School Readiness Skills of Biracial Children: Findings from the ECLS-K

Nicholas Zill, Westat, Inc.

The number of biracial children in the U.S. has grown substantially over the last two decades. The school achievement of these children is of interest in its own right and because it may shed light on a chronic dilemma in American education: the achievement gap between black and white students. This report compares the school readiness skills of 251 children with one black and one white parent with those of 2,052 black children and 8,913 white children in a national sample of children entering kindergarten for the first time. The purpose was to see whether the results of such comparisons were consistent with the predictions of cultural, family resource, or genetic theories about racial disparities in achievement. The results of assessments conducted as part of the U.S. Department of Education's Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of the kindergarten class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) showed that racial disparities in early academic skills were present at kindergarten entrance, before children had had any meaningful exposure to formal schooling. On average, first-year kindergarten students with two black parents had skill levels that were below national norms: at the 40th percentile in early reading, the 36th percentile in early math, and the 25th percentile in general knowledge. First-year kindergartners with two white parents had readiness skills that were above national norms: at the 57th percentile in reading, the 62nd percentile in math, and the 63rd percentile in general knowledge. First-year kindergartners with one black and one white parent had intermediate skill levels: at the 43rd percentile in reading and the 46th percentile in math and general knowledge. Children's participation in Head Start or preschool programs was associated with higher skills levels, but the pattern of racial differences remained. Controlling for family resource differences through multiple regression analysis reduced but did not eliminate racial disparities. Parent education levels proved to be the resource factor most closely related to children's readiness skills. The association between child's skills at school entrance and education level of the biological father was as strong as the association with mother's education. This despite the fact that mothers are generally more active in nurturing young children. Parental race was associated with general knowledge and math skills even after family resources were controlled. Children with black mothers had general knowledge scores that were 57 percent of a standard deviation lower and math scores that were 16 percent of a standard deviation lower than those of children with white mothers. Children with black fathers had math scores that were 22 percent of a standard deviation lower than those of children with white fathers. There was no additional effect of having parents of different races apart from the additive effects of the race and education level of each parent. The findings lent support to both environmental and genetic interpretations of racial disparities in academic achievement. What they did not support is the notion that biracial children are at even greater risk than black children because of "cultural confusion" or prejudice from other children of both races.