Context matters: The interrelatedness of early literacy skills, developmental health, and community demographics

Nonie K. Lesaux; Rose K. Vukovic; Clyde Hertzman; Linda S. Siegel

doi:10.1080/10409280701610861

Context matters: The interrelatedness of early literacy skills, developmental health, and community demographics

Nonie K. Lesaux
, Rose K. Vukovic
, Clyde Hertzman
, Linda S. Siegel

Educational Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Whereas the great majority of literacy research has been focused at the child level, this study examined the relationship between early literacy rates, developmental health of the population, and demographics in 23 school communities. The results showed that school-level literacy scores were related to the physical, social, and emotional maturity of the kindergarten population, as well as community demographics, including the proportion of families in each school catchment area living below the low income cutoff, the proportion of single-parent families, and the community 5-year mobility rate. Furthermore, the proportion of children at risk for literacy difficulties varied systematically by school, ranging from 0% to 44%; this risk was strongly related to developmental health and to demographics of the school community. The implications for models of early identification and corresponding intervention programs for at-risk children are discussed.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	497-518
Number of pages	22
Journal	Early Education and Development
Volume	18
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10409280701610861
State	Published - 2007

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This research was supported by funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the British Columbia Ministry of Child and Family Development, the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The authors would like to thank Frances Roch, Holly Kavanagh, Kathy Dorval, and the students and teachers of the 23 schools in the school district that participated in the study. Thanks to Elenita Tseng and Sally Porter for their assistance with data entry. Thanks to Kate Trafford, Keely Kinar, Sidney McLean, and Michelle Wiens for their help with the Early Development Instrument data set, and especially to the late Peter Schaub for significant help in working with the Census data on the demographics of the school communities studied.

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SDG 4 Quality Education

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abstract = "Whereas the great majority of literacy research has been focused at the child level, this study examined the relationship between early literacy rates, developmental health of the population, and demographics in 23 school communities. The results showed that school-level literacy scores were related to the physical, social, and emotional maturity of the kindergarten population, as well as community demographics, including the proportion of families in each school catchment area living below the low income cutoff, the proportion of single-parent families, and the community 5-year mobility rate. Furthermore, the proportion of children at risk for literacy difficulties varied systematically by school, ranging from 0\% to 44\%; this risk was strongly related to developmental health and to demographics of the school community. The implications for models of early identification and corresponding intervention programs for at-risk children are discussed.",

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Context matters: The interrelatedness of early literacy skills, developmental health, and community demographics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

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