The home environment and school achievement

Abstract

The studies reviewed here support the proposition that more accurate and informative measures of the home educational environment are possible than the status characteristics typically used. The stability of SES measures and the ease with which this type of data may be collected have promoted the continued use of static variables as measures of family background. But as we have indicated in this review, studies have shown that what parents do rather than who they are is the more important determinant of the home's influence on the child's achievement. Thus, the emphasis is on the process variables in the home, although the static variables are still relevant to gaining a complete picture of the home environment and its influence. The home-based intervention studies further support these results as well as the alterability of process characteristics. The alterability of home processes is an important factor in moving away from the restrictions of prediction and classification imposed by the traditional static measures of the home environment.