The Effects of Single-Parent Households on
the Literacy Achievement of Third-Grade
African-American Students
Stephanie Bryant
703.22
Professor O’Conor-Petrusso
Table Of Contents

Introduction
3
◦ Statement of the Problem 4
◦ Review of the Literature 5
◦ Statement of the Hypothesis 7

◦
◦
◦
◦





8
Methods
Participants
Instruments
Procedure
Experimental Design
Threats to Validity
Data Analysis
Discussion
Implications
References
8
8
9
10
11
12
16
17
18
Introduction

There is a vast increase in the number
of single-parent households.

This change can be accredited to the
many factors.

Single-parent households are
especially prevalent in the AfricanAmerican community.
Statement of the Problem

Children from single-parent
households are faced with extra
burdens that children from two-parent
households do not have to face. In an
effort to alleviate these stresses,
adjustments need to be made.
Review Of Related Literature

Single-Parent
Households Do Affect
Student Achievement
◦ Pros: Parents who are
involved in their
student’s academic
career help to increase
the student’s academic
achievement.

Epstein & Dauber (1991) ;
Zellman & Waterman (1998);
Hawes & Plourde (2000);
Senechal & LeFevre (2002,
March-April) ; Ricciuth (2004,
March/April) ; England, Luckner,
Whaley, Egeland (2004); Amato
(2005); Driessen, Smit, &
Sleegers (2005, August); Jeynes
(2005, Summer) ; Houtenville &
Conway (2008).

Single-Parent Households
Do Not Affect Student
Achievement
◦ Cons: Single-parent
households do not play a
role in student’s academic
achievement, but other
factors such as student’s
motivational level play a
role in student’s academic
achievement.

Iverson, Brownlee, & Walberg (1981);
Dominia (2005, July); Debell (2008);
Sojourner & Kushner (1997).
Current Educational Strategies

There are some strategies being implemented in schools to
help single-parent households increase the academic
achievement of their children. These include:
◦ Training parents on how to conduct reading instruction at home
(Faires, Nichols, & Ricklman, 2000).
◦ Having teachers implement strategies such as
 maintaining a positive relationship with parents.
 having active parents spread the word to other parents to alleviate the
educational barrier that African-American parents when dealing with
their child’s teacher (Neuman, Hagedorn, Celano, & Daly, 1995 ; Trotman,
2001) .
◦ Having schools implement strategies that
 exhibit themes of empowerment, outreach, and indigenous resources
(Abdul-Adil & Farmer Jr., 2006) .
Statement Of Hypothesis

H R1
◦ Implementing the shared reading strategy
with nine African-American third-grade
students from non-intact (single)
parent/guardian households over a six week
period will help students at P.S. X increase
their reading and writing achievement on the
practice New York State English Language
Arts Examination.
Methods

Participants
◦ Twenty-two third-grade
students
 Sixteen AfricanAmerican
 nine AfricanAmerican students
from non-intact
households
 Six Latino American
◦ Working Class Families
◦ Public School in Brooklyn,
NY

Instruments
◦ Demographic
Survey
◦ Literacy Surveys
 Student and Parent
◦ Two New York State
English Language
Arts Practice
Exams
Methods Cont’d
 Procedure
◦ In early February, consent forms were sent home to parents.
◦ In mid February, students were given a Literacy survey of their
attitude towards Reading and Writing.
 Students were also given a pre-test using practice New York State
English Language Arts exams to assess the needs of each student.
◦ From late February- early April, students were exposed to the
Shared Reading strategy twice a week (Tuesdays and Fridays)
for six weeks.
 Students from single-parents households were posed with
comprehension questions by the action-researcher to aid in their
understanding of the text.
◦ In late April, students were post-tested using a different practice
New York State English Language Arts exam to see the effects
of being exposed to the Shared Reading strategy had on their
post-test scores.
Experimental Design

Pre-Experimental Design
◦ One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design
◦ Symbolic Design: OXO
 The study involves one group of students
who will be pretested (O), exposed to a
treatment (X), and post tested (O).
Threats to Validity

Internal Threats
◦ History
◦ Testing/Pretest
Sensitization
◦ Instrumentation
◦ Morality
◦ Differential Selection of
Subjects

External Threats
◦
Ecological Validity
◦
Generalizable Conditions
◦
Pretest Treatment
◦
Selection Treatment Interaction
◦
Specificity of Variables
◦
Treatment Diffusion
◦
Experimenter Effects
◦
Reactive Agreements /
Participants Effects
◦ Hawthorne Effect
◦ Novelty Effect
Classroom Parental Structure
Demographic
Survey Question # 4

◦ Parental Situation:
 (1) Intact: TwoParents/
Guardians
Household
 (2) Non-Intact:
One
Parent/Guardian
Household
Parental Structure of Classroom X
Two
Parents/Gu
ardians
Household
44%
Single
Parent/Guar
dian
Household
56%
Data Analysis
Parents Reading with Students Every Night
Relationship Between Parents Reading Every Night
and Students' Self-Assessment of Reading
Comprehension
4.5
Number of Students
3.5
3
Single-Parent/Guardian
Household
2.5
Two-parent/Guardian Household
2
Student SelfAssessment of
Comprehension
4
5
4
3
2
1
0
Students SelfAssessmentof
Comprehension
0
1.5
2
4
Frequency of Parents Reading
Every Night
1
0.5
0
1
2
3
Answer Selection
4
6
Linear (Students SelfAssessmentof
Comprehension)
With a correlational coefficient of 0.81rxy
there appears to be a strong, positive
correlation between parents reading to
their children every night and the student's
self assessment of their reading
comprehension.
Data Analysis Cont’d
Reading an Hour Every
Night
Correlation Between Reading an Hour Every Night
and Mid-Year Reading Scores
5
4
3
Series1
2
Linear (Series1)
1
0
-1 0
1
2
3
4
Mid-Year Reading Scores

With a correlational coefficient of 0.52rxy,
there appears to no correlation between
students reading for an hour every night and
their mid-year Reading Scores.
Pre-test/Post-test Results

The results of the pre-test depicted a classroom average of 55% for students from single-parent
households and 57% for students from two-parent households.
◦

The post-test depicted a classroom average of 80% for single-parent households and 75% for
two-parent households.
◦

The range of scores is 50%-75% for both household structures.
The range of scores is 50%-100% for both household structures.
This represents an increase of 25% for students from single-parent households and 17% for
students from two parent households after being exposed to the instructional strategy.
Discussion

After being exposed to the instructional
strategy, all students had an increase on their
post-test.
◦ This finding adheres to the available research that
parental involvement does affect student achievement.
 Students from single-parents households had a slight
advantage over those from two-parent households.
 Comprehension questions posed mirrored classroom
reading strategies (Faires, Nichols, & Ricklman, 2000).

Regardless of the household structure, all
students benefit from additional reading they
were exposed to.
Implications
 The
results of this study suggest the
need for the following implications :
◦ a need for studies at the elementary level.
◦ a need for a larger sample size.
◦ more longitudinal studies
References
Amato, P. (2005). The impact of family formation change on the cognitive, social, and emotional well-being of the
next generation. Retrieved on October 3, 2009 from ERIC database. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
EJ795852).
DeBell, M. (2008). Children living without their fathers: Population estimates and indicators of educational wellbeing. Social Indicators Research, 87(3), 427-443. Retrieved October 3, 2009 from Education Full Text database.
Dominia, T. (2005, July). Leveling the home advantage: Assessing the effectiveness of parental involvement in
elementary schools. The Reading Teacher, 51(2), 108-120. Retrieved September 25, 2009, from Education Full
Text database.
Driessen, G., Smit, F. & Sleegers, P. (2005, August). Parental involvement and educational achievement. Taylor
&Francis, Ltd., 31 (4), 509-532. Retrieved September 25, 2009, fromhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/30032581.
England, M. M., Luckner, A. E., Whaley, G. J. L. & Egeland, B. (2004). Children’s achievement in early elementary
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Hawes,C. A., & Plourde, L. A. (2000). Parental involvement and its influence on the reading achievement of 6th
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References Cont’d
O’Connor-Petruso, Sharon. A. (2010, February 18). Descriptive & Inferential Stats, Analyses, Threats, & Designs.
Presented at an Ed 703.22 lecture at Brooklyn College.
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