Dos investigadores del Education Testing Service (ETS) acaban de dar a conocer los resultados de una investigación en la cual concluyen que ciertas variables del factor “familia” son críticos a la hora de evaluar los resultados de aprendizaje de los alumnos. En particular, muestra la incidencia de:
— la calidad de la atención temprana,
— el involucramiento de los padres en la escuela de sus hijos,
— el ingreso de las familias,
— el desarollo del lenguaje y la comprensión lectora en el hogar
— la ausencia de clases de los alumnos, y
— el entorno físico del hogar.
La principal conclusión de este estudio señala que cuatro variables de la relación hogar/escuela –hogares monoparentales, padres que leen a sus hijos diariamente, horas de los niños dedicadas a la TV y frecuencia de las ausencias del alumno de la escuela– dan cuenta de alrededor de dos tercios de las diferencias que se observan en Estados Unidos en los resultados de lectura de los alumnos de octavo año entre Estados, medidos por el National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), en octavo año.
Titulado La Familia: La Escuela Más Pequeña de Estados Unidos , este informe analiza en particular las experiencias de familia y hogar que influyen en el aprendizaje de los niños. Considera familias con un solo padre/madre, pobreza y falta de recursos, padres que hablan y leen con sus hijos, calidad de guarderías infantiles y participación de padres en las escuelas.
El informe fue escrito por Paul E. Barton y Richard J. Coley del Centro de Información sobre la Política de ETS. Incluye un prefacio y aval de Marc H. Morial, presidente de la Liga Urbana Nacional.
“Cuando padres, maestros y escuelas trabajan juntos para apoyar el aprendizaje, los alumnos progresan más y se quedan en el sistema educativo por más tiempo”, dice Barton. “Nuestro análisis demuestra que cuando se combinan, factores tales como familias con un solo padre/madre, el que los padres lean a sus hijos, las horas frente a la televisión y el ausentismo representan alrededor de dos tercios de las grandes diferencias entre los estados con respecto a los puntajes en la Evaluación Nacional del Progreso Educativo (National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP, por sus siglas en inglés)”.
Los principales hallazgos del informe revelan que (para mayor detalle ver más abajo):
• El treinta y dos por ciento de los niños norteamericanos viven en hogares con un solo padre/madre, un alza de 23% en 1980.
• El treinta y tres por ciento de los niños viven en familias donde ninguno de los padres tiene un empleo estable de tiempo completo.
• A la edad de cuatro años, los niños de familias de profesionales oyen 35 millones de palabras más que los niños de padres que dependen de bienestar social (welfare).
• La mitad de los niños de dos años están en algún tipo de guardería infantil. El setenta y cinco por ciento están en centros de cuidado infantil calificados de calidad media o baja.
• Una comparación de niños de octavo grado en 45 países reveló que los alumnos norteamericanos pasan menos tiempo leyendo por placer —y más tiempo mirando televisión y videos.
“Es comprensible que esfuerzos de reforma educativa se enfoquen en mejorar las escuelas”, dice Coley. “Sin embargo, en el terreno más amplio de la política pública, tendremos que ir mucho más allá de este enfoque si esperamos mejorar en forma significativa el aprendizaje estudiantil y reducir la brecha de rendimiento. Si esperamos mejorar la posición académica de Estados Unidos en la comunidad global, y cerrar las demasiado persistentes brechas de rendimiento, tenemos que ayudar a lograr ambientes hogareños que fomenten vidas familiares positivas y alentadoras para todos los estudiantes”.
Otros puntos sobresalientes del informe incluyen:
• El cuarenta y cuatro por ciento de nacimientos a mujeres menores de 30 ocurren fuera del matrimonio.
• A nivel nacional, el 11 por ciento de los hogares no tienen asegurados los alimentos. La tasa para hogares encabezados por mujeres es tres veces la de familias encabezadas por matrimonios.
• Un sesenta y dos por ciento de los padres de familias de condiciones socioeconómicas altas les leen todos los días a sus niños de jardín de infantes, comparado con el 36 por ciento de niños de jardín de infantes de grupos de condiciones socioeconómicas bajas.
• Uno de cada cinco alumnos falta a la escuela tres o más días por mes. Estados Unidos ocupa el vigésimo quinto lugar de 45 países en asistencia escolar.
“A menudo, en nuestras conversaciones locales, estatales y nacionales sobre cómo elevar el rendimiento estudiantil y cerrar las brechas de rendimiento, se pasa por alto el importante papel educativo de los padres”, agrega Marc H. Morial, presidente y director de la Liga Urbana Nacional, y ex presidente de la asociación de alcaldes de Estados Unidos (y ex alcalde de Nueva Orleáns). “Este informe apoya el plan de la Liga para la Igualdad Económica – la Oportunidad Para que los Niños Tengan Éxito (Blueprint for Economic Equality – the Opportunity for Children to Thrive). Por medio de este principio que nos guía, afirmamos que cada niño en Estados Unidos merece vivir una vida libre de pobreza que incluye un hogar seguro, nutrición adecuada y accesible atención médica de calidad. Afirmamos además que cada niño en el país merece una educación de calidad que le preparará para competir en un mercado cada vez más global”.
El informe completo está disponible gratis en inglés aquí.
ETS, entidad sin fines de lucro, celebra su historia de 60 años en avanzar la calidad y la igualdad en la educación, ofreciendo evaluaciones equitativas y válidas, investigación y servicios afines a todas las personas del mundo. Al ofrecer sus servicios a individuos, instituciones educativas y agencias gubernamentales en todo el mundo, ETS crea soluciones a la medida de cada necesidad con productos y servicios de desarrollo profesional para maestros, evaluaciones de aula y de fin de curso, y herramientas de enseñanza y aprendizaje basadas en investigación. En 2006 ETS desarrolló, administró y calificó más de 50 millones de evaluaciones en más de 180 países y en más de 9,000 sitios por todo el mundo, y tuvo U$S 836 millones en ingresos consolidados.

The family and the home are both critical education institutions where children begin learning long before they start school, and where they spend much of their time after they start school. So it stands to reason that improving a child’s home environment to make it more conducive to learning is critical if we are to improve the educational achievement of the nation’s students and close the achievement gaps. To do this, we need to develop cooperative partnerships in which families are allies in the efforts of teachers and schools. The kinds of family and home conditions that research has found to make a difference in children’s cognitive development and school achievement include those highlighted below.
The Parent-Pupil Ratio. The percentage of two-parent families has been in long-term decline. Single-parent families are rapidly becoming a significant segment of the country’s family population.
• Forty-four percent of births to women under age 30 are out-of-wedlock. The percentage is much higher for Black women and much lower for Asian- American women. While the percentage decreases as women’s educational attainment rises, the rate for Black and Hispanic college-educated women remains high.
• Sixty-eight percent of U.S. children live with two parents, a decline from 77 percent in 1980. Only 35 percent of Black children live with two parents. In selected international comparisons, the United States ranks the highest in the percentage of single-parent households, and Japan ranks the lowest.
Family Finances. Income is an important factor in a family’s ability to fund the tangible and intangible elements that contribute to making the home an educationally supportive environment. At all income levels, however, parents have important roles to play in facilitating their children’s learning, many of which are not dependent upon the availability of money.
• Among racial/ethnic groups, Asian-American families, on average, have the highest median family income; Black families have the lowest.
• On average, White and Asian-American families with children have higher incomes than White and Asian-American families without children. The opposite is true for Black and Hispanic families, however; and these families have much lower average family incomes than their White and Asian-American counterparts. There are also large differences in family income across the states, ranging from median family incomes in excess of $70,000 in several northeastern states to less than $40,000 in New Mexico, Mississippi, and Washington, D.C.
• Nationally, 19 percent of children live in poverty. The percentages increase to nearly a third or more of Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and Hispanic children. Among the states, the percentage ranges from a low of 9 percent in New Hampshire to a high of 31 percent in Mississippi.
• Nationally, 11 percent of all households are “food insecure.” The rate for female-headed households is triple the rate for married-couple families, and the rate for Black households is triple the rate for White households. One-third or more of poor households are food insecure.
• Rates of parent unemployment are high, and are alarmingly so for some groups. Nationally, one third of children live in families in which no parent has full-time, year-round employment. This is the case for half of Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native children. More than 40 percent of children in Alaska, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Mississippi live in such families.
Literacy Development. Literacy development begins long before children enter formal education, and is critical to their success in school.
• There are substantial differences in children’s measured abilities as they start kindergarten. For example, average mathematics scores for Black and Hispanic children are 21 percent and 19 percent lower, respectively, than the mathematics scores of White children.
• By age 4, the average child in a professional family hears about 20 million more words than the average child in a working-class family, and about 35 million more words than children in welfare families.
• Sixty-two percent of high socioeconomic status (SES) kindergartners are read to every day by their parents, compared to 36 percent of kindergartners in the lowest SES group. White and Asian-American children, those who live with two parents, and children with mothers with higher education levels were also more likely to have a parent read to them daily than their counterparts who were Black or Hispanic, lived with one parent, or had mothers with lower educational levels.
Child Care Disparities. The availability of high quality child care is critical when parents work outside the home.
• About half of the nation’s 2-year-olds are in some kind of regular, non-parental day care, split among center-based care; home-based, non-relative care; and home-based relative care. Black children are the most likely to be in day care.
• Overall, 24 percent of U.S. children were in center-based care that was rated as high quality, 66 percent were in medium-quality center-based care, and 9 percent were in low-quality center-based care. Of those in home-based care, 7 percent were in high quality settings, 57 percent were in medium-quality settings, and 36 percent were in low-quality care. More than half of Black, Hispanic, and poor 2-yearolds were in low-quality home-based care.
The Home as an Educational Resource. The resources available at home — books, magazines, newspapers, a home computer with access to the Internet, a quiet place for study — can have a lasting influence on a child’s ability to achieve academically.
• As of 2003, 76 percent of U.S. children had access to a home computer, and 42 percent used the Internet. Black and Hispanic children lagged behind, however.
• Eighty-six percent of U.S. eighth-graders reported having a desk or table where they could study, just above the international average but well below the averages of many countries.
• Thirty-five percent of eighth-graders watch four or more hours of television on an average weekday. Comparisons by race/ethnicity reveal considerable differences in viewing habits: 24 percent of White eighth-graders spend at least four hours in front of a television on a given day, while 59 percent of their Black peers do so.
• A comparison of eighth-graders in 45 countries found that U.S. students spend less time reading books for enjoyment and doing jobs at home than students in the average country participating in the study. On the other hand, U.S. eighth-graders spent more time, on average, watching television and videos, talking with friends, and participating in sports activities. They also spend almost one more hour daily using the Internet.
• One in five students misses three or more days of school a month. Asian-American students have the fewest absences. The United States ranked 25th of 45 countries in students’ school attendance.
The Parent-School Relationship. A significant body of research indicates that when parents, teachers, and schools work together to support learning, students do better in school and stay in school longer. Parental involvement in student education includes everything from making sure children do their homework, to attending school functions and parent-teacher conferences, to serving as an advocate for the school, to working in the classroom. How involved are parents in their children’s education? Are schools helping to facilitate parental involvement, and doing what they can to effectively partner with parents?
• Since 1996, parents have become increasingly involved in their child’s school. However, parent participation decreases as students progress through school, and parents of students earning A averages are more likely to be involved in school functions than the parents of students earning C’s and D’s.
Putting It Together: Estimating the Impact of Family and Home on Student Achievement. How closely can stars in this constellation of factors associated with a child’s home environment predict student achievement?
• The analysis provided here uses four family/home factors that previous research has shown to be linked to student achievement. To some degree, each is likely to be related to the others: single-parent families, parents reading to young children every day, hours spent watching television, and the frequency of school absences.
• Together, these four factors account for about two-thirds of the large differences among states in National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) eighth-grade reading scores.