Percentage of prekindergarten children ages 3–5 who participated in home literacy activities with a family member three or more times in the preceding week, by selected child and family characteristics: 1993 and 2005

Contexts of Elementary and Secondary Education: Tables

Early Literacy Activities

Table 33-1. Percentage of prekindergarten children ages 3–5 who participated in home literacy activities with a family member three or more times in the preceding week, by selected child and family characteristics: 1993 and 2005

	Read to¹		Told a story		Taught letters, words, or numbers		Taught songs or music
Child or family characteristic	1993	2005	1993	2005	1993	2005	1993	2005

Total	78.3	85.7	43.0	53.7	57.7	76.6	41.0	54.4
Age
3	79.4	86.4	46.4	54.5	57.2	75.5	45.0	60.9
4	77.8	84.7	41.2	52.8	58.1	76.8	38.9	49.7
5	75.9	86.5	35.8	54.6	57.9	80.0	33.1	47.1
Sex
Male	77.4	84.7	42.6	53.2	57.7	75.5	38.3	50.7
Female	79.2	86.8	43.4	54.3	57.7	77.8	43.8	58.4
Race/ethnicity²
White	84.8	91.9	44.3	53.3	57.2	75.7	40.2	52.1
Black	65.9	78.5	39.0	54.3	62.7	80.6	48.9	56.4
Hispanic	58.2	71.8	37.7	49.8	53.9	74.3	38.7	59.1
Asian/Pacific Islander	68.8	84.4	52.1	64.5	61.8	75.2	35.9	46.9
Parents’ primary home language
Both parents speak English	81.1	88.8	43.6	55.0	58.1	77.8	41.6	54.4
One parent speaks English	65.1	76.4	48.7	56.3	57.0	70.8	35.2	61.9
Neither parent speaks English	40.3	64.6	33.0	43.8	51.6	68.9	32.9	53.0
Parents’ education³
Less than high school	54.4	62.7	34.1	42.6	54.6	67.8	37.3	49.0
High school diploma or equivalent	73.0	79.9	40.5	46.9	57.9	76.8	42.6	56.7
Some college, including vocational/technical	81.8	86.4	42.4	56.5	58.3	79.7	41.3	56.9
Bachelor’s degree	88.9	92.2	47.7	56.4	57.3	75.8	36.7	53.8
Graduate/professional degree	88.5	94.4	52.0	60.7	58.2	76.1	42.7	50.1
Mother’s employment⁴
35 hours or more per week	77.9	83.2	42.7	52.0	55.7	74.7	41.9	54.8
Less than 35 hours per week	81.5	89.3	45.0	54.1	57.7	78.8	40.2	50.5
Looking for work	70.9	89.4	42.9	57.6	65.8	81.0	49.2	54.5
Not in the labor force	78.9	85.1	42.5	54.9	58.3	76.4	40.0	56.4
Family type
Two-parent household	81.1	86.5	43.8	53.4	57.1	76.1	39.9	53.6
One-parent or guardian-only household	70.8	82.8	40.7	54.9	59.1	78.3	43.9	57.2
Poverty status⁵
Poor	67.5	78.4	39.1	50.8	59.6	76.0	45.2	53.7
Near-poor	75.5	82.4	42.5	53.6	58.1	78.0	39.4	59.2
Nonpoor	86.8	90.2	45.6	55.0	56.2	76.2	39.5	52.5
Number of children under age 18 in the home
1	80.9	85.8	45.9	56.5	65.0	77.8	44.0	56.5
2–3	78.7	85.9	43.1	53.0	55.8	76.8	39.7	52.8
4 or more	72.4	84.6	38.3	53.8	56.8	74.1	43.3	60.0

¹In 1993, respondents were asked about their reading frequency in one of the two versions of the survey questionnaire. The percentages presented in the table are for all of the respondents who answered three or more times on either version of the questionnaire.
²Black includes African American, Hispanic includes Latino, and Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified. Other race/ethnicities are included in the total but are not shown separately.
³Parents’ education is based on the highest level of education attained by either parent.
⁴Estimates do not include children without mothers (birth, adoptive, step, or foster) residing in the household.
⁵“Poor” is defined to include those families below the poverty threshold; “near-poor” is defined as 100–199 percent of the poverty threshold; and “nonpoor” is defined as 200 percent or more than the poverty threshold. See supplemental note 1 for more information on poverty.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the 1993 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) and Early Childhood Program Participation Survey of the 2005 NHES, previously unpublished tabulation (October 2005).

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