Organizational Impacts of Teacher Home Visits: Exploring Their Connections With School Climate and Student Attendance

• In Event: Teachers' Commitment to Working With Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families

Abstract

Past evaluations of the impact of home visiting for school-age children have traditionally focused on how visits from the school staff or teachers to families’ homes benefit the individual students. This study contributes to extant literature by examining the potential organizational impacts of home visiting programs. Using data from a racially and ethnically diverse urban district in the western U.S., the study tested a path model linking the level of home visiting implementation in schools to parental perceptions regarding the schools’ genuine concern for students and their willingness to engage families, which then were linked to students’ attendance outcomes. Results of the analysis supported these connections, suggesting there may be positive organizational impacts of the systematic implementation of home visits.

Authors

• Sol Bee Jung, Johns Hopkins University

• Steven B. Sheldon, Johns Hopkins University