the "literacy environment" of the home, the mother's own level of education, and her educational expectations for the child. (The father's back- ground mattered much less.) The quality of schools also made a difference, but a con- siderably smaller one.
A third facet, reading com- prehension, is more compli-cated. But schools and families seemed to be able to compen- sate for each other's failings. In the 1980-82 study, all chil- dren-including those from the worst homes-who had ex- cellent...