The level of parental education has increased for children in the past 20 years, though the parents of Black and Hispanic children continue to have less education than their White peers.

A child's family environment affects many aspects of that child's life, including achievement in school. From 1979 to 2001, the educational attainment of children's parents increased. The percentage of 5- to 17-year-olds whose parents had at least completed high school increased from 76 percent in 1979 to 88 percent in 2001, and the percentage of children whose parents had a bachelor's degree or higher increased from 19 percent to 31 percent. The parents of Black children had the largest increase in the percentage completing high school or higher, and the parents of White children had the largest increase in the percentage attaining a bachelor's degree or higher. In 2001, the parents of White children were more likely to have completed high school or higher than their Black and Hispanic peers, and the parents of Black children were more likely to have completed high school or higher than the parents of Hispanic children.

The poverty rate of school-aged children in 2001 was about 17 percent, not statistically different from the percentage in 1976, despite changes throughout the period. The percentage of children classified as "nonpoor" (twice the poverty level or more) increased and the percentage classified as "near-poor" (100–199 percent of the poverty level) decreased from 1976 to 2001. There were smaller percentages of Black and White children in poverty in 2001 than in 1976. Black children experienced the largest decline in poverty, from 50 percent in 1976 to 31 percent in 2001. Black and Hispanic children in 2001 were more likely than White children to be impoverished.

The past 25 years have seen a decrease in the percentage of two-parent households, from 83 percent in 1976 to 68 percent in 2001. White and Hispanic children ages 5–17 in 2001 were more likely than their Black peers to be living in a two-parent household. The percentage of children speaking a language other than English at home increased from 8 percent in 1979 to 17 percent in 1999 (the last year for which data are available). This increase is due in part to the increased Hispanic population in the United States: 71 percent of Hispanic children ages 5–17 spoke a language other than English at home in 1999, compared with 4 percent of White and Black children (see table 2-1).