ERIC Identifier: ED355314
Publication Date: 1992-12-00
Author: Lewis, Anne
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban
Education New York NY.
Helping Young Urban Parents Educate Themselves and Their
Children. ERIC/CUE Digest, Number 85.
No discussion of school reform or education policy issues these days seems
complete without references to "parent involvement." Most educators would agree
this term goes far beyond the traditional view of parents as field trip
chaperons and cookie bakers--from preparing children for school, to education
choice, to new forms of school governance. Nevertheless, much of the literature
still defines parent involvement as those activities supporting what the schools
define as involvement, and continues to address what PARENTS SHOULD DO.
The demographics of urban schools, in particular, are causing this view of
parent involvement to be challenged, however, as increasing numbers of very
young parents, most of whom are single, poor, and not well-educated, need
multiple services to help create a caring environment for their children. The
focus of involvement is shifting not to what schools should do for parents, but
to how to form genuine school-family partnerships.
Research data on parent involvement that separate out young, low-income
and/or minority parents are just emerging. Although, as a sub-group, the young
parent is not yet fully addressed in the literature, urban schools increasingly
must cope with the consequences of mothers who had babies when they were still
very young themselves.
Teenage pregnancy rates are rising. The
largest increase is among the youngest--ages 15-17. Their birth rates (births
per 1,000 females) rose 19 percent between 1986 and 1989, according to Child
Trends, Inc. (1992). During the same time, the rates for ages 18-19 and for
women in their twenties each increased 7 percent. In 1989, about 518,000 girls
under age 20 became mothers. Two-thirds of these births were to single mothers,
compared to 25 percent of the women in their twenties. These families, headed by
single mothers, comprise the fastest growing category of family groups,
according to Danziger and Farber (1990). As a percentage of their racial group,
single motherhood is a particular issue for African Americans; 58 percent of all
black families with children are headed by single mothers, compared to 19
percent of whites. Less than 25 years ago, the percentage for black families was
only 15 percent.
CONSEQUENCES FOR MOTHER AND CHILD
For those who become
unwed mothers at a young age, there are immediate disadvantages that have
lifelong effects. Wilson (1986) says they are less likely to ever get married,
they have more children than the average, they are more likely to be poor, and
their formal education ends early.
Education. Having a baby means dropping out of school for 80 percent of teenage
mothers, and only 56 percent finally graduate from high school (Armstrong &
Waszak, 1992). Further, a teenage parent will make only one-half of the lifetime
earnings of a mother who waited until at least age 20 to have her first child.
Being a teenage mother also means living below the poverty line; in 1986, 81
percent of young mothers living alone had incomes below the Federal poverty
level. Even if married, their poverty rates were twice the national average.
Income. Early childbearing is more than a personal tragedy. The Center for
Population Options (Armstrong & Waszak, 1992) estimates that in 1990, the
annual cost of teenage motherhood (welfare, food stamps, Medicaid) was $25
billion. If the teenage births in that year had been delayed until the mother
was age 20, the savings in support services would have been 40 percent.
School Readiness. The children of low-income young mothers, more often than not,
are unprepared for formal schooling. The Educational Testing Service (1992)
contends that even after controlling for key socioeconomic differences between
one- and two-parent families, students living with both parents perform better
academically in school. Low-income families do not have the resources to create
literacy-