Beyond the Black-White Test Score Gap: Latinos’ Early School Experiences and Literacy Outcomes

• In Event: Young English Language Learners

Abstract

This study focuses on the characteristics within the Latino population that lead to advantageous child cognitive outcomes. Data for this research came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey-Birth cohort. This study focuses on children who participated in non-parental care the year prior to kindergarten. Stepwise regression analysis demonstrates that household characteristics mitigate the negative association of Head Start with kindergarten reading scores. Overall, holding all other variables constant, every additional year of educational attainment by the caregiver, increases a Latino child’s kindergarten reading score .64 points. Last, Latino children with highly educated and married mothers and who reside in a home with access to a computer and a higher number of books score significantly higher in the kindergarten reading assessment.

Authors

• Enilda A Delgado, University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse

• Laurie Cooper Stoll, University of Wisconsin - LaCrosse