Realizing the American Dream: A Parent Education Program

Designed to Engage Marginalized Families’ Involvement

Joan Walker, Ph.D.School of Education

AERA 2013 Annual Meeting

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Abstract• Since 2006 more than 21,000 Arizona parents in over 190

unique schools in more than 45 school districts have completed the Realizing the American Dream program. RAD has been offered more than 425 times.

• Grounded in Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (1995,1997, 2005) model of the parent involvement process, the program targets parents’ involvement beliefs, knowledge and behaviors.

• This presentation shares:1. pre- and post-program survey results for two cohorts of

parents who completed RAD in 2011-12 2. program implementation fidelity ratings for three sites.

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The Research Team• Realizing the American Dream is the signature program of

the American Dream Academy (ADA) at Arizona State University.

• In 2008, ADA commissioned private industry partner the Parent Institute to create the free 7-week intervention program. – Offered in both Spanish and English; Latinos are the majority of

program completers.

• In 2011, these partners asked the developers of the Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model to undertake an evaluation of the Realizing the American Dream program.

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Program Evaluation Questions

1. Does the Realizing the American Dream (RAD) program impact parents’ involvement knowledge, beliefs and behaviors?

2. If positive differences are observed in parents’ involvement behaviors, what predicts these changes?

3. Is the RAD curriculum being fully and consistently implemented across classes?

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Theoretical Framework

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RAD Curriculum• Class Topics:

1. YOU make the difference!2. Being a partner with your school3. Academic standards and performance requirements4. Success factors: Communication & discipline5. Success factors: Self-esteem & motivation6. Success factors: Reading & spending time together7. Your academic success plan

• Orientation and Graduation ceremony• Principals’ Forum

http://www.parent-institute.com/rad.php 6

RAD ParticipantsFall 2011 Spring 2012

Ethnicity N = 1245 N = 1126Hispanic 91 91Caucasian 5 4

Gender Female 86 72Male 14 21

Age25-35 43 32

36-45 42 49

EducationHigh school or less 73 32Some college or college degree 26 68

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Methods: Survey

• 31-item survey about involvement beliefs, knowledge and behavior; developed in English and translated into Spanish by native Spanish speakers.– Items rated on a 4-point scale (agree-disagree)

• Administered at first and final RAD sessions.• Demographics survey completed mid-way

– All scales available in Spanish and English

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Analyses: Survey Data

• Factor analysis confirmed a 3-factor structure– Beliefs, knowledge, behavior

• Scale reliabilities >.74, pre and post• Missing data =< 5%

– Replaced with item mean– No significant correlations between missing data and

demographics• Paired samples t-tests on pre-post responses

– Cohen’s d – Corrections for multiple tests

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Question: Does RAD Influence Parents' Beliefs, Knowledge & Behavior? (Avg ES)

10* = p < .05; ** = p .01

ES =.34* ES = 1.21** ES = .72**

Results: Beliefs

• RAD impacts parents’ beliefs about the role of the home in children’s education.

• Of the 13 items in this scale ( = .75 -.79), one showed meaningful change across cohorts:– My child spends more of his/her time learning at

home than at school. (ES = .64 for 2011 and .76 for 2012 cohorts)

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Beliefs, continued

• Items that did not change were high at pretest– Suggests parents already held strong beliefs about

their role in some aspects of involvement (e.g., “It’s my responsibility to make sure my child finishes high school”).

• Program participation is voluntary and thus attracts parents who believe they can make a difference—however, they may not know how to put their beliefs into action.

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Results: Knowledge

• All 10 items changed (: pre= .85; post = .90)– Effect size range = . 44 – 1.31

• Largest effects found for:– academic terms and concepts – academic requirements and standards – how to build reading skills at home – steps required to succeed academically and go to a

university – how to work with my child’s teacher principal,

counselor, or parent liaison.13

Results: Behaviors• All 9 items increased (, pre= .80; post = .87)

• Largest effect size found for:– “I have made a plan to make sure my child succeeds

academically and graduates from high school.” (ES = .93 for 2011 cohort, .90 for 2012 cohort)

• Other items with meaningful change related to:– parent-teacher communication, a central concept in

the curriculum.• e.g., “I keep in touch with the teacher about my child’s

academic performance.” (ES = .48, .51 by cohort)– home-based behaviors:

• e.g., “I talk with my child about my expectations for success.” (ES = .53, .47 by cohort)

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• Hierarchical regressions were conducted using factors in the following blocks: – Block 1: demographics (education, annual family

income, and ethnicity)– Block 2: parents’ beliefs, knowledge and

behaviors, pre-RAD – Block 3: self-reported involvement-related beliefs

and knowledge, post-RAD

Analyses: Predicting Behaviors

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Results: Factors Predicting BehaviorFall 2011 F Adj. R2 B SE B p <

DV: post-RAD behavior 181.02** .63Education .00 .01 .01 .69

Annual income .01 .01 .02 .33Ethnicity -.01 .02 -.01 .50

Beliefs-pre RAD -.07 .02 -.06 .01Knowledge-pre RAD -.02 .02 -.03 .25

Behavior-pre RAD .13 .02 .19 .01

Beliefs-post RAD .23 .03 .18 .01

Knowledge-post RAD .58 .02 .63 .01

Spring 2012DV: post-RAD behavior 91.8** .50

Education .00 .01 .00 .99

Annual income .01 .01 .06 .03Ethnicity -.02 .02 -.02 .48

Beliefs-pre RAD .04 .03 .04 .20

Knowledge-pre RAD -.06 .02 -.10 .01

Behavior-pre RAD .07 .02 .10 .01

Beliefs-post RAD .25 .05 .17 .01

Knowledge-post RAD .64 .03 .59 .01

Question 3: Is the RAD curriculum being fully and consistently implemented?

• Sample: 3 RAD courses (in Spanish) at 3 separate elementary schools in Fall 2011– 35 programs total offered , 10% of population

• Taught by 3 different RAD facilitators• 3 trained, bilingual observers completed

identical observation rubrics for each RAD class at each school– One observer completed the rubric on-site, in real time– The second observer cross-evaluated a video recording of

the classes17

Demographics: Fidelity Study Team

Facilitators

• Facilitator 1: Medical degree; previously taught 12 RAD classes

• Facilitator 2: MS in education; previously taught 6 RAD classes

• Facilitator 3: BA; previously taught 12 RAD classes

Observers

• Evaluator 1: BS in Film Production; 3 years with ADA

• Evaluator 2: RAD facilitator; K-12 Teacher; 3 years with ADA

• Evaluator 3: RAD facilitator; BS in Engineering; 2 years with ADA

Facilitators and observers were female, native Spanish speakers in their 30s and 40s. All had completed RAD as a family or community member.

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Assessing Treatment Fidelity• Rated fidelity of curriculum for each class as:

– fully met (2), partially met (1) or unmet (0).– If both raters did not agree that the component was either

fully met or unmet, coded as partially met.

• Compared curriculum as outlined in Facilitator’s Guide to real time observation (rater 1) and video recording (rater 2)

• Agreement between raters – School 1: r = .85– School 2: r = .81– School 3: r = .79

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Percentage of Curriculum Met by Class by School

Fidelity and Parent “Ownership” of RAD Curriculum

• Created their own ‘curriculum’– Parent additions, suggestions, adaptations

• Parent networks– Sharing of information, facilitator participants– Participant participant communication

• Linguistic, cultural idioms within curriculum– e.g., “It takes a village” vs. concept of aldea– Analogy between Ladder of Success and planning

for quinceanera 22

Summary: Research Findings

• Surveys showed meaningful changes in participants’ knowledge, behaviors and (some) beliefs targeted in RAD curriculum.

• Post-RAD behaviors are a function of parents’ knowledge and beliefs, not family demographics.

• Observations indicate RAD curriculum was implemented with an acceptable degree of fidelity.

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Significance

• RAD program enhances parents’ knowledge of US school system

• RAD also influences parents’ behaviors:– Home-school communication and home-based

support for academic skill development– Basic parenting skills (communication, discipline)

• RAD impacts parents’ beliefs about the role they play in their child’s education.

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Limitations

• Self-report bias (parent survey)• Small sample of classes observed (10%)• Cannot directly attribute changes to RAD

given complex set of factors that influence the parent involvement process.

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Future Directions

• Follow up study of RAD graduates to track their children's’ outcomes relative to peers whose parents did not complete RAD

• Capture individual parent narratives• Replication• Implement RAD alongside teacher professional

development targeting family engagement – TIP http://www.parent-institute.com/product/5P02B

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