Poster #81 - Children’s Academic Trajectories From Kindergarten to Fifth Grade: Family Socioeconomic Disadvantage and Title I Funding

• In Event: Friday Poster Reception

Abstract

One of the best predictors of children’s academic performance is family socioeconomic disadvantage, which is a multidimensional concept influencing children’s learning in diverse ways. Previous studies have found that reading, math, and science achievement are associated with parental income and parental education. However, there are contradictory findings regarding whether food insecurity could increase the risk of poor academic outcomes. Title I funding, which is a federal K-12 education program in the U.S., provides financial assistance for low-income students at the school level. Unfortunately, the extent to which Title I funding diminishes academic disparities or serves as a strong indicator of concentrated poverty remains an unanswered question. The purpose of this study is to address three questions: 1) What are the developmental trajectories of children’s mathematics and science achievement from kindergarten through fifth grade? 2) To what extent is family socioeconomic disadvantage (household poverty, primary parent’s education, and household food insecurity) associated with children’s academic achievement trajectories over time? 3) To what extent is Title I funding associated with children’s academic achievement over time? This study uses data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11, a nationally representative study conducted by the National Center of Education Statistics. The analytic sample consisted of 7,000 children who had repeated mathematics and science tests between kindergarten and fifth grade. Time-invariant covariates were child sex, race and ethnicity, home language, marital status, household size, parent age, child age, disability, and child health. Additionally, household poverty, parental education, food insecurity, and Title I funding were time-varying predictors of children’s achievement. All latent growth curve models showed a good fit to the data. Results demonstrated that mathematics and science achievement increased over time with a slowing trend, as evidenced by the quadratic term. Primary parent education was consistently and positively associated with academic achievement (b = 0.13 to 0.56, p < .05), whereas poverty level was negatively associated with achievement with statistical significance in some grades (b = -1.72 to -0.01, p < .01). Food insecurity did not significantly relate to achievement in mathematics or science at any time. Title I funding did not consistently relate to achievement, but there were small negative associations at grade 2 in mathematics (b = -0.91, p = .010) and at grades 2 and 3 in science (b = -0.88 and -0.86, p < .01). Overall, socioeconomic backgrounds of families, especially parental education and poverty level, were stronger predictors of academic success among children compared to Title I funding. The findings of Title I funding may appear counterintuitive and challenge the assumption that federal school funding is directly linked to better achievement outcomes. These results indicate that federal school funding does not in itself yield quantifiable improvement in elementary school mathematics or science performance. Further analyses will explore whether Title I funding moderates the associations between family socioeconomic disadvantage and children’s academic growth over time, with particular attention to children experiencing poverty.

Author

• Yifang Li, University of North Carolina Greensboro
  Presenting Author