At Home and in School Racial and Ethnic Gaps in Educational Preparedness

California’s schools are becoming increasingly diverse in their student populations. Although all major racial/ethnic groups have experienced improvements in educational attainment over the past three decades, major gaps remain, especially for Hispanics, who represent the largest ethnic group in the state’s K‐12 public schools. This issue of California Counts looks at conditions from early childhood through high school that contribute to or indicate educational achievement, with a particular focus on differences across racial/ethnic groups. Two influential conditions affecting early childhood development are parental education and family income. Mothers with more education generally have greater access to information about ways to provide early learning experiences, and higher family income is a strong indicator of more resources available for a child’s education. It is commonly accepted that preschool also significantly helps children improve their readiness for school, yet over half of all children miss this experience, making it even more important for parents to undertake child development activities in the home, such as reading to their children. In this area, racial differences are pronounced. About 3 percent of white children ages 3‐5 have not had a family member read to them in the past week, whereas almost 30 percent of Hispanic children have not been read to. English proficiency is another strong indicator of a child’s learning opportunities in school. A 1995 survey found that 75 percent of Hispanic children and 67 percent of Asian children ages 5‐14 spoke a language other than English at home; of these children, 23 percent of Hispanic children spoke English “not well” or “not at all,” and 14 percent of Asian children did not speak English well. The availability of a home computer is another indicator of resources that provide educational opportunity. Although a majority of white and Asian children have a computer at home, 76 percent of Hispanic children and 62 percent of black children do not. Public Policy Institute of California