Family-educator collaboration is a good start to narrowing early-childhood literacy gaps

What happens when the learning environment includes both home and school?  How much difference does home reading instruction make in closing achievement gaps?

Summary Statement: While reading instruction at home helps, it cannot on its own close achievement gaps, but it can meaningfully narrow them, especially for historically marginalized and economically disadvantaged students.

Evidence:

• In a large Australian cohort, raising disadvantaged children’s home reading to the level of advantaged peers was estimated to reduce the reading gap by about 6.5%, with most of the socioeconomic gap remaining (Goldfeld et al., 2021).
• A Danish randomized trial of a parent-focused shared-reading program in grade 2 improved reading and writing and reduced gaps by maternal education and gender (Andersen et al., 2022).
• A U.S. home-visiting program that coached low‑income parents (HIPPY) produced higher reading and math scores through 5th grade compared with similar peers (Nievar et al., 2018).

Effects on Reading Achievement

Inequality and Limits

• Even with improved home reading and preschool, disadvantaged children in Australia were still 18 percentage points more likely to have poor reading outcomes (Goldfeld et al., 2021).
• Socioeconomic achievement gaps are also driven by school quality, broader family resources, and early cognitive/language differences, which home reading alone cannot offset (Coley et al., 2020; Betancur et al., 2018).
• Meta-analytic work shows parental involvement benefits students across SES, but some advantages are larger for highly educated parents, who can leverage involvement more effectively (Tan et al., 2020).

Conclusion

Home reading instruction and parent-led literacy activities do make a real, measurable difference and can modestly narrow achievement gaps, particularly when parents are guided and resourced. However, they are not sufficient by themselves to close socioeconomic gaps. Sustained school quality, preschool access, and broader anti-poverty supports are also necessary.

Action Step

While broader anti-poverty initiatives may also be warranted depending on district contexts, those interested in exploring family-educator collaboration as a starting point might consider connecting with the non-profit, Springboard Collaborative which coaches district teachers to run a 5–10-week playbook. Their playbook combines:

• Small group literacy instruction using lessons that align to the Science of Reading
• Workshops that support families to become confident at-home reading coaches
• Professional development for teachers that boosts their ability to engage families as partners in teaching and learning

References

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Alston-Abel, N., & Berninger, V. (2018). Relationships Between Home Literacy Practices and School Achievement: Implications for Consultation and Home–School Collaboration. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 28, 164 – 189. https://doi.org/10.1080/10474412.2017.1323222

Andersen, S., Nielsen, H., & Rowe, M. (2022). Development of writing skills within a home-based, shared reading intervention: Re-analyses of evidence from a randomized controlled trial. Learning and Individual Differences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2022.102211

Betancur, L., Votruba-Drzal, E., & Schunn, C. (2018). Socioeconomic gaps in science achievement. International Journal of Stem Education, 5. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-018-0132-5

Coley, R., Kruzik, C., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2020). Do family investments explain growing socioeconomic disparities in children’s reading, math, and science achievement during school versus summer months?. Journal of Educational Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000427

Dahl‐Leonard, K., Hall, C., Cho, E., Capin, P., Roberts, G., Kehoe, K., Haring, C., Peacott, D., & Demchak, A. (2025). Examining the Effects of Family-Implemented Literacy Interventions for School-Aged Children: A Meta-Analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-09985-3

Goldfeld, S., Moreno-Betancur, M., Guo, S., Mensah, F., O’Connor, E., Gray, S., Chong, S., Woolfenden, S., Williams, K., Kvalsvig, A., Badland, H., Azpitarte, F., & O’Connor, M. (2021). Inequities in children’s reading skills: The role of home reading and preschool attendance.. Academic pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2021.04.019

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Khanolainen, D., Psyridou, M., Šilinskas, G., Lerkkanen, M., Niemi, P., Poikkeus, A., & Torppa, M. (2020). Longitudinal Effects of the Home Learning Environment and Parental Difficulties on Reading and Math Development Across Grades 1–9. Frontiers in Psychology, 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.577981

Nievar, Á., Brown, A., Nathans, L., Chen, Q., & Martinez-Cantu, V. (2018). Home Visiting Among Inner-City Families: Links to Early Academic Achievement. Early Education and Development, 29, 1115 – 1128. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2018.1506229

Tan, C., Lyu, M., & Peng, B. (2020). Academic Benefits from Parental Involvement are Stratified by Parental Socioeconomic Status: A Meta-analysis. Parenting, 20, 241 – 287. https://doi.org/10.1080/15295192.2019.1694836