Parental Engagement in Early Childhood Education at Home

Abstract

This study uses data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy to identify relationships between parents’ demographic/socioeconomic backgrounds and their self-reported frequencies of engaging in early childhood education activities. It also examines race/ethnicity-related disparities in the frequency of reading to children and using interactive reading techniques after controlling for household income, nativity, and parents’ prose literacy skills. Regression analyses show that White parents are more likely than Black and Hispanic parents to report reading to their children frequently, while Black parents are more likely than White parents to report teaching the alphabet and pointing out words to children.