How Does Family Background Affect Educational Attainment

1
How Does Family Background Affect Educational
Attainment?

• Lydia Allyn, Amie Boal,
• Kabir Goyal, Michael Madowitz,
• Annalee Wiswell

2
Differences in High School Graduation

• Haveman, Wolfe, Spaulding
• Adjusted for many variables, found race did not
  influence high school graduation rates
• Graduation rates for class of 1998
• 78 for whites
• 56 for African-Americans
• 54 for Latinos

3
School Attainment by Family Structure
4
Conceptual Model
Exogenous Variables
NUMBER OF CHILDREN FAMILY INCOME PARENTS
EXPECTATIONS
RACE NUMBER OF PARENTS SEX
MOTHERS EMPLOYMENT STATUS
Student Behavior
Parental Behavior
TIME SPENT READING TIME SPENT DOING HOMEWORK TIME
SPENT WATCHING T.V.
NUMBER OF BOOKS HOMEWORK HELP/MONITORING
EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT
5
Theory

• Single-parent household expected to have negative
  effect on childs education as it reduces
  available resources
• Ef(K1K2L1L2)
• E represents educational outcome
• K1-Kn represent capital expenditure
• L1-Ln represent labor input

6
Family Structures

• Single Parent Family
• Step Families
• Working Mothers
• Extended Families
• Nuclear Families

7
Single Parent Families

• Disposable Time
• Income
• Need for Childcare
• Statistics
• White single-parent families 21
• Black single-parent families 58
• Hispanic single-parent families 32
• More Pronounced in Families Without Parents

8
Single Parent Families

• Conclusions of studies are mixed
• Some argue that there is no difference in school
  achievement
• Others find differences in favor of children from
  two-parent families
• Inconsistent because various studies control
  differently for background variables, eg. time
  spent with children and income
• Negative effects of single parent families
  mediated by intervening variables

9
Single Parent Families

• For first-graders in Baltimore (1982) single
  parent children come to school with same skills
  as other children
• Gains are diminished for single parent children
• Effect accounted for by parent expectations
• Differences in gains larger in verbal domain

10
Extended Families

• The presence of an additional adult reduces the
  negative effects of father absence
• More Black families include extended family
  members

11
Step Families

• Economists hypothesize that step parents may be
  less willing to invest in a childs education
  than a biological parent.
• Children are 68 as likely to graduate from high
  school compared to children from intact families

12
Working Mothers

• Working-mother hypothesis
• Mothers absence from the home may be their
  source of developmental problems
• Mothers work contributes to family income

13
Working Mothers

• Studies of the effects of mothers employment on
  children have generated mixed results
• Mothers employment has a negative effect on
  achievement for white students
• Many studies find positive effects for
  lower-class and black children

14
Teacher Expectations

• Black students from single parent homes
  consistently fall short of teacher expectations
• When past performance is taken into account the
  racial differences in teacher expectations
  disappear

15
Parent Expectations

• Parent expectations for report card marks
  consistently lower in single parent households

16
Parental Expectations Ferguson Graph
No HS
No HS
Some HS
HS grad
Some coll
Coll grad
Mothers Education Level
17
Parental Education

• Parental education has a positive effect on high
  school graduation rates
• In 1996
• percentage with some college
• Whites - 67
• Blacks - 55.9
• Hispanics - 50.9

18
Implications

• Disruptions in parents marital status during the
  teen years adversely affects future educational
  attainment
• Intervening variables suggest the importance of
  students time use

19
Take Home Message

• Socioeconomic status of mother most likely
  predictor of student achievement above and
  beyond family configuration
• Extra adult interaction enhances achievement
  policy recommendation neighborhood reading
  programs and after-school learning opportunities.

20
Conclusion

• Since academic achievement is related to family
  structure, then changing family demographics and
  differences in family structure between racial
  groups provide legitimate cause for concern