Census: Parents Reading More With Their Children

Today’s parents—especially low-income parents—are more involved with their young children than they were a decade ago, in ways that research has shown could boost children’s academic careers down the road.

Amid dense new data released Aug. 11 from the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Survey of Income and Program Participation, several indicators show American children are spending more time with their parents, from reading to playing to eating dinner, than they did in 1998 . The latest data, which are for 2009 and come from interviews with a nationally representative sample of more than 42,000 households, could signal the potential for more parent involvement in education, even as federal, state, and district money for parent engagement shrinks.

Sheila Smith, the early-childhood director for the New York City-based National Center for Children in Poverty, said the indicators come...