Understanding Variations of Family Involvement with Low-

Income, Culturally Diverse Families:

Practice and Policy Implications of Recent Findings

Christine McWayne, Ph.D., New York University

Presentation at the National Association for the Education of Young Children Annual Conference

November 19, 2009

Problems with the operationalization of FI in the majority of studies

Unidimensional 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

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).

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 (Fantuzzo et al., 2000)

Findings Across Different Groups

FIQ & Child Outcomes

Findings with low-income, African American families (Fantuzzo, McWayne, Perry, & Childs, 2004)

End of HS Year Child Outcomes

School-Based

Home-Based

Home-School Conferencing

Competence Motivation .23* * .35* * * * .23* * Attention & Persistence .25* * .36* * * * ns Attitude Toward Learning .25* * .30* * * ns Conduct Problems -.29* * * -.30* * * -.18* Receptive Vocabulary .32* * * * .41* * * * .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

Aggress Oppos Inatten Shy Low Energy ESI

FIQ Dimension

Home-Based .03 .08 .09 .05 .02 -.01

School-Based .05 -.04 .36** .05 .08 -.17

Communication .08 .25** .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 #1:

Soc/Emot 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 home-

based activities for African American families!!!

STUDY #2:

Findings with low-income, Latino families (McWayne, Manz, & Ginsburg-Block, 2007)

McWayne, Owsianik, & Campos (2008)

What about when we focus on immigrant families and take both parents into account?

Demographic variables & satisfaction

Comparing results for mothers & fathers

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

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

MOTHERS (N = 108) FATHERS (N = 63)

What predicts FI for these families?

Home-Based School-Based Home-School Fixed Effects Involvement Involvement Conferencing Level 1 Predictors Parent sex (fathers) -.33*** -.40*** -.70*** Education < high school -.14 -.04 -.24 > high school -.05 -.19 -.02

Level 2 Predictors Child sex (boys) .26 † .04 .27* Employment -.11 -.21 -.14

Marital status (married) .42* .33 † .34

†

Primary language Spanish (primary) -.26 -.13 -.35

Polish (primary) -.40† -.02 -.53** Bilingual -.12 -.13 -.17 Satisfaction with contact .22 .79*** .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

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 (Hauser-Cram’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 eco-cultural understanding of daily routines)

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

FOR PRACTICE FOR POLICY & PROGRAMMING

PRIMARY GOAL OF SUCCESSFUL FI EFFORTS

ChildTheoryof the

Whole Child

QualityInformation

BeneficialConnections

Increasing congruence between

home and school