Can Parental Expectations Compensate for the Negative Effects of Low Birth Weight on Academic Achievement?

• In Event: 33.029 - Correlates of Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study examines the potential impact parental expectations have on the academic achievement of children born with low-birth weight. Comparing the academic standard score of six-year-old children whose parents had low expectations (9.8%) to parents who had high expectations (41.1%) there was a 31.3 percentage point difference in above average score between the two groups. The data suggest that parents with high expectations can contribute to closing the achievement gap for low birth weight children.

Author

• Dolores Cormier-Zenon, Independent Researcher