Families and Schools Together for All Kindergartners: A Randomized Controlled Trial on Family Engagement and School Climate Effects

• In Event: 73.052 - Lessons From the Federal Investing in Innovation (i3) Grants for Building and Sustaining Meaningful Family, School, Community Partnerships

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this i3 research grant (U.S. Department of Education) is to reduce obstacles to learning that come from outside the classroom with a promising family engagement model for all kindergarteners: FAST. Families and Schools Together (non-profit) works in partnership with UW-Madison, the Philadelphia School District, American Institutes for Research, and Turning Points. Culturally representative trained teams of parents, teachers and community representatives lead FAST multi-family groups in partnership. Stresses from poverty, racism, social isolation and family conflict can be buffered with stronger parent-child bonds and efficacious parents who are socially connected. The social capital between parents and teachers is a protective factor against toxic stress enabling young children to learn and be motivated to learn.

Theoretical Framework: FAST groups are based on 10 theories from sociology and psychology and on Paulo Friere’s strategy of empowering a collective parent voice. FAST expresses the USDE’s Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships:
 Linked to Learning: K-FAST for all kindergartners has a graduation after 8 weekly 2.5 hour group sessions offered at school; monthly meetings led by parent graduates include working with second grade teachers to co-create family nights: reading, writing, math and science.
 Relational: FAST aims to increase self-efficacy for all K-2 parents, strengthen parent-child bonds, family cohesion, parent to parent friendships of same aged children, and build parent-school-community local networks with a collective voice to reduce education disparities.
 Developmental: Weekly group sessions build connections and practice positive parenting; parent graduates are supported over 2 years to lead K-FAST and co-create educational opportunities for all families K-2.
 Collective/Collaborative: Weekly and then monthly multi-family group meetings for all families (10 per ‘hub’ group; 10 hubs=100 families) enable connections to develop a collective voice. FAST has a track record in 20 countries for high retention of low-income parents.
 Interactive: teams coach parents to lead family activities to increase learning readiness with experiential education.

Research Questions and Design:
Main Questions: Does offering FAST to all kindergartners in low-income communities increase family engagement? Does FAST shift the school climate towards a norm of family engagement? Does participation in FAST increase motivated learning, enhanced well-being, student achievement, and third grade reading scores?
Sample: Sixty elementary schools in one urban school district.
Methods: Randomized controlled trial of Title I schools; assessment reading and mathematics data from 3000 K-2 children attending FAST-now vs. FAST-later schools. Program integrity checklists data are collected.

Results: First year implementation study results show on average 18 kindergarten families per 30 schools participated in a FAST event; 80% returned for a second event.

Significance: FAST family engagement opportunities recognize strengths of all parents, respect and empower socially marginalized parents, use a holistic family approach, and build relationships within families, across families and schools and communities in poor communities. United Nations recognizes FAST as an effective family skills program with high retention and strong quality assurance structures.

Authors

• Lynn McDonald, Middlesex University

• Tom Kratochwill

• Doria Mitchell, Philadelphia School District

• Tonya E. Wolford, School District of Philadelphia

• Susan Smeltzer-Anderson, Wisconsin Center for Education Research