| Lori Kowaleski-Jones
Northwestern University
Family matters: The role of home environment in determining achievement
FINAL REPORT:
Substantial theoretical and empirical work suggests that children's home environment is a key context for their achievement (Walberg, 1991; Crane, 1996; Schneider and Coleman, 1993). However, this research is limited in several ways. First, much of the research evaluating this link has been based on small an nonrandom samples. Second, virtually all of the previous studies have relied on cross sectional samples, using traditional methods not optimally suited for assessing the role of family context on individual child achievement.
The proposed research avoids these limitations by applying innovative methods to an important national sample of children followed for nearly a decade. Using data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth merged mother-child sample, we prepare to pursue three main research aims. First, we plan to investigate the impact of key family events on two important dimensions of children's home environments, cognitive stimulation and emotional support. Second, we will evaluate the link between key family events and child achievement in math and reading. Third, we will consider the direct effects of home environments on achievement as well as the extent to which accounting for home environment mediates the linkages between family events and childhood achievement.
To estimate these relationships, we rely on "fixed effects" regression techniques that reduce omitted variable bias by using within-child, cross-time variability in the occurrence of events and home environment and achievement trajectories. We take advantage of the longitudinal nature of our data to consider key, but under researched, issues of the timing of family events in middle-childhood. Results from the proposed research address the important policy issue of where best to direct our efforts and resources to increase childhood achievement in math and reading.
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