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Nonmetropolitan Status and Kindergarteners' Early Literacy Skills: Is There a Rural Disadvantage? *
Author(s) -
Durham Rachel E.,
Smith P. Johnelle
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
rural sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.083
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1549-0831
pISSN - 0036-0112
DOI - 10.1526/003601106781262052
Subject(s) - socioeconomic status , literacy , early childhood , metropolitan area , multilevel model , disadvantage , ethnic group , psychology , cohort , social capital , rural area , developmental psychology , demography , geography , sociology , political science , population , medicine , social science , pedagogy , archaeology , machine learning , computer science , anthropology , law
This study seeks to discover whether beginning kindergarteners vary in early literacy readiness according to their county's metro/non‐metropolitan status, county‐level economic and social characteristics, individual demographic characteristics, family social capital resources, and preschool childcare. Using student‐level data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study‐Kindergarten Cohort and county‐level data from various secondary sources, we estimate a two‐level hierarchical linear model to test the relationship between early literacy ability and individual and county demographic and structural factors. Results show that there is a direct association between living in a nonmetropolitan county and early literacy ability at the beginning of kindergarten, but that the direction and strength of these relationships depends on individual ethnicity and socioeconomic status, as well as the social and economic characteristics of the county.