Family-School Partnerships During the Early School Years : Advancing Science to Influence Practice

This book presents research-based family-school intervention programs that target the specific developmental period of preschool through the early elementary years, focusing on promoting positive child transitions into school. It explores critical intervention issues, including the need to understand mechanisms of efficacy, issues with real-world implementation, and methods for scaling family-school interventions. The volume references developmental research to highlight the importance of family-school partnerships at this critical transition period. Several chapters briefly describe research on proven intervention models that are effective in promoting family-school partnerships as children enter kindergarten and foster positive school outcomes. Each chapter concludes with a review of the most critical next steps in family-school intervention research within the context of the early school years. At the end of the book, several commentary chapters address overall implications for future research and methods for advancing the field, including perspectives on research-informed family-school practices and policies. Not only does the volume highlight interventions that work effectively to engage families with schools, it focuses on identifying critical components and processes that may underlie effective intervention outcomes and offers agendas for future research and intervention diffusion efforts. Key topics of coverage include: Presenting the logic model of the intervention program. Exploring questions concerning critical elements of family-school partnerships that may account for children’s positive outcomes. Discussing the challenges and strategies for scalability and broad diffusion. Family-School Partnerships During the Early School Years is a valuable resource for researchers, professionals and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, family studies, developmental psychology, sociology of education, sociology, and anthropology. Contents 6 About the Editors 8 Contributors 9 Chapter 1: Family-School Partnerships at School Entry: Developmental and Conceptual Frameworks for Action 11 1.1 Introduction 12 1.2 Parent Engagement and Family-School Partnerships 12 1.3 Family-School Partnerships at the Transition into Formal Schooling 14 1.4 Implications for Effective Intervention 16 1.5 Crosscutting Issues and Questions 19 References 23 Chapter 2: Getting Ready: A Relationship-Based Approach to Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education Settings 26 2.1 Introduction to the Getting Ready Approach 27 2.2 Getting Ready’s Research Evidence 31 2.3 Implications of Getting Ready Findings for Future Intervention Design and Research 33 2.4 Conclusions 39 References 39 Chapter 3: The REDI-Parent Program: Enhancing the School Success of Children from Low-Income Families 41 3.1 Developmental Research Informing the REDI-P Intervention Design 43 3.2 REDI-P Evaluation: Immediate and Longer-Term Outcomes 46 3.3 Exploring Potential Mechanisms of Action in the REDI-P Intervention 49 3.4 Implications of REDI-P Findings for Future Intervention Design and Research 54 3.5 Summary 57 References 57 Chapter 4: Understanding ParentCorps’ Essential Elements for Building Adult Capacity to Support Young Children’s Health and Development 60 4.1 ParentCorps Theory of Action 61 4.2 Program Components 63 4.3 Evidence of Impact 67 4.4 Priorities for Research to Understand Core Pathways to Impact 70 4.5 Priorities for Research to Support Impact at Scale 73 4.6 Conclusion 75 References 76 Chapter 5: Research on the Family Check-Up to Support Social and Behavioral Adjustment in Early Elementary School 80 5.1 The Family Check-Up Model 81 5.2 Empirical Support 84 5.3 Adaptations for School Entry: The Family Check-Up for Kindergarteners 85 5.4 Mechanisms of Change 87 5.5 Implementation of the FCU at School Entry in Real-World Settings 88 5.6 Future Research Directions 92 5.7 Conclusion 93 References 94 Chapter 6: Parental Involvement and Engagement in Early Education Contribute to Children’s Success and Well-Being 98 6.1 Introduction 99 6.2 Parental Involvement in Early Education: The Child-Parent Center Model 99 6.2.1 The Child-Parent Center (CPC) Program 100 6.2.2 CPC Parent Engagement Component 101 6.2.3 Evidence Documenting the Positive Impact of the CPC Model on Child Outcomes 102 6.3 Parental Engagement as a Mechanism Promoting Long-Term Benefits 104 6.3.1 Contributions of the CPC Family Support Component to Children’s Well-Being 105 6.3.2 Summary of CPC Processes of Influence on Youth and Adult Outcomes 107 6.3.3 Economic Impact of the CPC Program 109 6.4 Future Directions in Research on Parent Engagement and Long-Term Child Outcomes 110 6.4.1 Understanding Developmental Cycles and Cascades 110 6.4.2 Measurement Issues in the Study of Parent Engagement 111 6.4.3 Parent Engagement as a School-Level Versus Family-Level Variable 113 6.4.4 Understanding Links between Parent Engagement and Parent Academic Expectations 113 6.5 Conclusion and Future Research Directions 114 References 115 Chapter 7: Parent-School Partnerships: Accounting for Parents Facing Economic Hardship and Social Marginalization 119 7.1 Introduction 119 7.2 What Has Been Learned About the Impact of Parent Involvement in the Early School Years on Children’s Learning Outcomes? 120 7.3 What Explains the Success of Family-School Partnership Programs? Design That Accounts for Families’ Lives 123 7.4 How Do Family-School Partnership Programs Attend to the Contexts of Low-Income Families? 125 7.5 How Do Family-School Partnership Programs Change Teacher and School Practices? 128 7.6 Conclusion 130 References 130 Chapter 8: Unleashing the Power of Family Engagement to Achieve Impact and Equity for All 133 8.1 Commentary 134 8.2 Bridging Research, Practice, and Policy: An Old Challenge 136 8.3 Frameworks for Scaling and Sustaining Programs and Practices 137 8.3.1 Diffusion of Innovation Framework 137 8.3.2 Population-Level Framework 141 8.3.3 Partnership Frameworks 144 8.4 Next Steps for the Family Engagement Field: A Call for Population Impact 146 References 147 Index 150 "This book presents research-based family-school intervention programs that target the specific developmental period of preschool through the early elementary years, focusing on promoting positive child transitions into school. It explores critical intervention issues, including the need to understand mechanisms of efficacy, issues with real-world implementation, and methods for scaling family-school interventions. The volume references developmental research to highlight the importance of family-school partnerships at this critical transition period. Several chapters briefly describe research on proven intervention models that are effective in promoting family-school partnerships as children enter kindergarten and foster positive school outcomes. Each chapter concludes with a review of the most critical next steps in family-school intervention research within the context of the early school years. At the end of the book, several commentary chapters address overall implications for future research and methods for advancing the field, including perspectives on research-informed family-school practices and policies. Not only does the volume highlight interventions that work effectively to engage families with schools, it focuses on identifying critical components and processes that may underlie effective intervention outcomes and offers agendas for future research and intervention diffusion efforts. Key topics of coverage include: Presenting the logic model of the intervention program. Exploring questions concerning critical elements of family-school partnerships that may account for children's positive outcomes. Discussing the challenges and strategies for scalability and broad diffusion. Family-School Partnerships During the Early School Years is a valuable resource for researchers, professionals and graduate students in child and school psychology, educational policy and politics, family studies, developmental psychology, sociology of education, sociology, and anthropology"--Back cover