Transcript naeyc

Understanding Variations of
Family Involvement with Low-Income,
Culturally Diverse Families:
Practice and Policy Implications of Recent Findings
Presentation at the National
Association for the Education of
Young Children Annual Conference
November 19, 2009
Christine McWayne, Ph.D., New York University
Problems with the operationalization of FI
in the majority of studies
definitions of FI  fragmented
measures , unrepresentative of multiple FI behaviors
 Disconnected from developmental issues and, thus,
poor for informing developmentally appropriate
family involvement
 Unidirectional; no account of transactional nature of
family-school collaboration
 Unrepresentative: existing measures tend to be
created with mainstream populations, highlighting
need more culturally relevant measures of FI
 Unidimensional
The Family Involvement Questionnaire
(FIQ; Fantuzzo, Tighe, & Childs, 2000)
Based on Epstein’s 6 types
 Careful co-construction in partnership

 Research
Committee of various stakeholders
 Focus groups of larger group of stakeholders
 Field tested with multiple groups of parents
 Data collected from more than 600 parents
 Subjected to rigorous multivariate analysis
 Result = a 42-item questionnaire
Three Reliable Dimensions of FIQ
Mapping onto
Epstein’s Model


HBI: Parenting &
Learning at Home
SBI: Volunteering &
Decision-Making
HSC:
Communicating

Home-Based Involvement (α=.85)
School-Based Involvement (α=.85)
Home-School Conferencing (α=.81)
FIQ (Fantuzzo et al., 2000)

Home-Based
Involvement
Spending time at home on reading, numbers,
and creative activities.

Bringing home learning materials (e.g., videos).

Limiting my child’s TV and video watching.



Keeping a regular morning and bedtime schedule
for my child.
Talking about parents’ own experiences in school.
Taking child to places in the community (e.g.,
zoo, museum, public library).
FIQ (Fantuzzo et al., 2000)
School-Based
Involvement

Volunteering in the classroom.

Going on class trips.



Participating in fundraising activities
at my child’s center
Meeting with other parents to plan
events.
Attending workshops for parents.
FIQ (Fantuzzo et al., 2000)
Home-School
Conferencing





Talking with child’s teacher about child’s learning
difficulties and accomplishments.
The teacher and I write notes to each other
about my child or center activities
Scheduling meetings with administrators to talk
about problems or to gain information
Discussing with child’s teacher ways to promote
learning at home.
“I feel that teachers and administrators welcome
and encourage parents to be involved at school.”
FIQ & Child Outcomes
Findings Across Different Groups
Findings with low-income,
African American families
(Fantuzzo, McWayne, Perry, & Childs, 2004)
End of HS Year Child
Outcomes
SchoolBased
HomeBased
Competence Motivation
Attention & Persistence
Attitude Toward Learning
Conduct Problems
Receptive Vocabulary
.23**
.25**
.25**
-.29***
.32****
.35****
.36****
.30***
-.30***
.41****
Home-School
Conferencing
.23**
ns
ns
-.18*
.24**
**when controlling for the effects of the other two
dimensions, only home-based involvement related to
child competencies and low levels of behavior problems
Findings with low-income,
Latino families
(McWayne, Manz, & Ginsburg-Block, 2007)
STUDY #1:
Aggress
Oppos
Home-Based
.03
.08
School-Based
.05
-.04
Communication
.08
Inatten
Shy
Low Energy
ESI
FIQ Dimension
.25**
.09
.05
.02
-.01
.36**
.05
.08
-.17
.13
-.05
-.45***
-.24**
______________________________________________________________________
N = 150 Latino families.
*p < .10, **p < .05, *** p < .01.
Findings with low-income,
Latino families
(McWayne, Manz, & Ginsburg-Block, 2007)
STUDY
Soc/Emot
#2:
Literacy Numeracy Comm Total Perf
HBI
0.13
0.07
0.08
-0.01
0.08
HSC
0.29
.31*
.41**
0
.33*
SBI
0.28
.33*
.32*
0.21
.33*
N = 100 Latino families.
* p < .05 ** p < .01
¡¡¡School-related FI activities appear to be more
influential for Latino families, in contrast with homebased activities for African American families!!!
What about when we focus on immigrant
families and take both parents into account?
McWayne, Owsianik, & Campos (2008)
Demographic variables
& satisfaction
Comparing results for mothers & fathers
MOTHERS (N = 108)




HBI was not predicted by
demographic or
satisfaction variables
Satisfaction was a strong,
positive predictor of SBI
Education (-) and
satisfaction (+) were
moderate predictors of
HSC
R2 = .25-.31
FATHERS (N = 63)




HBI was not predicted
by demographic or
satisfaction variables
Language (-) and
satisfaction (+) were
strong predictors of SBI
Child sex (males),
language (-), and
satisfaction (+) were
strong predictors of HSC
R2 = .42- .60
What predicts FI for these families?
Fixed Effects
Level 1 Predictors
Parent sex (fathers)
Education
< high school
> high school
Level 2 Predictors
Child sex (boys)
Employment
Marital status (married)
Primary language
Spanish (primary)
Polish (primary)
Bilingual
Satisfaction with contact
Home-Based
Involvement
School-Based
Involvement
Home-School
Conferencing
-.33***
-.40***
-.70***
-.14
-.05
-.04
-.19
-.24
-.02
.26 †
-.11
.42*
.04
-.21
.33 †
.27*
-.14
.34 †
-.26
-.40†
-.12
.22
-.13
-.02
-.13
.79***
-.35
-.53**
-.17
.71***
N = 110 individuals; 55 dyads. *p<.05, **p<.01, ***p<.001
How does looking at the family unit
change what we know about FI?





Parent sex emerged as a moderate to strong predictor
of involvement
Satisfaction still emerged as a strong predictor of the
school-related activities
Marital status became important for home-based
activities (consistent with other literature)
Language no longer important for SBI, but remained
important for HSC for Polish-speaking families (more
recent immigrants)
Maternal education no longer a significant predictor
IMPLICATIONS
FOR PRACTICE



Satisfaction appears to be very
important – consider ways to build
trust (i.e., through mutual respect and
cooperative problem-solving)
Consider ways to more meaningfully
engage fathers at school (HauserCram’s assertions re: problem-focused
coping)
Consider how to support involvement
at home by understanding already
existing (largely, invisible) practices 
adapt culture-specific methods to
the classroom  higher congruence
btw home and school (Moll’s Funds of
Knowledge approach & Weisner’s ecocultural understanding of daily
routines)
FOR POLICY & PROGRAMMING




PDs to develop cultural awareness
and sensitivity among teachers and
staff (go out into the community!)
Co-construct family involvement
programming with members of the
parent community
Hire knowledgeable, bilingual and
male involvement staff
By understanding distinct family
roles, i.e., how individuals within a
family affect one another’s FI,
programs can develop specific
intervention components to address
all family members’ participation
in their children's education
Beneficial
Connections
Theory
of the
Whole Child
Child
Quality
Information
PRIMARY GOAL OF SUCCESSFUL FI EFFORTS
Increasing congruence
between home and school