Program Evaluation
Increasing parental involvement in Head Start programs
This paper focused on the issue of the varying levels of parent involvement with their toddlers aged three-to-five-years-old in a Head Start program. Much research has been done to suggest factors as to what causes the family to not be involved as much as they would like (Mendez, 2010). However, there still seems to be a research gap explaining what activities can help get parents involved within their toddler’s education. The purpose of this study was to examine the five activities created for 84 families in the existing Head Start programs in a small rural area in Virginia. The study examined the levels of enjoyment per each activity and how those levels affected the amount of time each family put into the activities. This is a mixed-method study, with qualitative data being the themes coded throughout the responses from the open-ended section of the surveys. A theme that was found through open coding from the received surveys seemed to be that the animal dice and stress ball balloon activities were well-liked by most of the families. While the quantitative data measured the response rates of each activity’s questions’ concerning levels of enjoyment and time needed. Thereby, the study found that the mean response rate for the family’s enjoyment on The Thankful Turkey activity was 9.24. Although, an implication put forth into this study was the number of surveys received from the families once the activities were sent out and completed.
The research question for this study is what activities can be evaluated for encouraged for encouraging parental involvement with their three to five-year-old toddlers who attend a Head Start program in rural Virginia. Most of the research that focuses on parental involvement addresses the issues as to why parents do not get involved however, few studies focus on how to increase the levels of involvement. In a study conducted by Keys (2015), states that one issue as to why parents do not get involved is because of their ethnic or cultural barriers. However, a study conducted by Hallock (2003), states that regardless of the economic or social class of the parent(s), the service provider and parent(s) should work together to increase their communication to increase the level of involvement. Therefore, this study’s purpose is to bring attention to Head Start based activities that can increase levels of involvement regardless of the barriers. To show that increased parental involvement gives the child a higher chance of success within their educational careers and a more cohesive dynamic with their family (Kikas, Tulviste, & Peets, 2014).
Literature Review
Head Start is a federally funded program that offers a sense of free childcare while providing three to five-year-olds ‘ early access to the knowledge they would learn in kindergarten. This program develops a foundation within the toddlers that in the future can help them achieve knowledge at a higher speed compared to children who do not get the opportunity (Hustedt, Vu, Bargreen, Hallam, & Han, 2017). However, a majority of families do not realize that Head Start can be more effective with support from the toddler’s family at home. Research has shown that the higher the parent involvement the more successful children have later in their educational careers (Hustedt, Vu, Bargreen, Hallam, & Han, 2017).
Although, when discussing parental involvement within a Head Start program, educators do not consider factors that affect the number of times parents become involved. Being that Head Start programs normally contain an income requirement, most families tend to be part of the low socioeconomic status (SES) (Deloatche, Bradley-Klug, Ogg, Kromrey, & Sundman-Wheat, 2014). Therefore, it can be assumed that parents apart from this economic class struggle to provide for their families become very busy or stressed about normal day-to-day necessities that they do not have time to be involved in. Other families face cultural barriers that interfere with them not being able to be involved as much as they would hope. Nonetheless, most families are just highly impressed with the work the school system is doing with their three to five-year-old so they might feel that their involvement is not needed (Deloatche, Bradley-Klug, Ogg, Kromrey, & Sundman-Wheat, 2014).
Urban versus Rural parent involvement
Statistics show that a Head Start program in rural areas tend to have less parental involvement compared to a Head Start program placed in urban areas, which is derived from the fact that there are fewer opportunities for families living in rural communities (Keys, 2015). In rural areas, parental involvement is at an all-time low therefore, getting parents involved tends to become a high-level concern and priority. Focusing on rural community settings can help researchers to better understand why parents are not involved in their toddler’s education and how to increase the levels of involvement. However, further studies suggest that both parents being present in the home setting increases the likelihood of parental involvement within a Head Start program (Boller, Bradley, Cabrera, Raikes, Pann, Shears, Roggman, 2006).
Family Dynamic
According to research by Keys’ (2015), the family dynamics affect the child more than the type of environment the toddler is raised in. Therefore, if the toddler comes from a single-parent household they would show less interactive involvement than a toddler from a two-parent household of the same SES status (Keys, 2015). Although, much of this research hints around the fact that gender plays an underlying role in getting parents more involved, regardless of the family’s dynamics; mothers are more likely to be involved than fathers within a Head Start program. However, it is stated that the father’s level of involvement is based on a variety of factors, including the quality of the relationship with the child’s mother (Boller, et. All, 2006). Furthermore, results show that the level and quality of presence may matter in terms of child well-being but that relations tend to vary as a function of ethnicity. Thereby, the level of involvement may fluctuate or decrease depending on the ethnicity of the family as well (Boller, et. All, 2006).
Cultural Awareness
When exploring the concept of cultural differences, being able to identify issues such as communication gives service providers a chance to be effective in the growth process of learning how to work more effectively with families of various cultures (Hallock, 2003). Given rural societies’ historical issues with people of various racial backgrounds, such as racism in the 40s and 50s and some of the 60s, there tends to be a growing gap of cultural awareness in Head Start. African-American families in rural areas are very skeptical and biased towards being involved with the Head Start teachers and staff because they are mostly Caucasian. Giving African-Americans families the feeling of not being understood culturally. Thereby, causing a strain in the parent-teacher relationship which ultimately impacts the toddler’s academic achievement (Myers, 2015). Research done by Myer’s (2015) found that both, teachers and parents, had a similar desire to have more open terms of communication. Thereby, both parties must be willing to work together and be clear about what they want to be achieved in this process for their desired goals to be met (Hallock, 2003). In this case, it would be to increase the involvement of parent(s) with their children in a head start as well as increase effective communication. During Keys’ research (2015) it was determined that to increase the bond between parent and school relationships both sides must provide each other with the feeling of mutual respect.
While much has been studied and stated about how parental involvement affects children’s academics and ways of getting parents involved, nothing has been studied about how to get parents involved. Many researchers hardly discuss the activities that staff members could create to send home with the toddlers to increase parental involvement. Nor do studies rarely suggest activities that parents could do to increase their bonds with their three to five-year-old. However, it can be concluded that most of the research on the barriers to parental involvement involves a variety of qualitative methodology. Using open-ended responses help readers and researchers, alike, understand the viewpoints of both parties.
Data and Methods
Study design and Sample
Evaluation research has the purpose of determining the impact of a social intervention or program (Babbie, 2019). Therefore, we evaluated the effectiveness of the five activities we assembled to observe the increase or decrease of parental involvement within three different Head Start programs in Southern Virginia. To be eligible for Head Start programs, in rural areas, families must be from a low income and have children ages three to five (Buhrmann, Eiserman, Shisler, 2004). Before this study, previous families were involved in a needs assessment that showed a significant issue of time management affecting their parental involvement. The purpose of this article was to find if our five activities such as Thankful Turkey, Sugar Writing Tray, Noodle Necklace, Stress Ball Balloon, and an Animal dice game, increased parental involvement. The population consisted of 86 families with children in Head Start. The sample was families of the three to five-year-olds who are from three southern Virginia rural counties. Since it is a known fact that the most effective evaluation research combines both quantitative and qualitative components, our survey fits a mixed-methodology. The survey contains both open and close-ended questions about post-activity feelings, level of involvement, while the last page focused on family characteristics. Given that we had to consider time as an obstacle we tried to keep the survey short and to the point, in hopes of getting more responses. Therefore, the response rate was 52 % of the sample.
Procedure
We obtained permission from the university’s institutional review board for this study. The survey was via pen and paper. The surveys were sent home with the toddlers on Friday, along with the final activity to be completed. The researchers provided the families with the opportunity to complete the survey over the weekend and have the children turn it back into the teacher that following Monday. Since a majority of the families did not return them, the teacher sent out an encouraging reminder via phone communication to the parents to complete the surveys and to turn them back the following day. However, as an incentive to further the completion of the surveys we attached $5-dollar gift cards to Walmart. To be able to measure the dependent variables we used a 10-point scale base for the questions in each activity’s section of the survey about families’ enjoyment and involvement with the activity. Being that the independent variable involves various family characteristics, we measured the responses to distinguish if a relationship existed between race, a single or two-parent household, and level of education to parental involvement.
Quantitative Measures
Given that the quantitative measures are based on close-ended questions we based the percentages on how many respondents circled the same answer per question. For instance, we asked on a scale of 0-10, how much did your family enjoy this activity? (0=Not at all, 10=Very much) to discover enjoyment patterns that could have potentially increased the level of involvement. Furthermore, we also asked how long it took the family to complete each activity on a time scale between 0 and 30 minutes, in hopes of seeing a correlational relationship. We believed that the more the family enjoyed the activity the more involved they became thus the more time they took on the activity. These questions assisted us to draw a conclusion about which activities could answer our research question.
Qualitative Measures
These measurements were based on the perceived parental involvement which relied on the open-ended questions. Looking at the question, Do you think that being provided with pre-planned activities increased the amount of fun time you got to spend with your family after school? in correlation with the question, What was your level of enjoyment during this activity helps us to determine if having pre-planned activities helps that the families truly enjoyed increased the level of parental involvement. If we are to find a positive correlation, then we would be building on closing the research gap of what activities help increase involvement.
Analysis
Quantitative Analysis
To examine, and code, for the survey responses we used the Statistical Package for the Social Services (SPSS) 25th edition. This program helped us to differentiate the various descriptive responses we received throughout each survey. Through this program, it was concluded that the amount of time the families spent on the activities the higher their levels of enjoyment.
Qualitative Analysis
We coded are data based on the reoccurring themes found throughout the responses of all surveys. We found that the Animal Dice game and Noodle Necklace Activity. Another theme seemed to be that the families really enjoyed spending quality time together.
Quantitative Findings
Table 2
How Much the Family Enjoyed the Activity
| Data | Response Rate |
| Mean | 9.24 |
| Median | 10.0 |
| Mode | 10 |
Note: The number of participants from this dependent variable question is 34 out of 35. This was a continuous variable on a scale of 0 through 10.
Table 3
Comparing the amount of time and levels of enjoyment
| Response | Mean | Rate |
| 1 | 9.00 | 1 |
| 2 | 9.44 | 9 |
| 3 | 8.92 | 13 |
| 4 | 9.70 | 10 |
| Total | 9.30 | 33 |
Note: The number of participants from comparing both questions from table 1 and table 2 is 33 out of 35
During our research, we decided that the independent variable that we would observe is the amount of time it took the family and child/children to complete the activity. According to our data responses, 39.4% of the participants stated it took them between 21 – 30 minutes. While 30.3% of the responses stated that it took them longer than 30 minutes. However, it can be compared to the 3% that stated it took them no longer than 10 minutes to complete with the remaining 27.3% stating that it took them between 11 and 20 minutes.
While observing the independent variable we also determined that our dependent variable would be the level of enjoyment the family had from the activity. After gathering the data, it states that the mean response rate for this interval/ratio question was 9.24 with a median of a 10 and mode of a 10 as well. Therefore, we can assume before comparing the means of the independent variable and the dependent variable that less amount of time the family spent on the activity means they enjoyed it. It is shown in the second table of Table 2 that 1 response answered that their level of enjoyment of the Thankful Turkey Activity was a 2. Furthermore, it also states that 23 responses rated the same activity as a 10 for their level(s) of enjoyment.
Nonetheless, when we look at Table 3 it shows us that the more time the family spent on the activity, the higher the level of enjoyment can argue that the time spent on the activity affects the level of enjoyment for the family. Thereby, helping us to draw to a conclusion that our assumption was not only validated but correct as well. This data also helps to make assumptions for activities that can decrease the parental involvement gap. If the family spends more time on the activity they are thereby, enjoying the quality time as a family and therefore, decreasing the research gap as to what activities such as, the Thankful Turkey Activity.
Qualitative Findings
Through open and axial coding of the open-ended portion of the survey responses, a variety of themes were discovered. There were four recurring themes: The animal dice and stress ball balloon were family favorite activities, they appreciated the activities already being put together, provided the families with more time together, and the family’s communication grew while also learning more as a unit. However, a few underlying themes that seemed to be a common trend in a few families were their children repeated these games weeks later, and other families stated that the activities made no difference in the amount of time they spend together.
When going through the data and examining the question, What was your favorite activity and why? It is clear that a majority of the respondents thoroughly enjoyed the animal dice activity and the stress ball balloon. Respondent number 18 stated, the animal dice game was very fun, it was interesting for me to see all the animals he identified. While Respondent 19 stated, the stress ball balloon was their favorite activity…it helped my child understand things about his feelings. Although basing assumptions off the responses, one may assume that these two were the top favorites because it not only brought the family closer together but the parents were able to see their children apply knowledge to life subjects, such as identifying animal sounds and their own emotions.
Other respondents, such as number 4 stated, it took less time to prepare activity and more time to play. This similar statement had appeared to be a shared opinion for many of the respondents. For instance, Respondent 11 stated, it was something we made time for – we don’t always get that chance. Since lack of time was considered an issue about why parents are not involved with their toddlers. We can assume that parental involvement does have a more positive increase when supplies are provided or activities are already put together for the families. Therefore, the question asking for opinions on the pre-planned activities and if they helped to increase the amount of fun time with their family does seem to back up our research. However, many respondents had dissenting opinions about these activities, although they could be viewed as a source of positivity because of context.
In a select few of the surveys, some respondents indicated that these activities were not helpful. For instance, Respondent 12 stated, We always ensure there’s time to spend with family after school. While Respondent 9 stated, we do activities as a family daily. Therefore, while it may be negative that these activities did not increase the fun time they spent with their family, these respondents can be looked at from a positive viewpoint. Since they already make time for family after school these respondents can be viewed as outliers in the study. Overall, the survey responses did seem to answer our research question.
Given that the point of this study was to examine the research question of what activities could increase parental involvement while focusing on the research gap that lacked an explanation of specific activities. Being that 16 out of the 19 surveys received mentioned that their favorite activity was either one of the two or both activities. It can be assumed that the Animal Dice Activity and Stress Ball Balloon Activity answered that question to an extent. Therefore, not only could we retry this study in the future in hopes of similar results we could also try activities of the same concept.
In conclusion, it can be shown that while most of the literature research provides readers with information on how to increase the levels of involvement; the purpose of this study was to offer insight into activities that can increase involvement. While understanding the barriers of effective parental involvement is vital, offering actions of how to increase parental involvement is essential for multiple parties involved. To get the parents more involved within their Head Start aged toddlers, this study wanted to examine what activities can accomplish this goal. Therefore, basing assumptions from our data, activities that can be seen to improve parental involvement, and answer our research question, were the Animal Dice Activity and the Stress Ball Balloon Activity. These two activities had the highest levels of enjoyment while also being the most popular activities listed in the survey responses. These two activities also had reoccurring themes of having the family better understand one another and increasing levels of communication. Furthermore, when we ran our data through the Statistical Package for the Social Services (SPSS) 25th edition we found that the more time taken for an activity the higher the level of enjoyment from the families. In the future, researchers could examine the longitudinal effects of these activities on the involvement of the parents with their Head Start aged toddler to decide if these activities did help to increase the levels of involvement permanently or just temporarily.
References
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