Click for Chrispeels LAUSD Report 2004
Evaluation
Summary of the Impact of the Parent Institute for Quality
Education on Parent's Engagement with their Children'
Schooling
Janet
Chrispeels, Principal Investigator
Joyce
Wang
And
Elvia
Rivero
Graduate
School of Education
University
of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9490
Jchrisp@education.ucsb.edu
(805) 893-4850
Not for citation without authors permission
Evaluation
Summary of the Impact of the Parent Institute for Quality
Education on Parent's Engagement with their Children'
Schooling
Statement
of the Problem and Objectives of the Study
Over
the past 30 years, the importance of parent involvement
in children's education has been identified repeatedly
as a factor contributing to children's school success
(Delgado-Gaitan, 1991; Henderson & Berla, 1996, Kellaghan,
Sloane, Alvarez & Bloom, 1993; Valdés, 1996). Research
indicates that when parents are actively engaged with
their children and with the school, their involvement
can mitigate the negative impacts of poverty as well as
prevent students from dropping out (Clark, 1989; Dornbusch
& Ritter, 1988, Epstein, 1991; Henderson & Berla,
1994, Kellaghan, Sloane, Alvarez & Bloom, 1993). As
a result of these consistent findings, requirements to
involve parents are found in federal and state categorical
programs (e.g., Head Start, Title I, and Goals 2000 at
the federal level and school improvement programs at the
state level). As Epstein (1991) asserts, however, "Although
most schools embrace the concepts of partnership and parent
involvement, few have translated their beliefs into plans
or their plans into action" (p. 345). Particularly challenging
for schools has been finding ways to effectively involve
Latino families, who must cross both a language and cultural
divide. The need to find ways to enhance involvement of
Latinos is acute because 50% of the Latino students fail
to graduate from high school and often those who do find
themselves unprepared to pursue further education (Suarez-Orozco,
1987; USDE, 1992). Delgado-Gaitan's study (1996) of Latino
families found that they valued education and are eager
to support their children in school but do not feel they
know how. Carrasquillo (1993) also found that Hispanic's
perceptions of American schools are often inaccurate thus
limiting their involvement; however "if Hispanic parents
are provided with positive information about their child's
learning, they are more likely to participate in school-related
activities" (p.43). These findings suggest it is critical
to identify and study programs that successfully reach
and engage Latino parents in their child's education and
to understand how these programs impact parent actions
and behaviors.
One such program that has achieved considerable attention
and success in attracting Latino families to its parenting
classes is the Parent Institute for Quality Education
(PIQE). Founded in San Diego over 11 year ago, PIQE has
graduated over 153,000 mostly Latino parents in California
from its Parent Institutes. Typical attendance at the
PIQE program at a given elementary or middle school ranges
from 75 to 150 participants. With this track record, it
is imperative to investigate how it effects parent behavior
in the moment and over time.
The PIQE program consists of an orientation to the program,
which stresses the importance of parent involvement and
the high drop our rates of Latino students, a graduation,
and six content classes. The PIQE curriculum, which is
consistently used in all classes, addresses the following
topics.
(1) Building
children's self-esteem - helps parents to realize the
power of specific positive feedback on work well done
and the harmful consequences of frequent criticism;
(2) Understanding
the school system - provides information on the key features
of the American schools and explores differences between
Mexican and American educational systems, especially the
expectations for parent involvement in their children's
education;
(3) Learning
strategies to support the child's education - examines
how parents can assist their children through high expectations,
reading and homework supervision;
(4) Communicating
with teachers - stresses the importance of becoming acquainted
with their child's teacher, attending conferences, and
initiating meetings with teachers to track child's progress;
(5) Preventing
gang affiliation and drug use - a topic added by parents,
which helps parents learn strategies to keep their children
out of gangs and drugs; and
(6) Preparing
for college early - helps parents understand the requirements
for college admission, encourages close monitoring of
the courses children take as the move through junior high
and high school, and helps parents see that college is
financially feasible.
Research
Questions. The research question guiding this evaluation report of the
implementation of PIQE in two elementary schools is: Are
there significant effects on parents' attitudes, practices,
and levels of parent involvement at school and at home
in their children's education after participation in the
eight week PIQE program? In particular, does the program
effect the frequency of visits to school, time spent reading,
and assisting with homework?
Methods
Typical
of a case study methodology, we used both quantitative
and qualitative research methods. This multiple method
design is warranted given the complexity of the issue
to be studied and the desire to know if and in what ways
PIQE effects parent behaviors. A variety of data have been collected since the inception
of the PIQE Project, including pre and post surveys, video
taping of all eight training sessions and interviews of
participants and instructors after the classes had concluded.
For purposes of this evaluation report, we present the
findings of the pre and post surveys.
Context
of the Study
The evaluation of the Parent
Institute for Quality Education Institutes took place
in Oxnard Elementary School District, Oxnard California.
Although the Oxnard District is much smaller than districts
such as Los Angeles or San Diego, the individual participating
elementary schools in Oxnard are very similar to those
in LA. The demographics, size of the schools, the rapid
increase of Latino students, and the year-round school
schedule match closely individual schools in Los Angeles
serving a predominantly Latino population. The curriculum
offered to the parents in Oxnard was the same as that
offered in PIQE classes throughout California, including
LA. Thus findings from this study can be generalized to
LA schools, who offer the PIQE Program to their Latino
families.
The district, located in Ventura
County, between the cities of Ventura and Los Angeles,
serves over 14,000 primarily middle to low socioeconomic
status students. Seventy-nine percent of the students
are Hispanic and half of the students are limited English
proficient. Thirteen percent of the students are White.
The district has thirteen K-6 elementary schools, two
K-3 schools, and two 7-8 junior high schools. Average
per pupil expenditures is $4,276, with 70% of that amount
going to classroom teachers. The two year-round elementary
schools involved in the study have enrollments close to
1000, with Latino students comprising 97% of the population.
Study Participants. Data for this evaluation component
come from 95 parents from the two participating elementary
schools who completed the pre and post surveys. The participants
attended the PIQE classes from April 3 to June 4, 1999.
The sample can be regarded as self-selected since they
accepted the invitation to participate in the PIQE classes,
which was extended to all parents at the school. At each
school approximately 100 parents graduated from the 8-week
program. Matched survey data are available for 95 families,
which are approximately equally divided among the two
schools. (The 100 parent graduates at each school represent
about 60 families, since many came as couples; one survey
was collected from each family).
Data sources and collection. The UCSB researchers
developed the survey instrument. It was based on previously
validated surveys developed and used by Dr. Joyce Epstein,
Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey,
Vanderbilt University; and Dr. Janet Chrispeels, UCSB,
which have been used to assess levels of parent engagement
with their child and the school. The surveys were not
designed to serve as an evaluation of the PIQE classes per se, but to assess parent attitudes and behaviors
in regard to parent involvement in general. Parents completed
pre-and post-surveys, which assessed four subscales: school
invitations for parent involvement, parent-school practices,
parent-child engagement, and parent efficacy. Most parents
completed the surveys in Spanish. The pre-survey was
administered the first night of class and the post-survey
administered before the graduate ceremony. Although the
survey was in Spanish, we quickly determined it was necessary
to read the questions to parents. In this way, parents
who were not literate in Spanish were not embarrassed
and had an equal opportunity to express their views.
The same procedure was followed for the post-survey.
Data analysis. The first level of analysis of the
survey instrument was to conduct a factor analysis. Four
factors were identified. Once the post surveys were completed
we conducted two-tailed tests of significance using 95
matched pre and post surveys to determine if there were
significant differences between parent attitudes and practices
before and after PIQE.
Summary
of Findings from the Survey Data
Table 1 summarizes the findings of
the two-tailed test of significance for specific parent
behaviors in at home to support their children's learning.
As can be seen, there are several behaviors in which parents
indicated that they are engaging more frequently as a
result of the PIQE classes. These are Listen to my
child read, Read to my child, Ask about
homework, and Do fun things with my child.
Table 1: Summary of Pre and Post
PIQE survey responses to literacy activities
Items
Pertaining to Learning Activities at Home |
Pre-PIQE
Mean |
Post-PIQE
Mean |
Significance
2-tailed test |
Praise
my child |
3.38 |
4.13 |
.027 |
Listen
to my child read |
3.27 |
3.63 |
.032* |
Read
to my child |
3.53 |
3.77 |
.003** |
Ask
about homework |
4.24 |
4.57 |
.012* |
Help
with homework |
4.01 |
4.09 |
.476 |
Visit
the library |
2.44 |
2.65 |
.118 |
Do
fun things with my child |
3.15 |
3.48 |
.029* |
Spend
time talking to my child |
3.56 |
3.72 |
.233 |
*Significant
at the .05 level
These findings are supported
by qualitative data collected through interviews of 11
families conducted six to nine months after the last PIQE
class. (See Chrispeels & Rivero (2000) Engaging Latino Families
for Student Success: Understanding the Process and Impact
of Providing Training to Parents, for a fuller presentation
of the qualitative data.) Across all eleven families,
parents reported praising their children more, reading
more or having the child read, and supervising homework.
Several also indicated they had increased their efforts
to do fun activities together as a family. Similar to
the statistical findings, a few families indicated talking
more with their children or going to the library more,
but these practices were not consistent across all families.
The parents also indicated in the interviews that it was
not always possible for them to help with homework, but
they were now more likely to let the teacher know if their
child was having difficulty or to send their child to
the after school tutoring center.
Table 2 presents the pre and post
data from 95 Oxnard families in regard to parent involvement
activities at school. As can be seen in Table 2, three
parent- initiated activities showed significant increase
after PIQE. These were observing in the classroom, conferencing
with the teacher, and volunteering at school. The qualitative
data confirm the gains in these three areas, with parents
describing how they now are more willing to contact teachers,
go to the classroom to observe (a specific assignment
from the PIQE instructors), or offer help at the school.
However, as can be seen from the mean scores both pre
and post, far fewer parents agree that they engage in
these activities compared to the home learning practices
shown in Table 1. Similarly as shown in Graph 3A, parents
are likely to participate in interaction with the teacher,
visiting the classroom or attend a parent meeting once
a month, and this participation tended to decrease over
time.
Table 2: Pre and post PIQE
parent responses regarding parent- initiated contacts
with school or teacher
Items
Related to Parent Initiated Participation
(reported
as number of times in last month) |
Mean-Score
Pre-PIQE |
Mean
Score
Post PIQE |
Significance
2-tailed test |
Attend committee meeting |
.58 |
.81 |
.188 |
Observe classroom |
.88 |
1.38 |
.018* |
Attend PTA meeting |
.63 |
.58 |
.717 |
Volunteer at school |
.15 |
.46 |
.012* |
Conference with the teacher |
.71 |
1.23 |
.012* |
Telephone the teacher |
.90 |
1.13 |
.268 |
Talk to the teacher before or after school |
1.16 |
1.51 |
.109 |
*Significant at the .05 level
Table 3 provides corroborating evidence that parents may
be more actively engaging with their child and with the
school after PIQE because they feel more efficacious in
providing generalized help and support and influencing
school success. However, as the table also shows, parents
did not feel more able to assist with homework after PIQE,
which may explain why there was no significant difference
in reported assistance, nor do they feel more efficacious
in helping child make good grades.
Table 3: Comparison of Pre and Post
PIQE Mean Scores on Parents' Perceptions of Ability to
Assist Child's Learning and Schoolwork
Items
Related to Parent
Efficacy to Help |
Mean
Score Pre-PIQE |
Mean
Score Post-PIQE |
Significance
2-tailed
test |
|
2.88 |
3.22 |
.005** |
Don't
know how to help make good grades |
2.75 |
2.45 |
.105 |
Have
trouble influencing child |
2.92 |
2.40 |
.002** |
Feel
successful about my ability to help child learn |
3.03 |
3.54 |
.000** |
Limited
influence on child success |
2.75 |
2.10 |
.000** |
Don't
know how to help with homework |
2.41 |
2.42 |
.937 |
Help
my children when they have difficulty |
3.63 |
3.67 |
.549 |
**
Significant at the .01 level
In the Los Angeles PIQE program, no pre PIQE data were
collected on parent involvement activities, but post data
were collected about parents' ability to sustain their
engagement after the PIQE program ended. These data were
collected on a monthly basis through phone calls conducted
for nine months after the PIQE classes ended (Chrispeels
& Wang, 2000). A sample of these data is shown in
Graph 3A. The graph shows that, on a weekly basis, parents
reported reviewing homework, reading to the child, and
praising the child between 4.5 and 5.5 times a week (the
large dip in frequency of review of homework was during
an "off-track" time period). Although from the data presented
in Graph 3A it is not possible to know if this level of
weekly activity represents an increase in these behaviors
after PIQE, it is significant to note the behaviors were
sustained over time. The pre-PIQE data from Oxnard, however,
suggest that if pre-PIQE data had been collected in Los
Angeles it would have shown a significant increase from
pre to post-PIQE. The sustaining of the activities over
time after PIQE in Los Angeles is also corroborated by
our findings from the qualitative data collected in Oxnard.
Furthermore, it is important to note that the activities
with a significant increase were those that our analysis
of the video data (from four different classes) indicates
were stressed most during the parent education classes.
To summarize, the
data presented in these three tables suggests that PIQE
influenced 1) parent behaviors with their children in
the home setting, and 2) parents' attitudes about their
ability to help their children with school matters..
The data indicate that PIQE parents carefully discriminated
between areas where they feel more efficacious and areas
where they do not. Both the qualitative data collected
through interviews six to nine months after PIQE in Oxnard
and the follow-up data collected through phone calls in
Los Angeles indicate that parents persist in the help
them are providing at home in the areas that were shown
to be significant immediately after the PIQE program was
offered. The areas in which parents are less likely to
sustain their involvement are in participation at school.
This may have less to do with the PIQE training and more
a result of failure of the school to invite and encourage
continued participation in classroom visits, volunteer,
parent meetings, or parent-teacher interactions.
Conclusions
and Implications
Collectively,
the quantitative and qualitative data from the Oxnard
and Los Angeles PIQE programs provide a triangulation
of evidence that the PIQE program impacts several parenting
activities and that these are sustained over time. Results
of our analysis indicate that through the PIQE classes
parents were afforded the opportunity to learn about the
American school system, the ways they can participate
and activities they can do at home to promote their child's
learning. The post-PIQE survey data also suggest that
parents engaged in home learning activities and contacted
the teacher more after participating in the classes. The
significant shift in attitudes about their ability to
help their children be successful indicates that parents
are redefining their role in their child's education.
These findings are important because recent work by Reed,
Jones, Walker &Hoover-Dempsey (2000) suggests that
parent's role construct is the most significant direct
motivator for parent involvement.
The statistical data summarized in the tables are also
corroborated by our qualitative data (Chrispeels and Rivero,
2000) indicating that parents engaged in a fuller range
of types of home-school activities after PIQE. Their
participation in PIQE itself indicated a strong desire
to be a co-learner with the school about how they can
help their children. As they gained insights about the
American educational system, they more actively pursued
communication with their child's teacher and they became
co-teachers by reading more with their children and supervising
homework. Although many became stronger advocates for
their child, they did not assume an active decision-making
role, but still expressed strong deference for the teacher's
expertise. Nor was there any evidence that parents took
up more traditional school volunteer roles or increased
attendance significantly at school sponsored parent meetings.
In conclusion, our study suggests
that the Latinos' participation in school was limited
by prior concepts of their sense of place in their child's
education, role construct of how they could be involved,
and their feelings of lack of efficacy to help their children.
This study, however, indicates that these concepts are
not fixed and can be altered by information provided by
a "cultural broker" (Delgado-Gaitan, 1996) such as the
PIQE instructors. Given information about how to be involved
and how their children would benefit, the Latino parents
took up new practices and modified their concepts of both
parenting and their place in their child's education.
This study reconfirms the importance of making available
to parents culturally sensitive opportunities to learn
how to help their children and that when parents are given
these opportunities they are willing to help (Carrasquillo,
1993; Delgado-Gaitan, 1996; Epstein, 1991; Valdés, 1996).
One implication from this study is that PIQE is effective
in providing basic information to parents, but additional
follow-up sessions may be needed if Latino parents are
expected by the school to give more homework assistance
to their children. Alternatively, the findings suggest
schools may need to be sure that homework help is available
to first generation Latino families who are unfamiliar
with English and the school system.
A second implication is that
if a culturally sensitive program is provided, parents
will attend in very large numbers. These findings suggest
that schools, which are often dismayed by low attendance
at other parent workshops, may need to carefully examine
how PIQE has been successful at attracting families and
impacting their behavior in support of their children.
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