Purcell-Gates (1993b) states that amount of reading has been positively correlated with socioeconomic status, but she denies that a relationship exists between poverty and low family literacy. In a later study of several low-income families, Purcell-Gates with L´Allier and Smith (1995) found that while some low-income homes had limited involvement with literacy, a number of homes had a literacy-rich environment. Other researchers, such as Breen et al. (1994); D. Taylor and Dorsey-Gaines (1988); R. Taylor (1995); and Yaden, Rowe and McGillivray (1999) stress that traditional measures of socioeconomic status are not adequate for explaining how home environment affects literacy or school success and one must be cautious in drawing any conclusions about the impact of social class on literacy in the home. Thomas (1998) states that "we still do not understand how the interaction between parents and their children affects literacy learning" (p. 22) since little research has been conducted on the ways families influence their members' literacy development.

Further, it is possible that some of the differences in literacy achievement could be attributed to the variations in the quality of school programs and instruction rather than simply to income-related differences in the children (Willms, 1997a). Individual personality factors must also be taken into account. Clearly, more research is needed to identify the variables in literacy achievement and to understand how they may interact and mediate the relationship between poverty and literacy.