Family Change and Student Achievement: What We Have Learned, What It Means for Schools

The family situations in which U.S. children are cared for and raised have changed dramatically over the last 30 years, that is, between 1964 and 1994. Divorce and childbearing outside of marriage have both become much more common. These are by no means the only changes that have occurred in U.S. family life, but they are the trends that have received the most attention and generated the greatest anxiety.