Family Fun Time Activities
Nina Malley
Longwood University
SOCL 345: Social Research and Program Evaluation
Dr. JoEllen Pederson
November 29, 2022
Abstract
Parent involvement is an effective strategy is early childhood for successful education and extends the bond between parents and their children. Unfortunately, not all parents are able to give their children the time and involvement that they need due to various factors. The purpose of this is to see if race impacts parent involvement. The study was conducted in Farmville, Virginia by Longwood University students of the Social and Research and Program Evaluation course. The study was based on 99 children (ages 3 to 5) who participate in Head Start and the Andy Taylor Center. Participants were asked about their experiences in completing the at-home activity as well as how to improve the activities for future research. This was a mixed methods study with both qualitative and quantitative data collection. The qualitative analysis was based on open-ended questions to determine the level of enjoyment of the activities and suggestions to improve the activities. The quantitative analysis was close-ended questions which focused on how the activities encourage children participation in the at-home activities and being involved. The data suggested that family bonding, learning different skills and teamwork among children and their parents increases as parental involvement rises. The study provides implications for parents to increase at-home activities for their children and proposals for parents to increase parental involvement in the future.
Introduction
In today’s society, parents are not involved as much in their children’s lives both in and out of the classroom. This has led research on parent involvement and the factors that may impact parent involvement with their children. Research has focused on many different aspects of parent involvement and whether or not parent involvement has positive impacts on the children, especially in learning. Successful parent involvement has positive impacts on children such as their well-being and success (Barnes et al, 2016). Parents being more involved with their children in and out of the classroom, has an overall positive relationship with children and their learning outcomes. With that being said, there are factors that influence whether a parent is involvement with their children. Studies have focused on whether or not socioeconomics has any links between parent involvement and their child’s academic success and achievement. Studies found their to be a link between socioeconomic and involvement of parents with children’s education. Miller et al. (2020) focused on and addressed how father involvement reduced socioeconomic disparities in children’s academic outcomes. It showed that school involvement by low socioeconomic status was more beneficial than involvement by the highest socioeconomic father, when it comes to learning outcomes. While some studies have focused on whether or not socioeconomics impacts parent involvement, other studies have focused on whether or not race impacts parent involvement. Bates (2011) found significant racial and ethnic variation in parental home involvement which leads to less involved parents at school. Studies have found that minority parents are less likely to be involved in their children’s schooling as their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Today, we see that different races and ethnicities are more involved than others when it comes to parents’ involvement, specifically when it comes to being involved during schooling years. The purpose of this study is to examine, what affect does race have on family involvement for the families at Andy Tylor Center and STEP Head Start?
Parent Involvement
There are numerous studies that have indicated that parent involvement is an essential part of early childhood and predictor for a successful education. According to Epstein Theory there is a framework of six major types of involvement that has involved over time from many different studies (Epstein, 1987). The findings of the Epstein theory concluded that one major type is parenting and how families and parents can establish an environment at home and that surrounds the home to help support children as students and being successful in education (Epstein, 1987). Harris and Robinson (2016) supported this by reporting that educational opportunities stem from the home environment itself and how engaged the parents are in the home. However, Harris and Robinson (2016) did indicate that the traditional measures of parent involvement have failed to capture the fundamental ways in which parents help their children academically. So, they proposed a new framework of how parent involvement operates. They focused on how family involvement may apply to socioeconomic (Harris and Robinson, 2016).
Parent involvement in early education
According to Gross et al (2020), there are nine definitions and characteristics of parent engagement in the early learning years. There are different working models for how stakeholder believe parent engagement support early learning. Barnes and Guin et al. (2016) explored the successful engagement of parents in early childhood and the implication for a growing child. There are indicators that childhood providers are using new strategies s and deceives for parent-centered communication to connect better with families for the child’s benefit and success of child (Barnes et al, 2016). Which these new strategies found that successful parent engagement has positive implication on the child such as well-being and success (Barnes et al, 2016). Both Gross et all (2020) and Barnes et al. (2016), suggest that there is limited consensus in how parent engagement was conceptualized and suggests that there is a need for programs and resources to help both the parents, providers and children with connection and support in early learning. Overall, research shows that their positive relationship between parent involvement and children’s learning and achievement in schools (Epstein et al., 1991)
Socioeconomics
Tazouti and Jarlégan (2019), was concerned with how parental involvement in early education of the children has links between the family socioeconomic status and the children’s academic achievement. While Miller et al. (2020) demonstrated how father involvement reduced socioeconomic disparities in children’s academic outcomes. It showed that school involvement by low socioeconomic status was more beneficial than involvement by the highest socioeconomic father, when it comes to learning outcomes. This supports Tazouti and Jalegan (2019) findings that socioeconomic status has a link between family status and children’s academic achievements. Whereas Harris and Robinson (2016) discussed how socioeconomic resources can set the stage for academic achievements. That being said, if you increase some type of father involvement you may see help in narrowing the academic gaps between low and high socioeconomic children (Miller et al, 2020).
Race
Based on prior research, minority parents are less likely to be involved in their children’s schooling as their non-Hispanic white counterparts (Bates, 2011). Bates (2011) found a gap in the literature when considering home involvement and school involvement among minority parents. The studies have found significant racial and ethnic variation in parental home involvement which leads to less involved parents at school (Bates, 2011). Whereas Marchand et al (2019), went further by examining how race/ethnicity and how parent’s involvement with their children’s can play a role in education by using the critical race theory and critical consciousness theory, especially among African American families and parents. The study found that racism in the schools have influences meaningful participations of Black parents in the school (Marchand et al, 2019). Overall, we see that different races and ethnicities are more involved than others when it comes to parents’ involvement with their children during schooling years.
Furthermore, the Family Fun Time Activities is important in determining how activities encourage family involvement. It is important to determine the race of the parents that completed the activities with their children to see whether or not the race of the parents impacts how involved they were during the activities. Conducting the study answers the research question which is, “what affect does race have on family involvement for the families at Andy Tylor Center and STEP Head Start?” This will help fill in the gaps and missing literature on parent involvement and how race impacts children who are school aged and whether factors such as race impact parent involvement.
Methods
Instrument
A survey questionnaire was created by the 50 members of the Social Research and Program Evaluation team at Longwood University. The survey asked both open-ended and closed-ended questions. The items on the survey were designed to evaluate SMART objectives of each of the five activities that were completed the previous week by Head Start and Andy Taylor Center families. Items were included that also address demographic information, enjoyment of the activities, family involvement and competition of the activities. Hard copies of the questionnaire were delivered and distributed to Head Start and the Andy Taylor Center.
Sample
The non-probability sample for this study was based on 99 children (ages three to five). Seventy-nine children attend Head Start in three counties. Head Start is a federally subsidized preschool for families with economic need. Twenty-one children attend the Andy Taylor Center which is located on a college campus (Longwood University), and the families apply and pay for their children to attend. Attached to the questionnaire was a children’s book to incentivize families to return the survey. Guardians of children were asked to complete the survey and return it to the preschool the next day. Teachers sent a reminder home with children to return any outstanding questionnaires. This resulted in 16 questionnaires being returned. Overall, there was a 16.2% response rate.
Quantitative Analysis
Quantitative analysis of the returned surveys was based on the close-ended questions. For this study the dependent variable is family involvement. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize was, “how involved was your family throughout the activity?” The answer choices for this item were a Scale 0-10; 0 = not at all, 10 = a great amount. For this study the independent variable is race. The item from the questionnaire that was used to operationalize this was, “what is your race/ethnicity?” The answer choices for this item were, Latino/Hispanic, White, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Middle Easter, Multiracial, Other (circle all that apply). Descriptive statistics was used to analyze these variables.
Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative analysis of the returned surveys was based on open-ended questions. The open-ended questions on the survey were, “What did your family enjoy most about these activities? Why?”, “What did your child learn from these activities?”, “What recommendations would you suggest making these activities better?” To answer the research question, “what affect does race have on family involvement for the families at Andy Tylor Center and STEP Head Start?” Inductive open coding was used to determine reoccurring themes in the respondent’s responses.
Findings
Quantitative findings
For the quantitative finding section, the following variables were examined: family involvement and race. The dependent variable for this research project is family involvement. the item from the questionnaire that was use to operationalize family involvement was, “how involved was your family throughout the activity?” The answer choices for this item were on a scale 0-10: 0 = not at all, 10 = a great amount. based on 16 responses that was given back, the mean for response was 9.09. The standard deviation for this sample is 1.64. The independent variable for this research project is race. It coded by asking the question “what is your race/ethnicity?” The answer choices for this item were, Latino/Hispanic, White, African American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Middle Easter, Multiracial, or other (circle all that apply). These finding can be seen in figure 1.
Figure 1.
Race/Ethnicity of Respondents
According to the 16 responses received back, 38% parents responded back circled that they identified as African American, 37% identified as White, 13% identified as multiracial, 6% (or 1 respondent) identified as Latino/Hispanic, and 6% (1 respondent) did not answer this question on the survey. Looking at the responses received back, there is no relationship between race and how involved the parents are throughout the activity. A bivariate analysis was run to determine the relationship between parents/guardians’ race and/or ethnicity and family involvement during the Family Fun Time Activities. This is shown in figure 2. From the responses, the mean of Latino/Hispanic respondents involved throughout the activity is 5.0. For parents who identify as being White, the mean of family involvement throughout the activity is 9.75. The mean for African American parents being involved throughout the activity is 9.20. lastly, for parents who identify as multiracial has a mean of 10 for how involved their family was during the activities.
Figure 2.
Mean Parents Involvement by Race
| Race/Ethnicity | Mean |
| Latino/Hispanic | 5.0 |
| White | 9.75 |
| African American | 9.20 |
| Multiracial | 10 |
Based on the data, the mean between all the races/ethnicity are so close each other that there is no way to determine the relationship between race/ethnicity and family involvement. Unfortunately, the number of responses received back plays into factor of not being able to determine the relationship between the two variables. I feel like if more respondents filled out the survey, that there would be an easier way in determining the relationship between the two variables. Lastly, I found it to be interesting that in one of the survey’s the respondent did not circle what race/ethnicity that they identify as. Not having enough data and missing survey questions from respondents does no good in answering my research question.
Qualitative Findings
I am going to explain some of the major findings acquired from the family fun time activity surveys. After examining the family fun time activities surveys, it was evident that they contained three main themes which include: family bonding, learning different skills, and teamwork among children and their parents. The pattern of family bonding kept recurring throughout the open ending questions on family fun time activities survey. Majority of the survey’s contained words and quotes that demonstrated “family bonding”. For example, a respondent from survey #3 stated “our family enjoyed how simple the activities were and how much our child enjoyed them, even completely some with sibling.” This demonstrated how the child was able to bond with his or her family through the Family Fun Time Activities. Another respondent on survey #6 said that her child “loved cutting and gluing and she loved making stuff and jumping with everyone.” This example is showing how throughout these activities the child was able to bond with their family members. Overall, the Family Fun Time Activities not only increased family involvement, but also increased and allowed for family bonding.
Another recurring pattern and theme that was indicted throughout the survey’s was learning different skills. Reviewing the open ending questions of the Family Fun Time Activities survey, many respondents expressed that their child(ren) learned different skills from participating in the activities. The findings from the surveys suggest that the children were able to learn new shapes, number, and colors. A respondent from survey #7 stated that “my child learned how to be creative.” This is demonstrating that the kid(s) are learning skills that had not had before completing the Family Fun Time Activities. Another respondent asserted in survey #2 that their child was able to “learn how to cut, glue and trace better” from participating in the activities. These finding and examples, demonstrate that children are able to take away learning different skills from partaking in these activities. Overall, this implies that parents being able to help their child(ren) learn new skills and identify them, shows that family involvement was present during these Family Fun Time activities.
Finally, one of the last specific themes that kept recurring throughout the survey’s was teamwork among the children and their parents. Many respondents of the Family Fun Time Activity surveys gave feed back to what they enjoyed most about these activities and majority of them stated something about enjoying working together. Respondent to survey #7 states “we enjoyed putting all different shapes together on the pizza activity.” This shows how the child got help from the parent in order to get the activity done which shows teamwork. Another respondent in survey #10, expressed what they enjoyed about the activity by saying “doing them together. [students name] says she loves doing things with mom and dad.” Hearing back from respondents that they enjoyed doing the activities and we able to work together during the activities shows that teamwork was present among the children and their parents. Ultimately, not only did the family fun time activities increase family bonding and increased learning different skills, but also increased teamwork among the child(ren) and their parents/family. The findings show that these activities encouraged family involvement at home which should reflect positive impacts on the child(ren).
Conclusion
Parent involvement in their children’s life is a essential for a child’s well-being and academic success. It is evident that when parents are involved with their children from a early ages it has positive impacts on the children. Unfortunately, it can be very hard being a parent and/or guardian, especially when it comes to juggling work, time, leisure and parenting, so often parents have a hard time finding time to spend with their children. The purpose of this study was on increase parent involvement among children at two child-care centers in Farmville, Virginia. This was done by sending take-home activities for the families to complete together. By sending home these at home activities it allows for parents to have an easy activity to participate in with their children without having to think and come up with ideas on what to do with their children in the evening after they are picked up from school or daycare.
The overall results of the study was a 16 response rate out of 99 that completed the family fun time activity survey which a limitation for imputing data. This may be due to parents just not having the time to take the surveys or having the lake on interest in taking the surveys. Ideally, a 50-70% response rate would have been best in order to determine more accurate findings among parent involvement, and specifically how race/ethnicity impact impacts parent involvement with their children. From the respondents that did complete the survey, they reported back with positive feedback about parent involvement and enjoyment of completing the activities. Unfortunately, due to the number of responses received back it played into factor of not being able to determine the relationship between race and parent involvement. With that being said, even with the low response rate, the data would still be considered positive because all of the 16 respondents were more than satisfied on how fun the activities were and how everyone enjoyed participating in the activities. This shows that there is a positive relation between doing family activities and parent being involved with children.
References
Barnes, J. K., Guin, A., Allen, K., & Jolly, C. (2016). Engaging Parents in Early Childhood Education: Perspectives of Childcare Providers. Family & Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 44(4), 360–374. https://doi-org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1111/fcsr.12164
Bates, L. (2011). The Role of Schools at Home: Racial and Ethnic Variation in Parental Involvement. Conference Papers — American Sociological Association, 1155.
Epstein, Joyce L. “Toward a Theory of Family-School Connections: Teacher Practices and Parent Involvement.” In Social Intervention: Potential and Constraints, ed. Klaus Hurrelmann, Frederick Kaufmann, and Frederick Losel:121- 136. New York: DeGuyter, 1987
Epstein, Joyce L., and Susan L. Dauber. “School Programs and Teacher Practices of Parent Involvement in Inner-City Elementary and Middle Schools.” Elementary School Journal 91 (1991): 289-303
Gross, D., Bettencourt, A. F., Taylor, K., Francis, L., Bower, K., & Singleton, D. L. (2020). What is Parent Engagement in Early Learning? Depends Who You Ask. Journal of Child & Family Studies, 29(3), 747–760. https://doi-org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1007/s10826-019-01680-6
Harris, A. L., & Robinson, K. (2016). A new framework for understanding parental involvement: Setting the stage for academic success. RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 2(5), 186–201. https://doi.org/10.7758/rsf.2016.2.5.09
Marchand, A. D., Vassar, R. R., Diemer, M. A., & Rowley, S. J. (2019). Integrating Race, Racism, and Critical Consciousness in Black Parents’ Engagement With Schools. Journal of Family Theory & Review, 11(3), 367–384. https://doi.org/10.1111/jftr.12344
Miller, D. P., Thomas, M. M. C., Waller, M. R., Nepomnyaschy, L., & Emory, A. D. (2020). Father Involvement and Socioeconomic Disparities in Child Academic Outcomes. Journal of Marriage & Family, 82(2), 515–533. https://doi-org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1111/jomf.12666
Tazouti, Y., & Jarlégan, A. (2019). The mediating effects of parental self-efficacy and parental involvement on the link between family socioeconomic status and children’s academic achievement. Journal of Family Studies, 25(3), 250–266. https://doi-org.proxy.longwood.edu/10.1080/13229400.2016.1241185