|The child’s parent or
guardian has not successfully completed a high
school education or its equivalent. (22-28-106 (1) (a.5) (VI) C.R.S.).
Note: The research does not always specify a lack of diploma as defining
low parental education levels.
District councils may find there is a need in their communities for a secondary
eligibility factor of “low parental education levels with completion of high school education or its equivalent”. For example, a parent who finished high school with very low grades may be at just as impacted as a parent who dropped out.
|Significance of Factor in regards to School Readiness||
Higher parental education levels are strongly associated with the home literacy environment, parental teaching styles, and investments in a variety of resources that promote learning.
Children whose mothers have higher levels of education do better in general in reading and mathematics, and are more likely to accept peer ideas in play, make friends, and comfort others. They are more likely to persist at tasks, seem eager to learn, and pay attention.
Twelve or fewer years of education for either parent is associated with higher rates of reading disabilities in children. Children whose mothers have less than a high school education miss more school per year due to chronic absenteeism than those of mothers with a high school education or more.
|How It May Be Documented||
Pati, S., Hashim, K., Brown, B., Fiks, A., & Forrest, B. (2009). Early childhood predictors of early school success: A selective review of the literature. Child Trends. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_05_26_FR_EarlySchoolSuccess.pdf
Huffman, L. C., Mehlinger, S. L., & Kerivan, A. S. (2000). "Risk factors for academic and behavioral problems at the beginning of school," as found in A Good Beginning: Sending America's Children to School with the Social and Emotional Competence They Need to Succeed.
St. Sauver, J.L., Katusic, S.K., Barbaresi, W.J., Colligan, R.C., & Jacobsen, S.J. (2001). Boy/Girl differences in risk for reading disability: Potential clues? American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 154, 9 , 787-79. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/154/9/787
Sameroff, A.J., Seifer, R., Baldwin, A., & Baldwin, C. (1993). Stability of intelligence from preschool to adolescence: The influence of social and family risk factors. Child Development 64, 80-97.
Romero, M. & Young-Sun, L. (January 2008). The influence of maternal and family risk on chronic absenteeism in early schooling. The National Center for Children in Poverty. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_792.pdf
West, J., Denton, K., & Germino-Hausken, E.
(2000). The kindergarten year: Findings from the early
childhood longitudinal study, kindergarten class of 1998-99.
U. S. Department of Education, National Center for
Education Statistics. Retrieved June 29, 2009, from
Additional Resources for Families and Staff:
CDE Office of Adult Education and Family