Family, Neighborhood, and School Settings across Seasons: When Do Socioeconomic Context and Racial Composition Matter for the Reading Achievement Growth of Young Children?

Abstract

Background/Context Seasonal researchers have developed a theory and hypotheses regarding the importance of neighborhood and school contexts for early childhood learning but have not possessed nationally representative data and precise contextual measures with which to examine their hypotheses. Purpose/Research Questions This empirical study employs a seasonal perspective to assess the degree to which social context and race/ethnic composition—in neighborhoods and schools—affect the reading achievement growth of young children. The authors ask, Were there specific seasons when context and/or composition were particularly salient for reading achievement? Also, did accounting for context and composition challenge established appraisals of the relationship between family factors and achievement? Population Data for a nationally representative sample of students proceeding through kindergarten and first grade came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K). Neighborhood social and race/ethnic measures came from the 2000 Census. Research Design: This quantitative study employs a three-level model that assesses reading achievement at school entry and during three subsequent seasons. The model represents reading achievement as a time-varying process at level 1, conditional upon family socio/demographic factors at level 2, and dependent on social context and race/ethnic composition at level 3. Findings/Results Neighborhood social context mattered substantially for students’ reading achievement levels at school entry and for their reading achievement growth during the summer. The proportion of neighborhood residents from minority race/ethnic groups was not associated with reading achievement at school entry or during the summer season. During the school year, school social context was associated with reading growth during kindergarten, and school social context and race/ethnic composition were associated with reading growth during first grade. Conclusions/Recommendations The magnitude and frequency of contextual effects found in this national sample have considerable implications for achieving educational equality in the United States. The authors recommend that policy makers attend to the quality of neighborhood and school settings as a means of promoting literacy development for young children.

Every Summer Counts: A Longitudinal Analysis of Outcomes from the National Summer Learning Project

“…Moreover, students from lower-income families are frequently concentrated in communities that lack the resources to support access to high-quality summertime opportunities and are also at increased risk of exposure to adverse neighborhood conditions, such as crime, overpolicing, and environmental hazards, that undermine their development and learning (National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019). Given the inequity of access to enriching summer experiences, research has found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that summer might contribute to achievement gaps between students from low-income families and their peers from higher-income families (Downey, Von Hippel, and Broh, 2004;Kim, 2004;McCoach et al, 2006;Benson and Borman, 2010;Ready, 2010;White et al, 2013;Von Hippel, Hamrock, and Kumar, 2016).…”

“…This meta-analysis also indicated that losses were larger for low-income students, particularly in reading. Recent studies are inconclusive on the absolute loss of achievement over the summer or even whether loss takes place (e.g., Burkham et al, 2004;McCoach et al, 2006;Benson and Borman, 2010;Ready, 2010;Fitzpatrick, Grissmer and Hastedt, 2011;Zvoch and Stevens, 2013;Von Hippel, and Hamrock, 2019); however, research consistently finds evidence of differential outcomes for students related to family income. Many studies find that students from lower-income families learn less than their peers from wealthier families over the summer, even if they do not experience knowledge losses during that time (Downey, Von Hippel, and Broh, 2004;McCoach et al, 2006;Benson and Borman, 2010;Ready, 2010;Von Hippel, Hamrock, and Kumar, 2016).…”

Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children's Learning

“…These findings are consistent with research showing that families and factors outside of school influence reading achievement. Benson and Borman (2010) also found that low-income students entered school performing roughly one standard deviation below their higher-income peers. Low-income parents read with, teach, and talk to their children less frequently, each of which contributes to children's literacy skills and school readiness (Brooks-Gunn and Duncan, 1997).…”

“…More recent analyses of Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), data similarly suggest that some of the achievement gap between early elementary students from high-and low-income families is attributable to different learning rates over the summer months (Burkam et al, 2004;Downey, von Hippel, and Broh, 2004;Benson and Borman, 2010). Results in reading show that middle-income students maintained achievement levels over the summer while high-income students improved and low-income students lost ground (Benson and Borman, 2010). In addition, Benson and Borman found neighborhood effects whereby students from highincome neighborhoods had stronger reading growth than others.…”

Exogenous Policy, Racial Avoidance, and the Qualified Relevance of Macroeconomic Change to Metropolitan Inequality

“…In response to the debilitating influence that structural change had on schooling and reform as Wilson and Anyon posited, Massey and Denton (1993) claimed that racial isolation in neighborhoods fostered oppositional orientations toward schooling, and ultimately, less academic success among Black students. These contentions, however, have not been convincingly supported by quantitative research, in that few studies of neighborhood racial isolation find that it significantly lowered education outcomes (Benson & Borman, 2010; Card & Rothstein, 2005; Johnson, 2010), and recent experimental studies have tended to associate Black students’ educational outcomes with neighborhood SES rather than race (Johnson, 2012; Rickford et al, 2015). Moreover, Massey and Denton’s assertions appear incongruent with education trends because neighborhood rates of Black–White exposure have not varied significantly enough to explain relatively dramatic educational changes.…”