Children’s comprehension of informational text: Reading, engaging, and learning

The Reading, Engaging, and Learning project (REAL) investigated whether a classroom intervention that enhanced young children's experience with informational books would increase reading achievement and engagement. Participants attended schools serving low income neighborhoods with 86% African American enrollment. The longitudinal study spanned second through fourth grades. Treatment conditions were: (1) Text Infusion/Reading for Learning Instruction -- students were given greater access to informational books in their classroom libraries and in reading instruction; (2) Text Infusion Alone -- the same books were provided but teachers were not asked to alter their instruction; (3) Traditional Instruction -- students experienced business as usual in the classroom. Children were assessed each year on measures of reading and reading engagement, and classroom instructional practices were observed. On most measures, the informational text infusion intervention did not yield differential growth over time. However, the results inform efforts to increase children’s facility with informational text in the early years in order to improve reading comprehension

Involvement Beliefs and Behaviors of Parents Enrolled in a Community-Based Educational Program

The educational involvement practices of many Black parents are often overlooked by researchers and practitioners. In addition, the factors that lead to increased involvement among Black parents may be different than those of their non-Black peers. Thus, the goal of the two interrelated studies was to explore factors impacting educational involvement beliefs and behaviors among a population of primarily Black parents. Study 1, a quantitative study that extended the work on the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler (2005) model of parent involvement, examined the extent to which contextual factors (parent time and energy and parent knowledge) moderate the relation between motivational (parental role construction and self-efficacy) and school-based (parental perception of school outreach) factors and involvement at school and home. The study was also designed to determine if the constructs of the model remained predictive among a racially homogeneous sample. Study 2 was a qualitative exploration of factors that influenced parent involvement behaviors among a sample of parents enrolled in a community-based educational program for the first time. In Study 1, data from 88 parents from a Maryland school district were analyzed to estimate hypothesized Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model relations. In Study 2, data from 12 parents and program staff were analyzed using frameworks grounded in the work of Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler and Epstein (2009) to identify parent involvement themes present in their experiences. Consistent with expectations, knowledge moderated the relation between self-efficacy and home involvement and time and energy moderated the relation between school outreach and school involvement. Although the full Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model predicted both home and school involvement, several novel relations were evidenced. Study 2 parents engaged in involvement activities often overlooked by educators such as communicating high expectations, making sacrifices to support their children, and teaching the value of education. These findings emphasize the importance of developing more inclusive, culturally-relevant conceptualizations of parent involvement than those currently employed by researchers and educators. The study also provides evidence that parental involvement efforts will be more successful if schools attend to three critical attributes: information provided to parents, educator knowledge, and educator attitudes