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The acquisition of early mathematical knowledge is critical for successful long-term academic development. Mathematical language is one of the strongest predictors of children's early mathematical success. Findings from previous studies have provided correlational evidence supporting the importance of mathematical language to the development of children's mathematics skills, but there is limited causal evidence supporting this link. To address this research gap, 47 Head Start children were randomly assigned to a mathematical language intervention group or a business-as-usual group. Over the course of eight weeks, interventionists implemented a dialogic reading intervention focused on quantitative and spatial mathematical language. At posttest, students in the intervention group significantly outperformed the students in the comparison group not only on a mathematical language assessment, but on a mathematical knowledge assessment as well. These findings indicate that increasing children's exposure to mathematical language can positively affect their general mathematics skills. This study is an important first step in providing causal evidence of the importance of early mathematical language for children's general mathematical knowledge and the potential for mathematical language interventions to increase children's overall mathematics abilities.

Parental educational involvement during middle school has received increased attention from researchers and policymakers because of its links to a variety of academic outcomes. Despite this increased attention, parental involvement has been inconsistently linked to academic outcomes among adolescents, indicating different types and levels of involvement that may be more beneficial for adolescents. Therefore, this study examined the nonlinear associations between parental involvement (home-based involvement and academic socialization) and academic motivation in an effort to better understand the nature of parental involvement in middle school. Using data from an ethnically diverse (57% Black/African American, 19% multiracial, 18% White/Caucasian, 5% Hispanic or Latino, and 1% Asian American) sample of 150 adolescents (56% female) in grades 6 through 8, findings showed no associations between home-based involvement and intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. There was, however, a significant nonlinear association between academic socialization and both types of motivation. More specifically, the positive association between academic socialization and intrinsic motivation was attenuated at high levels of academic socialization. There was no association between academic socialization and extrinsic motivation at low and moderate levels, but there was a positive association at high levels of academic socialization. These findings suggest that different types of involvement and greater amounts of parental involvement may not always benefit adolescents' academic motivation.

The present study examined the extent to which parent involvement in education was directly and indirectly (via school engagement) related to academic outcomes in an effort to more fully understand the school experiences of urban adolescents. Participants (80% racial/ethnic minority; n = 108) were in grades 6, 7 or 8. In the Fall and subsequent Spring youth completed in-school surveys with items on parental involvement in education, school engagement (affective, behavioural, cognitive engagement) and perceived academic competence. Grades were obtained from official school records. Findings showed that parental involved was positively associated with behavioural and cognitive engagement, which in turn contributed to academic competence and achievement. Results underscore the importance of parental involvement in adolescents' engagement and academic success and highlight the importance of examining the multiple components of school engagement simultaneously, as we found differential effects for affective, behavioural, and cognitive engagement on academic competence and achievement.