Books at Home Improve Education

As someone who is an avid reader, and who tries to instill that love and desire into his children, I was interested in reading the results of a 20-year study that concluded it was the presence of books in a child's home that was more influential on a child’s level of education, than the household income, nationality, or parents level of education.

For the longest time, most educators believed that having highly-educated parents was an indicator that the children would attain a high level of education. However, after the 20-year study led by Dr. Mariah Evans, an associate professor of sociology and resource economics at the University of Nevada, Reno it was shown that this is not the case. Other researchers involved were from UCLA and The Australian National University. The project released the study, Family Scholarly Culture and Educational Success: Books and Schooling in 27 Nations, and has been called one of the largest and most comprehensive studies ever conducted on influences on the level of education a child will attain.

Regardless of their nationality, or the economic status, the results showed that children who grow up with books in their house reached a higher level of education than those who did not.

Having as few as 20 books in the home has a significant impact on a child’s ascent to a higher level of education, the study found. The more books in the house, the greater the benefit. According to a press release about the study, in some countries, such as China, having 500 or more books in the home propels children 6.6 years further in their education. In the United States, the effect is less -- 2.4 years, rather than the 3.2-year average advantage experienced across all 27 countries in the study.

In a recent interview, Dr. Mariah Evans had this to say in regards to the findings:

"I think the most important findings are that having books in the home helps children from families in all walks of life and all around the world go further in school, and that the beneficial effect is greatest for children from disadvantaged homes."

When asked why they felt this made a major difference, she stated:

"We have some hypotheses that we are testing in current projects. We suspect that:Reading with very small children -- and talking about the books as you read -- makes a big difference. Homes in which books are used to adjudicate questions of fact, rather than debating them as though they were matters of opinion, make an important contribution to children’s learning strategies.

Children watch what their parents do, so reading at home is very important in a role-modeling sense. Children gain skills and culture/content from the books in the home. These skills and content help children perform better on standardized tests.

Bookish homes help children like school and see their teachers as valuable coaches. Both performing well and liking school encourage youth to persist in education, even when the going gets tough.

I admit that is quite a load of hypotheses, but that’s how we suspect the process works. There is some existing research that supports each of those hypotheses; our goal is to make an integrated research plan so we can see clearly how the pieces fit together and how large the impacts are."

Additional factors in the research have yet to be included, such as the amount of time the books were utilized, the types of books in the home (children level versus adult level), and other potentially contributing data. At this point of the study, it was simply based on the presence of books of any kind, versus little to no books at all.

In closing, when asked how this initial data can be effectively used by today's educations, she had this to say:

"The study’s findings are important for educators in several ways. They emphasize how important it is to teach parents when possible. For example, findings suggest that helping parents learn how to read to small children in programs like Early Head Start is key. The study also suggests that parent education emphasizing realistic goals of introducing even a small amount of reading into their and their children’s lives can have substantial beneficial effects on later school performance.

In short, the results emphasize how important the partnership between families and schools is. It also has some important implications for situations where drug abuse and violence make school-family partnerships difficult: Enlisting community volunteers in after-school programs that include a component of one-on-one reading with children would seem a promising route. Educators also can use this information to explain to legislators why schools need to be judged not on outcomes per se, but on value added: In neighborhoods where the school has excellent partnering with the local families it is much easier to meet targets than in neighborhoods where school staff members are trying to do their work and the work normally done by families as well."

So, with about two thousand books currently in my house, my children should all achieve genius status (I wish....I mean hope). So, this kind of adds another dimension to the term "book smarts." Feel free to share any related thoughts or comments below.

 

Jeff McCormack resides in Virginia Beach, VA. where he works as a web designer by day. In his off time he is a husband, father, mail order book store manager, and musician. Aside from being a freelance writer for this Education Jobsite blog, he also seeks to assist in career choices and information by contributing to other Nexxt blog sites.