Supporting Preschoolers’ Early Writing Through Parent-Teacher Collaboration: A Design Based Study

This study used a design-based methodology to investigate the impact of parents\u27 and teachers\u27 collaborative efforts in supporting preschool children\u27s early writing. The sample included the lead teachers of the 3K and 4K classrooms at a local child development center. Six parent-child dyads from the 3K classroom and five parent-child dyads from the 4K classroom were selected using a convenience sampling technique. Data on children’s literacy skills and parents\u27 and teachers’ involvement were collected using quantitative and qualitative measures. Children\u27s literacy skills were measured in four areas: concepts about print, letter identification, letter writing, and name writing using Clay\u27s Observational Survey instrument. Children were expected to write daily using the Teacher Child Parent (T.C.P) Writing Collaborative Notebook with the support of their parents. Teachers’ involvement in children’s early writing skills was collected through classroom observation, pre- and post-semi-structured interviews, and feedback in the notebook. Parents’ involvement in children’s early writing skills was collected through pre- and post-semi-structured interviews and comments in the writing notebook. Findings revealed that children\u27s emergent literacy skills were significantly improved and were connected to the frequency of the use of the notebook and the strategies used by parents. Parents employed different strategies to support their children\u27s writing. Interestingly, the type of feedback teachers provided in the T.C.P Writing Collaborative Notebook and the frequency and nature of this feedback influenced parents\u27 motivation to work with their children and send the notebooks back to school daily. Therefore, this study demonstrated that effective parent-teacher collaboration significantly improves preschool children\u27s early writing and other related skills. It also makes important contributions to existing research because no studies known to the researcher have examined how parents and teachers can collaborate to support preschool children over a period using an iterative, design-based method that integrated research-based strategies