Identifying SES Factors in the National Household Education Surveys

The purpose of this study was to determine if conceptually and psychometrically rigorous measures of socioeconomic status could be developed for the National Household Educational Surveys (NHES). Exploratory factor analyses were performed for the following NHES: (1) Parent and Family Involvement in Education; (2) School Readiness; (3) Early Childhood Program Participation; (4) After School Programs and Activities; and (5) Adult Education/Adult Education and Lifelong Learning over several years of this administration, including two of the NHES surveys conducted in 2019. The results, while preliminary, suggest that rigorous measures of socioeconomic status (SES) can be constructed for most of the surveys based on Hauser and Warren’s model which used income, education, and occupation. This should enhance inferences based on these data and simultaneously increase the appeal of this database to the educational research community. If the measurement of SES is enhanced, it will fundamentally raise the level of quality of research findings and make them more attractive to educational researchers who use the NHES survey database. KEYWORDS: Educational Attainment; Exploratory Factor Analysis; National Surveys; Parent Involvement; School Readiness; Socioeconomic Status; Data Analysis Methods; Educational Research Databases