Parent beliefs and children's achievement trajectories during the transition to school in Asian American and European American families

Abstract

This study examines the predictive relationships among 309 Asian American and 9471 European American parents’ beliefs, expectations, and involvement, and their children's math and reading achievement trajectories during children's transition to school. Data came from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), an ongoing study of kindergarten children as they make the transition into and through formal schooling. Based on the educational niche theoretical framework (Chao, 2000), we predicted that parents’ beliefs and expectations would indirectly influence children's achievement trajectories via parent involvement and that these structural paths would not differ significantly between groups. Analyses using latent curve modelling (LCM) supported these predictions. Of particular importance is the finding that despite significant mean differences in Asian American and European American parents’ beliefs, expectations, and involvement practices, the degree to which these constructs predicted children's achievement trajectories over time did not differ between groups.