Do parents matter? - practices on fourth graders' reading comprehension achievement in Montevideo public schools

The purpose of this study was to examine how parental practices were associated with achievement in reading comprehension among 4th graders in Montevideo, Uruguay public schools. Previous studies assess the relative influence of the home have usually combined home factors with indicators of family socioeconomic status (SES), which has partially concealed the unique impact of home factors on student achievement. This study distinguishes the impact of family background factors, such as economic status and maternal education, from parental practices, which combined with the fact that multilevel modeling is used to analyze the data, sets this study apart from other analyses of home factors and student achievement in developing countries.