father involvement may have important consequences for the health of his partner, her pregnancy, and their child.
The development of English language learners (ELLs) was explored from kindergarten through eighth grade within a nationally representative sample of first-time kindergartners (N = 19,890). Growth curve analyses indicated that, compared to native English speakers, ELLs were rated by teachers more favorably on approaches to learning, self control, and externalizing behaviors in kindergarten and generally continued to grow in a positive direction on these social/behavioral outcomes at a steeper rate compared to their native English-speaking peers, holding other factors constant. Differences in reading and math achievement between ELLs and native English speakers varied based on the grade at which English proficiency is attained. Specifically, ELLs who were proficient in English by kindergarten entry kept pace with native English speakers in both reading and math initially and over time; ELLs who were proficient by first grade had modest gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native English speakers that closed narrowly or persisted over time; and ELLs who were not proficient by first grade had the largest initial gaps in reading and math achievement compared to native speakers but the gap narrowed over time in reading and grew over time in math. Among those whose home language is not English, acquiring English proficiency by kindergarten entry was associated with better cognitive and behavioral outcomes through eighth grade compared to taking longer to achieve proficiency. Multinomial regression analyses indicated that child, family, and school characteristics predict achieving English proficiency by kindergarten entry compared to achieving proficiency later. Results are discussed in terms of policies and practices that can support ELL children’s growth and development.
Education and business leaders as well as the public at large have grown increasingly concerned about the achievement disparities that children from at-risk backgrounds manifest at a young age. 1-3 Research has noted that children from low-income families, black and Hispanic children, children from Spanish-speaking homes, and children of mothers with low levels of education on average perform worse on indicators of academic achievement than their more advantaged peers. 1-6 However, much of the research and policy attention has focused on the preschool years (ages 3-5) leading immediately into the transition to kindergarten, 4, 5, 7 or on later elementary school and high school. 8 Research that has explored disparities based on sociodemographic risk factors i at earlier ages has indicated that disparities in cognitive development are evident at 24 months of age 9-11 , with a few studies documenting developmental disparities based on sociodemographic risk within the first year of life. 6, 12-14 Very little research, however, has used nationally representative data to explore whether disparities are found within the first year of life, and whether disparities are evident across a wider range of developmental outcomes. ii Early childhood initiatives that take into account the entire preschool period of 0 to 5 years need a better understanding of the disparities which may be emerging at the very youngest ages in order to address these gaps with effective, targeted interventions for children ages 0 to 3 or the full age range from birth to school entry. This brief adds to the body of knowledge by using data from a nationally-representative sample of infants born in the year 2001 to examine multiple sociodemographic characteristics that may be associated with developmental disparities at 9 and 24 months of age. We examine developmental outcomes in three domains: cognitive development, general health, and socialemotional development. First, we examine possible disparities in each of these developmental domains associated with family income, comparing infants/toddlers from families at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty threshold to those whose families are above this threshold. iii We next assess the prevalence of developmental disparities by race/ethnicity, home language, and mother's educational attainment. Although low socioeconomic status (SES) has been found to account for most of the variance in cognitive scores in previous research, 3 low SES is highly correlated with other demographic characteristics, such as racial/ethnic minority status. 15 Furthermore, previous research has shown the presence of multiple risk factors has significant effects on children's developmental outcomes. 16 In order to further explore the influence of low income and other sociodemographic factors, we examine the overlap in these characteristics i Typical sociodemographic risk factors include low family income, low parental education, single parenthood, and teen parenthood. ii As a notable example of analyses of children's abiliti...
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