Abstracts - Earli

Relations between parents’ education and students’ reading achievement - A cross countrycomparisonMonica Rosen, Gothenburg University, SwedenEva Myrberg, Gothenburg University, SwedenParents’ educational level has in most countries been identified as a powerful predictor ofstudents’ achievement. The purpose is to investigate the total effect of parents’ educational levels,as well as the relative importance of various mediating factors, on students’ reading achievementbetween countries. Data comes from PIRLS 2001 and comparisons were made between Hungary,Bulgaria, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Hong Kong. The effects of parents’ education onreading achievement were estimated with structural equation modelling. The total effects ofparents’ education varied considerably between countries and so did the direct and indirect effects.The results imply that the effects of students’ home background on achievement are likely tointeract with features of school systems. Thereby they can be affected by educational policies andpractices. Further comparative research may clarify effects of crucial factors in these aspects. Also,exploring the meaning of various mediating factors across countries can contribute to theunderstanding of how reading development may be supported in homes and schools.Perceived family support for learning, achievement goal emphases, and students’ achievementgoal orientationsStuart Karabenick, University of Michigan, USAJeanne Friedel, University of Michigan, USAThe present study extends research on achievement motivation and family involvement in studentlearning. We examined students’ perceptions of family support for motivation and academic selfregulation,the relation of such support to students’ perceptions of the achievement goals theirfamilies emphasize, and the extent to which perceived family support and achievement goalemphases predict students’ personal goal orientations. Participants were 750 students in US middleand high schools. Results of factor analysis indicated that students did not differentiate betweenfamily support for motivation and support for cognitive or metacognitive strategy use. Perceivedsupport correlated most strongly with perceived family emphasis on mastery goals. Regressionanalyses indicated that both perceived support and mastery emphasis positively predicted students’personal mastery orientations. In addition, perceived family emphasis on both performanceapproach and avoid goals positively predicted students’ reports of performance approach as wellas performance avoid orientations. Thus we found support for a link between perceived familysupport for motivation and learning strategies, and students’ pursuit of mastery goals; however,more research is needed to investigate the family-based antecedents of performance goal pursuit.These findings highlight the critical importance of students’ experiences in the family context asthey support student motivation for learning.– 339 –