PARENTAL BELIEFS ABOUT CHILDREN S READING AND MATH DEVELOPMENT AND RELATIONS WITH SUBSEQUENT ACHIEVEMENT

1. PARENTAL BELIEFS ABOUT CHILDREN’S READING AND MATH DEVELOPMENT AND RELATIONS WITH SUBSEQUENT ACHIEVEMENT Susan Sonnenschein, Linda Baker, April Moyer, Stacey LeFevre University of Maryland Baltimore County Paper presented at meetings of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA, April, 2005. For further information contact Susan Sonnenschein at Sonnensc@umbc.edu.

3. INTRODUCTION Recent research on children’s academic development has addressed parental beliefs about their role in their children’s schooling. Parents’ beliefs about children’s literacy development are related to the nature of activities made available to children and, in turn, children’s subsequent development (Serpell, Baker, & Sonnenschein, 2005). Parents who endorse a socialization approach to literacy development that focuses on engaging the child’s interest and making interactions enjoyable have children who score higher on various measure of literacy than children whose parents endorse an approach more directly focused on the cultivation of skills. Parental beliefs have been shown to vary with parents’ sociocultural group (Stipek, Milburn, Clements, & Daniels, 1992) and educational level (Fitzgerald, Spiegel, & Cunningham, 1991). Much of the research on parental influences has focused on literacy development, with far less devoted to math development. Although parents report that their young children engage in math-related activities at home, parents place less importance on children’s early math knowledge than on their reading or social skills (Blevins-Knabe & Musun-Miller, 1996; Musun-Miller & Blevins-Knabe, 1998).

4. This paper compares parental beliefs about young children’s literacy and math development and relates these beliefs and reported practices to children’s development in the two domains. Are the type of beliefs expressed by parents about literacy development the same as those expressed for math development? Are parents’ beliefs about children’s development in math and reading related to their sociocultural background? Do the types of beliefs shown to predict children’s literacy development also predict math development?

5. The data were collected as part of the Early Childhood Project, a 5- year longitudinal investigation of home influences on children’s academic development. Children attended prekindergarten in an urban school district at the start of the study and completed third grade at its conclusion. In a series of interviews, parents were asked about ways to foster development, the comparative roles of home and school, and their satisfaction with their children’s progress. Parents also kept a one-week diary of their children’s activities. Children’s reading and math achievement was assessed at the end of third grade using subtests from the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement. Based on parental responses in the interviews and diaries, we identified three approaches toward facilitating children’s literacy and math development. An entertainment approach focused on engaging children’s interest and conveying the perspective that the activity is enjoyable. A skills approach was more expressly didactic, with an emphasis on inculcating basic skills through flashcards and worksheets. A daily living approach focused on using routine, everyday activities to foster development. METHOD

6. Participants Families: 29 low income African American, 26 low income European American, 11 middle income African American, 14 middle income European American About half the families were recruited when children were in prekindergarten; the remaining families were recruited when children were completing kindergarten/starting 1st grade. There were no significant differences in responses related to when families were recruited.

7. Measures Diary: Upon recruitment, parents were asked to keep a diary for one week of all their children’s activities. Reading-related and math-related activities reported in the diaries were coded as focusing on entertainment, skills, or daily living. Who participated in each activity (alone, with peer, with adult) was also coded. Entertainment Focus: Captivating child’s interest, making activity fun for child Math: Playing games Reading: Playing games, reading a storybook Skills Focus: Math and reading are skills to be acquired through drills, practice Math: Using flashcards Reading: Completing workbooks Daily Living Focus: Using aspects of one’s everyday activities to help develop math or reading competencies Math: Counting money Reading: Looking at ads in the newspaper

8. Parental Interview Questions “What is the best way to help your child learn to read/learn about numbers?” (asked when child in prek or k/1st) Responses to the reading and the math questions were coded as focusing on entertainment, skills or daily living. Each orientation was scored 0, 1 or 2 . Entertainment Focus: “Make it fun”, “Try to choose books he would be interested in.” Skills Focus: “Make flashcards and ask him if he knows what the numbers are.”, “Get him to practice.” Daily Living Focus: “Kind of everyday stuff like count money.” “Going to the store and like, for example, giving him a dollar.” “What is the role of the home versus the school in helping your child learn to read and write (learn about numbers)? Is one more important than the other?” (asked when child in prek or k/1st) Responses were coded as focusing primarily on the role of home, school or both.

9. “How do children learn to read (become able to do math)?’ (asked when child in first grade) Parents were asked to rank order 4 options for each question: When children are ready, they learn to read (become able to do math); Children discover through daily experiences how to read; Parents emphasize reading; Teachers teach them how to read. “Are you satisfied with your child’s progress in reading (in math)? (Yes/No) (asked when child in second grade) Achievement Tests: Woodcock Johnson Tests of Achievement administered when children were completing third grade. Reading: Letter Word Identification, Passage Comprehension, Math: Calculations

10. RESULTS: Parental Beliefs “What is the best way to help your child learn to read (learn about numbers)?” Orientation Endorsed by Families Math Reading Skills DL Entertainment Skills DL Entertain Families: LAA 1.20 .35 .55 1.40 0 .70 LEA 1.05 .71 .57 1.42 0 1.24 MAA .50 1.40 20 .20 0 1.70 MEA .42 1.17 .42 .42 0 1.50

11. Math: Low income families more strongly endorsed a skills perspective than middle income families, p=.013. Middle income families more strongly endorsed a daily living perspective than low income families , p=.008. Reading: Low income families more strongly endorsed a skills perspective than middle income ones, p=.001. Middle income families more strongly endorsed an entertainment perspective than low income low income families, p = .003. Parents who endorsed an entertainment approach to reading endorsed a daily living approach to math, r (61) = .35, p=.005.

12. Who is responsible for fostering child’s reading and math development? Parents, regardless of sociocultural group, viewed both the home and school as playing an important role in children’s reading and math development but most ranked teachers as more important than parents for math development. Who is Primarily Responsible: Both School Home Math 61% 30% 10% Reading 58 31 11 How Children Learn: Math Reading Ranked Number 1: Parents: 24% 35% Teachers: 62% 36%

13. Are parents satisfied with their children’s math and literacy development? Percentage of parents satisfied with child’s progress Math Reading Families: LAA 100% 71% LEA 88 73 MAA 63 75 MEA 75 92 Parents’ satisfaction with how their second grade children were doing in reading was significantly related to children’s third grade reading scores. The relation between parents’ satisfaction with how their children were doing in math and children’s math scores in third grade was not significant.

14. RESULTS: Children’s Activities Mean Proportion of Children’s Activities Reported in Diaries Math Reading Families: LAA .43 .39 LEA .47 .49 MAA .43 .57 MEA .38 .62 Middle income children engaged in proportionally fewer math (Mean = .40) than reading activities (Mean = .60), p < .05 There was no significant difference in the proportion of math and reading activities engaged in by low income children

15. Mean Proportion of Activities Math Reading Focus: Entertainment .44 .51 Skills .11 .19 Daily Living .35 .12 Math: Children engaged in a greater proportion of entertainment or daily living activities than skill activities, p=.001. Reading: Children engaged in a greater proportion of entertainment activities than skills or daily living ones, p=.001. With Whom Did Children Interact in Activities? Children were significantly more likely to interact with adults in math (Mean proportion = .17) than reading activities (Mean proportion = .28), p < .002.

16. RESULTS: Relation Between Parental Beliefs & Children’s Third Grade Academic Outcomes Regression analyses were conducted using as predictors only those parents’ orientations (daily living, skills, entertainment) significantly correlated with the relevant academic achievement scores. Predictors were allowed to enter freely. Math: Predictors: daily living, skills. A parental focus on daily living as a means of fostering young children’s math development predicted children’s third grade math scores, R2 = .14 (p=.028), B = 1.49, SEB = .69, Beta = .32 .

17. Reading: Parents’ focus on entertainment as a means of fostering young children’s reading development significantly predicted children’s third grade reading scores Reading Comprehension predictors: entertainment and skills. Entertainment focus was the only significant predictor. R2 = .15 (p=.012), B = 2.03, SEB = .98, Beta = .293; Word Recognition predictors: entertainment R2 = .09 (p=.021), B = 2.90, SEB = 1.22, Beta = .30.

18. CONCLUSIONS These results show the importance of considering parents’l beliefs and practices in relation to children’s academic achievement. Although parents viewed themselves and the schools as sharing responsibility for facilitating young children’s reading and math development, their views on how to facilitate development in the two academic domains differed. With respect to literacy, few parents spontaneously mentioned daily living activities as a means of facilitating their children’s development. Low income parents more strongly endorsed a skills orientation than middle income parents. An entertainment approach positively predicted children’s third grade reading achievement scores; a skills or a daily living approach did not. In contrast to their views on fostering reading development, parents often expressed an orientation toward math learning that focused on making use of daily living activities. As with reading, low income parents more strongly endorsed a skills orientation than middle income parents. A daily living approach to math development was significantly related to children’s math achievement, a skills or entertainment approach was not. 

19. These results also indicate differences in the relative frequency with which middle income children engaged in reading and math activities at home. They engaged in proportionally more reading than math activities. In order to empower families as partners in their children’s academic progress, we need to understand what parents believe about children’s learning and how they interact with their children. We also need to determine effective practices. These findings suggest that parents’ beliefs differ by academic domain and are related to one’s sociocultural group.

20. References Blevins-Knabe, Austin, A. B., Musun, L., Eddy, A., & Jones, R. M. (2000). Family home care providers’ and parents’ beliefs and practices concerning mathematics with young children. Early Child Development & Care, 165, 41-58 Musun-Miller, L., & Blevins-Knabe, B. (1998). Adults’ beliefs about children and mathematics: How important is it and how do children learn it? Early Development & Parenting, 7, 191-202. Fitzgerald, J., Spiegel, D. L., & Cunningham, J. W. (1991). The relationship between parental literacy level and perceptions of emergent literacy. Journal of Reading Behavior, 23, 191-210. Serpell, R., Baker, L., & Sonnenschein, S. (2005). Becoming literate in the city: The Baltimore Early Childhood Project. NY: Cambridge. Stipek, D., Milburn, S., Clements, D., & Daniels, D.H. (1992). Parents’ beliefs about appropriate education for young children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 13, 293-310. Tudge, J.R.H., & Doucet, F. (2004). Early mathematical experiences: Observing young black and white children’s everyday activities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19, 21-39.