Assessing the Impact of Parent Involvement Programs: Research from Outside the World of Program Evaluation. Eric Dearing. Department of Psychology

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1 Assessing the Impact of Parent Involvement Programs: Research from Outside the World of Program Evaluation Eric Dearing Department of Psychology

2 My Collaborators Holly Kreider Ellen Mayer Heather Weiss Harvard Family Research Project Harvard Graduate School of Education Kathleen McCartney Harvard Graduate School of Education Sandra Simpkins Department of Family and Human Development Arizona State University

Kathleen McCartney Harvard Graduate School of Education Sandra

3 Research from Outside the World of Program Evaluation Four Empirical Themes with Implications for Evaluation Work: 1. Involvement is co-constructed. 2. Involvement is a dynamic process that can vary within families. 3. Involvement often has indirect effects on children s achievement. 4. Involvement effects can vary across children.

Involvement is a dynamic process that can vary within families. 3.

4 The School Transitions Study! A follow-up investigation of 390 low-income children and their families who participated in the Comprehensive Child Development Program! Families were 37% African American, 36% European American, and 24% Latino American! Children were followed from kindergarten through the fifth grade

participated in the Comprehensive Child Development Program!

5 Our Operational Definition of Involvement! Home (e.g., reading to/with the child)! School (e.g., attending PTA/PTO meetings)! Home-school communication (e.g., parentteacher conferences)! Unconventional (e.g., parent-to-parent communication)

Home-school communication (e.g., parentteacher conferences)!

6 Involvement is Co-constructed Contexts Outside the Home The Family

7 Involvement is Co-constructed Contexts Outside the Home The Family Family Involvement in Education

8 Involvement is Co-constructed School Context The Family Family Involvement in Education

9 Involvement is Co-constructed Child and Family Strengths Supports and Services Staff and Community Investment School Context Family Involvement Literacy Achievement

10 The Statistical Importance of Including Context Family Program School Context A C B Family Involvement

11 Involvement is a Dynamic Process Changes in Family Involvement in the School Transitions Study by Maternal Age 6 Family Involvement or Older Teenager K School Grade

Maternal Age 6 Family Involvement 5.5 5 4.5 4 3.

12 Involvement is a Dynamic Process Changes in Family Involvement in the School Transitions Study by Maternal Age 6 Family Involvement or Older Teenager K School Grade

13 Involvement is a Dynamic Process Changes in Family Involvement in the School Transitions Study by Maternal Age 6 Family Involvement or Older Teenager K School Grade

14 Involvement as a Dynamic Process In the School Transitions Study:! Between-family differences in average level of involvement across the study were positively associated with betweenchild differences in average level of literacy performance across the study.! Above and beyond these between-family differences, however, increased involvement within families was associated with increased literacy performance for children.! In fact, the within-family effect size for involvement was nearly twice as large as the between-family effect size.

in average level of literacy performance across the study.

15 The Indirect Effects of Involvement on Children s Achievement

16 The Indirect Effects of Involvement on Children s Achievement Family Involvement Feelings about Literacy Literacy Achievement

17 The Indirect Effects of Involvement on Children s Achievement Family Involvement Literacy Achievement

18 The Indirect Effects of Involvement on Children s Achievement Parent Efficacy Family Involvement Child Self-efficacy Child Achievement e.g., Hoover-Dempsey & Sadler, 1995; Eccles & Harold, 1993; Bandura et al., 1996

19 The Indirect Effects of Involvement on Children s Achievement

edu/~preacher/sobel/sobel.htm http://www.public.

20 Involvement Effects Vary Across Children The Moderating Effect of Maternal Education in the School Transitions Study < High School High School 0.55 Average Proportion Correct on Woodcock-Johnson Literacy (Letter-Word) Low Moderate High Family Educational Involvement

21 Involvement Effects Vary Across Children Some moderators that have been demonstrated empirically in the family involvement literature: 1. family education (e.g., Dearing et al., 2004). 2. parent-child relationship (e.g., Simpkins et al., 2004). 3. ethnicity (e.g., Hill & Craft, 2003). 4. child age (e.g., Fan & Chen, 2001). The search for moderators should begin with child, family, or community characteristics that may: 1. strengthen or weaken program effects. 2. modify the meaning of constructs of interest.

22 Research from Outside the World of Program Evaluation The Implications for Evaluation Work: 1. Assessment of contexts that help determine family involvement can improve the precision of estimated program effects. 2. Longitudinal assessments of within-family variations in family involvement can improve the ecologically validity of involvement indicators. 3. Assessing intermediate mechanisms relaying program effects to children can help capture program effectiveness. 4. Estimating variations in involvement effects can help clarify for whom involvement matters most.

Achievement and the Myth of the Helicopter Mom

Achievement and the Myth of the Helicopter Mom Academic Exchange Quarterly Spring 2013 ISSN 1096-1453 Volume 17, Issue 1 To cite, use print source rather than this on-line version which may not reflect print copy format requirements or text lay-out