The Relationship Between Family Involvement During the Summer Months and Reading Achievement

• In Event: The Importance of Race and Representation: Navigating Educational GPS Across the P-20 Landscape

Abstract

This study describes rising fourth graders’ home literacy environments, summer time leisure activities, and family-student literacy development activities and examines the extent to which these activities vary by race/ethnicity, gender, previous achievement, and family income and predict later reading achievement. Secondary analysis on a subset of the READS for Summer Learning longitudinal study indicated that family involvement did not vary by race/ethnicity, but did vary by family income. Additionally, family involvement was not a predictor of later reading achievement. The findings also suggest that previous reading achievement may be moderating family-student interactions that promote literacy development, whereby families are providing support based on their child’s needs, and thus lack of family involvement is not necessarily detrimental to achievement.

Authors

• Kirsten Aleman, Chick-fil-A Corporate

• Tamara V. Young, North Carolina State University