How accurate can mothers and teachers be regarding children's emergent literacy development? A comparison between mothers with high and low education

The relationship between mothers' and educators' evaluation of 75 children's emergent literacy levels and actual levels were investigated. Two groups of mothers participated: mothers with a low education and mothers with a high education. The children's emergent literacy was measured. The mothers evaluated their own children and 40 teachers evaluated these same children in the same domains. The children of mothers with a high education received higher scores in their actual emergent literacy level than the children of mothers with a low education. Their mothers' and teachers' evaluations were also higher than those in the counter group. The teachers' and mothers' evaluations of the children's levels were higher than the children's actual levels across both groups. No differences were found between the mothers' and the teachers' accuracy in evaluating the children's level or between mothers from the two education groups. Implications of these findings are discussed.