Family Educational Capital and Students’ Outcomes

Abstract

The general propositions presented in Chapter 1 suggest that relationships between family contexts and students’ school outcomes are mediated, in part, by more immediate family educational capital. That is, if we understand the nature of students’ family learning environments we can explain, to a large extent, differences in the educational outcomes of students from diverse social and cultural contexts. The potential impact that supportive family learning environments may have on students’ school success is suggested in the following claims by Coleman (1991) and Wang, Haertel, and Walberg (1993). Coleman states:

Research shows conclusively that parents’ involvement in their children’s education confers great benefits both intellectual and emotional, on their children. Thus, a major issue facing education today is this: How to improve educational outcomes for children in the face of contradictions in family functioning, when strong families are so important for children’s learning? (p. 1)