Concerted Cultivation and Teachers' Evaluations of Students: Exploring the Intersection of Race and Parents' Educational Attainment

Abstract

Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey and Lareau's concept of concerted cultivation—the idea that educational and financial resources result in different cultural logics in the approach to parenting—the authors examine racial and educational differences in the relationship between parenting practices during elementary school and teachers' evaluations of students' (1) language and literacy skills, (2) approaches to learning, and (3) interpersonal skills. The authors find that both race and education affect the relationship between parenting practices and teachers' evaluations. Children in college-educated white families whose parents volunteer receive higher scores on all dependent variables, while white children in high-school-educated families receive lower evaluations the more often their parents attend conferences. Children in college-educated African American families consistently experience negative academic consequences when their parents make special requests of the school. These findings imply that parental investments do not necessarily translate into equal educational rewards.