Investigating “Books at Home” as an Indicator of Student Socioeconomic Status

• In Event: Background Questions and Surveys

Abstract

We investigated the use of a self-reported count of books at home as an indicator of socioeconomic status on a large-scale student survey. Low correlations between books at home, county median household income, and poverty rates, suggest the need for a better indicator. Possible alternatives are discussed.

Authors

• Samuel Dale Ihlenfeldt, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

• Kyle Nickodem, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

• Michael C. Rodriguez, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA