Parent Involvement

BIBLIOBRIEFS

Journal articles and reports in this section were selected from the ERIC, PsychInfo and other collections of the commercial database companies DIALOG Corporation and EBSCO Publishing. Due to the volume of information available on Parent Involvement, and for currency of information, citations were restricted to 1999 to 2003.

Al-Hassan, Suha and Ralph Gardner III. “Involving Immigrant Parents of Students with Disabilities in the Educational Process.” Teaching Exceptional Children vol. 34, issue 5 (May/June 2002): 52 - 59.
     The authors discuss the views of special education teachers working with immigrant families, the barriers to participation in the educational process by these families, and key factors in building a positive relationship between the families and the school system.

Bailey, Donald B., Jr. “Evaluating Parent Involvement and Family Support in Early Intervention and Preschool Programs.” Journal of Early Intervention vol. 24, no.1 (Winter 2001): 1 - 14.
     This article describes three potential levels of accountability for providing certain types of support for families in early intervention and preschool programs for children with disabilities: providing the legally required services for families, providing services that are considered recommended, and achieving certain outcomes as a result of working with families.

Baker, Amy J., et al. “Understanding Barriers to Parent Involvement in Head Start: A Research-Community Partnership.” Early Childhood Research Quarterly vol. 16, no.1 (2001): 35 - 51.
     This collaborative study examined barriers to parent involvement in the Head Start program among 68 mothers in New York City. Results revealed the presence of many difficult life experiences for mothers, but few were reported as barriers by many of the mothers.

Boers, David. “What Teachers Need of Parents.” Education Digest vol. 67, issue 8 (Apr 2002): 37-41.
     The author presents the results of a survey of 86 teachers to determine what they expect of parents. The findings showed the teachers’ suggestions for the parents, including: initiating communication with the teacher; monitoring homework; learning parenting and study skills; getting involved at school; spending quality time with their children; and responding positively to teachers.

Bruckman, Marilyn. “Welfare-to-Work Single Mothers’ Perspectives on Parent Involvement in Head Start: Implications for Parent-Teacher Collaboration.” Early Childhood Education Journal vol. 30(3) (Spring 2003): 145 - 150.
     The author describes the perspectives of five single mothers regarding the process of selecting childcare with the help of Head Start teachers. The mothers communicated that their self-development and learning were enhanced by interactions with Head Start staff. This collaboration was shown to have very positive effects for the mothers and their children.

Caputo, Richard K. “Head Start, Other Preschool Programs, & Life Success in a Youth Cohort.” Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, vol. 30 issue 2 (June 2003): 105 - 127.
     This study assesses the effects of Head Start and other preschool programs on five life success measures in a U.S. cohort of youth. Head Starters fared no better or worse than other preschoolers or non-preschoolers in four of the measures. Regarding the fifth measure, average annual income-to-poverty ratios, Head Starters had lower averages ratios, corroborating previous research indicating that Head Starters are economically and behaviorally disadvantaged compared to both other preschool and non-preschool children.

Daniel-White, Kimberly. “Reassessing Parent Involvement: Involving Language Minority Parents in School Work at Home.” Working Papers in Educational Linguistics vol. 18, no.1, (Spring 2002).
     Parental involvement programs have been funded and structured in ways valued by middle class parents to the exclusion of language minority families, their language, and their culture. These programs do not provide Latino and other immigrant families with the tools they need to help their children. This paper details a specific parental involvement effort initiated in a Latino home.

Farwell, Margo Merriam and U. Alfred. “Effects of Community on Parent Involvement.” Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering vol. 62(9-B) (April 2002): pp. 4273.
     The author asserts there has been limited research on the variable of “community” when examining variables that affect parent involvement. Results from surveys conducted by the author indicate that the community a parent resides in does not affect how the parent is actually involved or how they desire to be involved in school or at home. The author suggests that to increase the level of parent involvement within schools, there should be less focus on the community a parent is from and more on overcoming the barriers faced by all parents involved in their child's education.

Harrington, Diane Benson. “What Teachers Wish Parents Knew.” Parenting vol. 16 issue 1 (Feb 2002): 81-84.
     The author discusses several skills parents can teach the kindergarten-bound child to improve their chances for success, including: social skills; basic academics; the importance of learning; vocabulary building; eagerness to learn; and horizon-broadening activities.

Hausken, Elvira Germino and Amy H. Rathbun. “How are Transition-to-Kindergarten Activities Associated with Parent Involvement during Kindergarten?” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (Seattle, WA, April 10-14, 2001). ERIC Report Number ED452951.
     This study identified the types of transition activities practiced by kindergarten teachers/schools around the country. The most frequently used transition activities were sending information home about the program, inviting families to visit the classroom prior to beginning school, and inviting parents to a pre-enrollment orientation. Teachers in schools with low proportions of at-risk children, minority children, or English language learners reported more transition activities than teachers in schools with higher proportions of these groups.

Honig, Alice Sterling. “Parent Involvement in the Early Years.” Paper presented at the Parent Involvement Preconference Luncheon for the Children’s Forum (St. Petersburg, FL, October 19, 1999). ERIC Report Number ED436248.
     Asserting that parents are young children’s most precious resource, this paper offers research-based advice for raising children with self-esteem and the ability to become independent, productive members of society.

Jeynes, William H. “A Meta-Analysis: The Effects of Parental Involvement on Minority Children’s Academic Achievement.” Education and Urban Society vol. 35, issue 2 (Feb 2003): 202 - 219.
     The article examines the impact of parental involvement on the school success of minority children in the U.S. Data on effect sizes and confidence intervals for general parental involvement are given.

Justice, Laura M. and Helen K. Ezell. “Written Language Awareness In Preschool Children From Low-Income Households: A Descriptive Analysis.” Communication Disorders Quarterly vol. 22(3), (Spring 2001): 123 - 134.
     Children from households at or below federal poverty guidelines and currently enrolled in a Head Start program were examined for their skill levels in print, word, graphic, and meta-linguistic awareness. Analysis of the children's performance revealed significant gaps in knowledge across all four skills of written language awareness.

Keyes, Carol R. “A Way of Thinking about Parent/Teacher Partnerships for Teachers.” International Journal of Early Years Education vol. 10, issue 3 (Oct 2002): 177-192.
     The author presents a review of the literature on parent/teacher partnerships. She also proposes a theoretical, systemic approach to working with parents that may enable teachers to work more effectively with diverse families. The article describes the relationship between a parent and teacher as complex, dynamic, and complicated by differing values, concerns, and societal forces.

Lawson, Michael A. “School-family Relations in Context: Parent and Teacher Perceptions of Parent Involvement.” Urban Education vol. 38(1), (Jan 2003): 77 - 133.
     A study of teachers and parents associated with a low-income, ethnically diverse urban elementary school showed a difference in how the two groups perceived parent involvement. Both groups did agree that the parent/teacher partnership is essential to the academic success and healthy development of children.

Marcon, Rebecca A. “Impact of Parent Involvement on Children’s Development and Academic Performance: A Three-Cohort Study.” Paper presented at the Meeting of the Southeastern Psychological Association (Savannah, GA, March 1999). ERIC Report Number ED427880.
     This study examined the possibility of a “threshold” of parent involvement with their children’s preschools that can lead to positive child outcomes in a sample of hard-to-engage families. Increased parent involvement was found to have a positive impact on preschoolers’ early development and mastery of basic skills.

Mattingly, Doreen J. “Evaluating Evaluations: The Case of Parent Involvement Programs.”
Review of Educational Research, vol. 72(4), (Winter 2002): 549 - 576.
     The authors analyzed 41 studies that evaluated parent involvement programs to determine if the programs improved student learning. The results showed little empirical evidence that these programs improve student achievement or change the behavior of parents, teachers, or students. The authors conclude not that the programs are ineffective but that flaws in the methodology of these types of studies should be investigated before the quality of the programs can be definitely assessed.

Miedel, Wendy T. and Arthur J. Reynolds. “Parent Involvement in Early Intervention for Disadvantaged Children: Does it Matter?” Journal of School Psychology vol. 37, no.4, (Winter 1999): 379 - 402.
     This is a study of the association between parent involvement in early intervention and children’s later school competence. Results indicated that the number of activities in which parents participated in preschool and kindergarten was significantly associated with higher reading achievement, with lower rates of grade retention at age 14, and with fewer years in special education.

O'Leary, Catherine Carlisle. “The Early Childhood Family Check-Up: A Brief Intervention For At-Risk Families With Preschool-Aged Children.” Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences & Engineering, vol. 62(6-B), (Jan 2001): pp. 2992.
     Research suggests that coercive parenting strategies are associated with the development of preschool child behavior problems and that these problems can be stable and persistent. The author describes an intervention designed to motivate parents to decrease the risk for severe behavior problems by changing their parenting techniques. Analysis revealed that parents who changed parenting strategies after receiving the intervention used more structure with their children in parent-child tasks than parents in the control condition.

Trotman, Michelle Frazier. “Involving the African American Parent: Recommendations to Increase the Level of Parent Involvement within African American Families.” Journal of Negro Education vol. 70, (Fall 2001): 275 - 285.
     This discussion of the importance of parental involvement focuses on African American families. Factors contributing to the lack of parental participation are examined. Recommendations to increase parental involvement as a tactic to improve the school performance of African American children are given.