Increasing Parent-Teacher Communication in Private Preschools

Parent-teacher communication is a first step in increasing family engagement. Private childcare centers have been found to report less frequent parent-child communication than publicly funded early childhood education programs such as Head Start. Using a matched comparison group design, we tested the impact of a two-pronged intervention, the Family Map Inventory for Early Childhood (Family Map; family assessment) and Teaching Important Parenting Skills (TIPS; brief parenting interventions on broad array of topics), on parent-teacher communication in private childcare centers serving low-income families. The intervention included a 4-hour Family Map training and a 6-hour TIPS training aimed at improving parent-teacher communication. Trained teachers conducted Family Map interviews and implemented TIPS for four months.  Results indicated: (1) teachers were willing to implement the Family Map/ TIPS intervention in private child care settings; and (2) the parents and teachers in the intervention group reported higher levels of parent-teacher communication than those in the comparison group

Supporting Family Engagement with Parents of Infants and Toddlers

Engaging families of preschool children in partnerships with early childcare providers includes, among other activities, engaging in meaningful conversation, linking parents to needed services, and supporting parents as they capitalize on family protective factors. Early childhood programs struggle to implement systematic processes to support teachers in engaging families and documenting the interactions. This report summarizes the development and implementation of a tool designed to facilitate family engagement with childcare. The study targets a rural, multi-center agency serving Early Head Start families using an inventory called The Family Map. This report provides evidence of the feasibility of implementation, the reliability, and validity of the screening questions, and the range of risk and strengths identified in Early Head Start families served

Family Engagement: Establishing a System to Support the Parent-Teacher Partnership

The Family Map Inventories were developed to support programs in their efforts to engage parents and understanding family needs and strengths. The Family Map Inventories are supportive of the framework put forth by Office of Head Start’s National Center on Parent, Family and Community Engagement (NCPFCE) and were developed with the Head Start performance standards as a guiding principle. This study provides evidence of the feasibility and usefulness of the Inventories used with parents of Infants and Toddlers. Parents and teachers were accepting of the Inventory. The Infant – Toddler Family Map Inventory appeared to provide an accurate assessment of the risks and strengths in the home and parenting environments of young children. The potential for use by educators is discussed