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FEBRUARY 22, 2007 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 6

LitScan
Facts & Figures How Parental Education Influences
from the Colorado
Literacy Research Children’s Learning Environments
Initiative

Chart 1. Reading to Children Ages 1 to 5 by According to a January 2007 U.S. Census Bureau
Parent's Education, 2003 report—A Child’s Day: 2003 (Selected Indicators of
Child Well-Being)—parent’s education is strongly
Advanced degree 1%
70% associated with several aspects of a child’s learning
62%
environment:
Bachelor's degree
ƒ
Parent's education

3% How much a child is read to during pre-school


Vocational/associate's 53% years;
degree 6%
ƒ To what extent there are rules for TV viewing;
Some college 5%
47%
ƒ The extent to which a child participates in extra-
45% Percent read to 7 or
curricular activities;
High school graduate 7% more times last week ƒ Whether the child performs well or poorly
Percent never read to
Less than high school 18%
35%
last week
academically; and
ƒ Parents’ educational expectations of their
0% 25% 50% 75% 100% children.
Percent of children ages 1-5

Being Read to During


Preschool Years Chart 2. Family TV Rules for Children Ages 3-
Children of better- 17 by Parent's Education
educated parents are
78%
more likely to be read Advanced degree
50%
74%

to before they start 72%


Parent's education

Bachelor's degree 74%


school. Those whose 46%

Vocational/associate's 66%
parents had advanced degree 44%
69%

degrees were twice as 70%


Some college 68%
likely as those with 46%
64%
parents who did not High school graduate
42%
67%
Ages 3-5
graduate from high 59% Ages 6-11
Less than high school 63%
school to be read to 40%
Ages 12-17
seven or more times 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
per week (70% vs. Percent of children with 3 types of TV rules *
TV rules about type of program watched, time of day programs viewed, and number of hours watched
35%).

Conversely, those whose parents did not complete high school were 18
times more likely than those whose parents had advanced degrees not to
be read to at all on a weekly basis (18% vs. 1%). (See Chart 1.)

Colorado Literacy Research Initiative (CLRI)


Adult Education & Family Literacy Services
Colorado Department of Education
Website http://www.literacyresearch.org © 2007
Permission granted to reproduce for nonprofit purposes
FEBRUARY 22, 2007 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 6

How Parental Education Influences Children’s Learning Environments

TV Rules
As parent’s education increases, so does the likelihood that there are household
rules about television viewing—what types of programs the child is allowed to
watch, the time of day when TV viewing is allowed, and the number of hours of
TV-watching permitted. For instance, such rules are in place for more than three-
quarters of children whose parents have advanced degrees, versus only two-
thirds of children whose parents did not finish high school (78% vs. 59%) (See
Chart 2.)

Participation in Extra-Curricular Activities


Chart 3. Extra-Curricular Children’s participation in extra-curricular activities related
Activities of School-Age Children to their education—lessons, clubs, and sports—is also
by Parent's Education, 2003 strongly related to their parent’s education. Those whose
parents have advanced degrees are more than twice as
likely as those whose parents did not finish high school to
Ages 12- 41%
22% be involved in lessons (41% vs. 17% for ages 12-17, 52%
Lessons

17 17% vs. 18% for ages 6-11) and clubs (46% vs. 19% for ages
12-17, 45% vs. 19% for ages 6-11). (See Chart 3.)
Ages 6- 52%
24%
11 18%
Parent's education

Bachelor's
Ages 12- 46% degree
28% High school
17 19%
Clubs

graduate
45% Less than
Ages 6- high school
28%
11 19%

Ages 12- 51%


39%
17 30%
Sports

Ages 6- 52%
32%
11 17%

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%


Percent of children participating in activity

Academic Performance
Parent’s education even affects key measures of their children’s academic
performance, such as: whether or not the child has ever been suspended
from school, repeated a grade, or been placed in gifted classes.

Children whose parents did not graduate from high school are twice as
likely as those whose parents have advanced degrees to have been
suspended from school and to have repeated a grade. Conversely,
children whose parents have advanced degrees are almost four times as
likely as those with parents who did not finish high school to be placed in
gifted classes. (See Chart 4.)

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FEBRUARY 22, 2007 VOLUME 11, NUMBER 6

How Parental Education Influences Children’s Learning Environments

Chart 4. Academic Performance of Children


Ages 12-17 by Parent's Education, 2003

8%
Suspended from Bachelor's degree
12%
school High school graduate
15%

Parent's education
Less than high school

7%
Repeated grade 12%
18%

37%
Gifted classes 18%
10%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%


Percent for academic performance indicator

Parent’s Post-College Educational Expectations


Parents’ ambitions for their children’s post-college education are
also related to the parents’ own education level. As parent’s
education rises, so do parents’ wishes that their children pursue
further education after college as well as the parents’
expectations that their children will actually do so. Such
ambitions are twice as likely among parents with advanced
degrees, compared to those without high school diplomas (52%
vs. 23% for parents’ wishes in this area, 45% vs. 17% for their
expectations of their children pursuing post-college education).
(See Chart 5.)

While schools do a lot to try to level the playing field


Chart 5. Post-College
between children of parents with different levels of
Educational Expectations of
education, there is just so much they can do.
Parents for Their Children Under Inevitably, the home environments of children and
Age 18 by Parent's Education the example, actions, and expectations of their
parents regarding education exert powerful
Advanced degree
52% influences on their children—influences that
45%
contribute to whether those students succeed or fail
themselves. This is why community-based programs
39%
Bachelor's degree
32% such as those funded by the Colorado Department of
Education through the federal Adult Education and
Parent's education

Vocational/associate's 32% Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) are so important. They


degree 25%
recognize and do what they can, within the limits of
31%
available resources, to address the intergenerational
Some college factors that might otherwise tend to perpetuate low
24%
educational attainment from parents to their children.
25%
High school graduate Would like
19% Source: U. S. Census Bureau, Household Economic Studies, A
for child
Thinks child Child’s Day: 2003 (Selected Indicators of Child Well-Being).
23% will achieve http://www.census.gov/prod/2007pubs/p70-109.pdf
Less than high school
17%

0% 25% 50% 75%


Percent of Children Under Age 18

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