"Family Involvement in Schools and Low-Income Children’s Literacy: Longitudinal Associations Between and Within Families"
Article Review:
This article is a longitudinal study about family involvement in association to children literacy. This study focused on children literacy in relations to low income households and their family involvement in schools. In other studies which are stated in Dearing, Kreidwer, Simpkins, & Weiss article, they have found links between family involvement in schools and children literacy skill developmental. There is also evidence that high levels of family involvement during elementary years are associated with a lower high school drop out rate and a higher rate in high school completion. (Barnard, 2004 found in Dearing, Kreidwer, Simpkins, & Weiss, 2006)
Dearing, Kreidwer, Simpkins, & Weiss felt that there were three contributions to why children literacy in low income families and family involvement are so poor. The first contribution is the family’s patterns of stability and changes in involvement in schools (p. 654). The second is the analyzing within families pattern of family involvement and its relation to increased involvement is associated with improved academic achievement (p.654). Finally, the third contribution is the longitudinal study and data from Kindergarten to third grade that can control possible absent variable unfairness. (p. 654)
Through out Dearing, Kreidwer, Simpkins, & Weiss study, they found that between family involvement differences and within-families involvement changes were associated with children literacy. This finding was most prevalent in families with the highest involvement in school and the families with the lower involvement in school. Families with average involvement in schools were not shown statistically interpret in the study (p. 661). Also, the finding showed an increased within family involvement in school was associated with improvement in children literacy.
Critique:
Dearing, Kreidwer, Simpkins, & Weiss’s article was very informative and it brings out valid point on the issues with family involvement in schools and its effects on a child academic progress. I also found this article useful to help us take a deeper look into family dynamics and its relation to school. The article was very thorough and supported its finding and methodology.
However, I felt that this article was very respective and hard to read. This is not an easy read and it was somewhat unclear on certain terms and what the objectives were and I felt that the article was all over the place and did not stay true to their three contributions on why children literacy in low income families and family involvement are so poor. I also did not feel that they really focused on low income families. Overall, the article was very informative but it is not an easy read and I feel that this article would not appeal to parents or teachers.
Dearing, E., Kreider, H., Simpkins, S., &Weiss, H. (2006) Family Involvement in
Schools and Low-Income Children’s Literacy: Longitudinal Associations Between and Within Families. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 653-664.
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My research found a similar article that evaluated the factors that significantly contributed to African American high school students reading scores. The study was called “Factors Affecting Urban African American High School Students’ Achievement in Reading” by Flowers and Flowers (Urban Education, 43{2}154-171). One of the factors that was found to significantly and positively influence the students’ achievements in reading tests were how long they spent doing homework. Further factors that were found are very similar to the results that your article discussed. These were the students’ parents’ expectations for their educational achievement and the family income. It is very important to recognize the various factors, inside the classroom and outside the classroom, that can affect a student’s performance.
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