Assessment of Basic Concept Knowledge of Children from Differing Socio-Economic Status Homes

In the field of education, research suggests that socioeconomic status (SES) influences vocabulary development and academic achievement. Children from high SES backgrounds tend to score better on standardized vocabulary tests than children from low SES backgrounds; however, to date only general vocabulary measures have been utilized. Basic concepts, a specific subset of vocabulary, serve as the foundation upon which children build their conceptual knowledge. For this study, two groups of preschool children (one from high SES homes and one from low SES homes) were administered the Bracken Basic Concept Scale - Third Edition (BBCS:3). The purpose of this study was to determine if children from higher SES homes do, in fact, have a higher knowledge of basic concepts than their lower SES peers. An independent samples t-test was used to statistically analyze the differences between test scores of the two groups (high and low SES). Results revealed that children from higher SES homes scored significantly higher on the BBCS:3 than their peers from lower SES homes. Implications of this study are discussed