America's next top model: parent behaviors that promote reading.

Parental involvement in the education of their children is essential for positive academic experiences and successful outcomes. Many different types of parenting practices are associated with positive student outcomes. These include the conventional "big-three": volunteering, being a classroom helper, and fundraising (Carter, 2002; Christenson & Sheridan, 2001). However, parental involvement goes beyond being engaged in the schools. What parents do in the home has a greater impact on student achievement than what they do in the school. Those parents who work with their children at home help them develop positive attitudes toward school and contribute to their children' s personal growth and academic success.

According to Oglan and Elcombe (2001), parents lay the groundwork for a child learning to read. Parents who create an environment that supports and encourages reading provide the child with "natural" experiences that become the norm. In those homes, family reading experiences have an impact on students' reading achievement in school. De-Jong and Leseman (2001) conducted a study of approximately 38,000 students in which they examined relationships between home-based interactions during instruction in the preschool years and reading skills in early elementary school. This study affirmed the lasting effects of home-based interactions on the development of children's reading comprehension skills, thereby supporting the belief that a direct relationship exists between what parents do at home and student reading achievement.

In a 1987 study, researchers in the Home- School Study began gathering data on 83 three-year-old children from low-income families in Boston, analyzing interactions between mothers and their children and interviewing the children's parents and teachers (Nord, Lennon, & Chandler, 2000). The study suggested that students stand to gain from extended conversations and reading in the home. The Parents as Teachers program empowers parents as their child's first and most influential teachers by improving parent-child interactions and strengthening family relationships (Texas Parents as Teachers, 2001).

These studies and others suggest that parents can influence their children's academic achievement by acting as role models. Therefore, we encourage parents to take charge of the "reading runway" by modeling reading behaviors and practices in the home, such as reading in front of the child, reading to and with the child, and providing resources in the home that promote reading.

Parents as Models

Parents who pose, or display for purposes of positively influencing, are deemed effective models. Parental modeling is defined as a process of observational learning in which the parent's behavior acts as a stimulus for similar behavior in his or her child (Berger, 2000). There is little doubt that parents are role models for children. The question to be answered is: What exactly are parents modeling? By modeling, parents show desired behaviors and the importance of making learning and hard work a regular part of children's lives. Parents become the catalyst for what they believe is good and right for their children. Their behavior when modeling reading must be in the open to promote children's desire to read for a specific purpose. It is incumbent upon parents to hit the "reading runway" and model behaviors that promote reading by sharing the joy and purpose of reading. They also must provide literacy resources in the home for their children, thereby making reading the norm and not an occasional event.

Reading in Front of the Child.

Parents communicate academic behaviors, consciously or unconsciously, to their children. In fact, parents are a child's very first teachers or role models (National Research Council, 1998). Children pay attention to, respond to, and mimic the behavior of prominent models. Because young children have limited prior knowledge and skills, they seek to find someone to imitate, and this is usually the parents. Children's behavior is learned by observing the behaviors of their mothers and fathers and doing as they do. For example, if a young child sees a parent reading regularly, then reading becomes important to the child as well (Berger, 2000). This result often occurs without the parents even realizing what is happening. Such unintentional influences are just as powerful as those that are carefully planned.

Families who value reading will see that value reflected in the actions of their children. By reading books, magazines, newspapers, and work-related materials in their spare time, parents show their child the value of the written word. Avid readers tend to come from homes in which reading is encouraged by a parent, grandparent, sibling, other family member, or even a baby-sitter.

Reading to and With the Child.

Reading to and with children is important when learning to read and in promoting reading. According to the Queensland Independent Schools Parents Council (2004), when parents read to and with their children, as well as let their children read to them, the children experience increased levels of academic achievement. In 2000, West explored student success in reading by having parents and children involved in the study alternate reading to one another for a total of 120 minutes over the course of an eight-week period. Students who participated in the study did better than those who did not when it came to completing their homework and acquiring passing grades on reading assessments.

Also, reading to and with young children provides an environment that supports readiness for children. These practices are beneficial to children because they facilitate language and cognitive development. Reading to children facilitates growth in the areas of vocabulary and comprehension. It also introduces children to text structure, story grammar, and the world of print. More importantly, reading to children provides an opportunity for learning about the world. Reading with children develops reading skill, fluency, word recognition, and comprehension (Meyer, Stahl, Wardrop, & Linn, 1999). The result is an increase in children's reading achievement.

Providing Resources in the Home. Parents and the literacy environments they create in their homes play a critical role in the development of children's reading and language skills. Children are more successful academically when they have access to different types of educational materials, including books, newspapers, a computer, and magazines (Downey, 2002). Yeung, Linver, and Brooks-Gunn (2002) conducted a study of over 3,500 children and their families. They found that the mere presence of intellectually stimulating toys, books, games, and activities in the home is significantly related to children's scores on standardized tests of reading achievement. Thus, children stand a better chance of reading success when raised in a home environment with plenty of thoughtful and invigorating print.

Conclusion

From the moment of birth, human beings learn from those with whom they interact. Parents and others who nurture young children are the teachers of values, beliefs, and behaviors. A family's environment greatly impacts a child's development and learning. Adults extend to children their own views about education and achievement, whether positive or negative. Parents who treasure reading are more likely to read in front of their children, and to read to and with their children. The involvement of parents and family members in the home is one of the keys to achieving success in schools. It is therefore essential for parents to take charge of the "reading runway" by striking poses that model multiple reading experiences. These poses include reading to and with children from a variety of genres, reading in front of children, and having educational materials, such as books, newspapers, a computer, and magazines, available in the home.

References

Berger, E.H. (2000). Parents as partners in education: Families and schools working together. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill.

Carter, S. (2002). The impact of parent/family involvement on student outcomes: An annotated bibliography of research from the past decade. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from www.directionservice.org/cadre/parent_family_involv.cfm

Christenson, S. L., & Sheridan, S.M. (2001). Schools and families: Creating essentials for learning. New York: Guilford Press.

DeJong, P. F., & Leseman, P. P. M. (2001). Lasting effects of home literacy on reading achievement in school. Journal of School Psychology, 39, 389-414.

Downey, D.B. (2002). Parental and family involvement in education. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from www.asu.edu/educ/ epsl/EPRU/documents/EPRU%202002101/Chapter%2006-Downey-Final.pdf

Meyer, L. A., Stahl, S. A., Wardrop, J. L., & Linn, R. E. (1999). Reading to children or reading with children? Effective School Practices, 17(3), 56-64.

National Research Council. (1998). Preventing reading difficulties in young children. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Nord, C. W., Lennon, J., Liu, B., & Chandler, K. (2000). Home literacy activities and signs of children's emerging literacy, 1993 and 1999 [NCES Publication 2000-026]. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Oglan, G. R., & Elcombe, A. (2001). Parent to parent: Our children, their literacy. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Queensland Independent Schools Parents Council. (July 2004). Parent involvement in schools. Retrieved February 15, 2005, from www.qispc.qld.edu.au/pdfs/ Research%20Paper.doc

Texas Parents as Teachers. (2001). Retrieved February 15, 2005, from http://txpat. org/patl.htm

West, J. M. (2000). Increasing parent involvement for student motivation. Armidale, New South Wales, Australia: University of New England (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED448411).

Yeung, W. J., Linver, M. R., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2002). How money matters for young children's development: Parental investment and family processes. Child Development, 73(6), 1861-1879.

Denise M. Weems and Carolyn Rogers

Denise M. Weems is Assistant Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro.

Carolyn Rogers is Assistant Professor, Leadership in Educational Administration, School of Education, Capella University, Minneapolis, Minnesota.