Inequality in Literacy Skills at Kindergarten Entry at the Intersections of Social Programs and Race

Access: Institutional Access

Publication year

2022

study description

Data Linkage

core topic(s)

Early Literacy

Population Characteristics

Kindergarten , Poverty/Low-Income , Race, Ethnicity, and Culture

Exposures, Outcomes, Other

Disparity/Adversity , Language and Literacy Development , Libraries and Public Resources , School Readiness and Educational Outcomes

objectives

The primary objective of our paper is to examine the extent to which race modifies the relationship between program participation and PALS scores.

exposure

Economic insecurity and racial/ethnic identity

outcomes evaluated

Academic achievement

setting

Kindergarten students entering Virginia public schools from 2014-2017.

methods

Using child-level data from Virginia, we document differences at these intersections for children in kindergarten, focusing on the link between social program participation (TANF, SNAP, eligible for free/reduced-price school meals) and literacy and phonological awareness skills, attending to variation between programs and by race/ethnicity.

sample size

n=296,433 (kindergarteners); n=1,044 (schools); n=135 (School districts)

measures

• Measure of Child Phonological Awareness and Literacy: the Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening Kindergarten exam (PALS-K), to assess several domains that are predictive of future reading achievement, including tasks related to early literacy skills (alphabet recognition, letter sounds, invented spelling, concept of word, and word recognition) and phonological awareness (identifying rhymes and sounds).
• Measure of Program Participation: multiple variables capture children’s observed eligibility or participation in case and food assistance programs (ie SNAP, TANF, FRPL, VDSS).

results

We first compare children in households receiving no, and relatively low, medium, and high support, finding literacy and phonological awareness skills are greatest among children that do not participate in any of the three social programs considered, followed by those who are only eligible for free/reduced-price school meals, and then those who participate in SNAP, and finally those who participate in TANF. These differences are likely to reflect differences in household resources.

conclusions

The primary objective of our paper is to examine the extent to which race modifies the relationship between program participation and PALS scores, and we find that it does; Black and Asian children who participate in public supports typically outperform similar program-participating White children, with Hispanic children lagging further behind.

limitations

First, we observe program take-up (or certified eligibility for FRPL) not underlying eligibility for each program...Second, due to income eligibility criteria, participants could be “negatively selected” into social program participation and our measures could be markers of economic vulnerability...Third, we only include outcomes tied to performance on a phonological awareness and literacy exam administered in the fall of the kindergarten year...Fourth, our study documents patterns in one southeastern state, albeit one with a diverse population that nearly mirrors the U.S. in terms of racial composition and in which one in seven residents live in a nonmetropolitan county.