Early identification of young children at risk for poor academic achievement: preliminary development of a parent-report prediction tool

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early school success is clearly related to later health. A prediction index that uses parent report to assess children's risk for poor academic achievement could potentially direct targeted service delivery to improve child outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We obtained risk factors through literature review and used the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child Files to examine the predictive associations of these factors with academic achievement scores.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty predictors were identified including four strong predictors (maternal education, child gender, family income, and low birth weight). Significantly, 12 predictors explained 17-24% of score variance.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Parent-reported factors provide predictive accuracy for academic achievement.</p