ose con ducted by teachers (Rasinski, & Fredericks, 1988). Parental involvement in real aloud programs is one way in which parents of disadvantaged children may enhance the level of academic achievement for their children.
The external frame of reference I have applied to evaluate reading aloud to children is the pursuit of academic achieve ment improvement by young children. An identification of the factors contributing to, or detracting from academic achieve ment by children provides a basis for continuing research in 3American education. Reading aloud programs may be used to off set many of the negative factors associated with an absence of acceptable levels of academic achievement.
Academic Achievement, Socioeconomic Factors, and Reading Aloud
One of the widely studied areas involves the relationships between achievement and socioeconomic variables. Resnick, & Resnick (1988) flatly stated that, as a result of prior research, it is known that parental education and income are good predictors of children's academic achievement. A meta analysis conducted by White (1982), however, casts some doubt on this contention. White found, as examples, that the rela tionship between achievement and socioeconomic factors was much stronger in (1) published than in unpublished studies, and (2) studies with low internal validity than those with high inter nal validity.
Thus, while a large number of studies investigating the relationship between academic achievement in children and socioeconomic factors are reported in the literature, and although most conclude that the relationship is strong, White's findings indicate that a need continues to exist for further study in this area of interest. Accurately defining the rela tionship between achievement and socio
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