“The more that you read, the more you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go”

- Dr. Seuss

A study published in Academic Pediatrics suggests that home reading and preschool attendance may play a role in the acquired reading skills of children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

This study was conducted by a team of researchers, led by Sharon Goldfeld at the University of Melbourne. 

Socioeconomic gaps occur throughout neighbourhoods across the Globe and can be associated with inequalities in children’s academic performance, specifically reading skills. This study aimed to examine if there’s potential to reduce this socioeconomic gap in children’s reading skills. 

Reducing the gap would involve employing an intervention effects approach. This is done by intervening in the home environment (e.g., a parent reads to the study child) and by intervening via enrolling a child in preschool, as well as monitoring their attendance. 

It was found that socioeconomically disadvantaged children are at a higher risk of inadequate reading skills compared to their advantaged peers. The results indicate that home reading can improve a disadvantaged child’s reading skills to match that of their advantaged counterparts.

It can also eliminate the socioeconomic gap by 6.5%. Preschool enrollment and attendance were also implicated in reducing the socioeconomic gap in children’s reading skills by 2%.

The combination of home reading and attending preschool are promising factors that should be targeted when addressing the reduction of the socioeconomic gap in children’s reading outcomes. It’s important to note that these two interventions must be carried out in combination to have a significant effect.