two-generation programs: successes and challenges from research & practice teresa eckrich...
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Two-Generation Programs: Successes and Challenges from Research & Practice
Teresa Eckrich Sommer, PhDSenior Research Scientist
Helping Parents, Helping Children: Exploring the Promise of Two-Generation Programs
Princeton University
May 22, 2014
Our Two-Generation Definition
• Goal: educational, social, and economic advancement for parents & children in tandem
• Simple idea that’s hard to implement: quality & intensity for
both generations
• Result: parents as better advocates, economic providers, role models
Two-Generation Research & Biases
Key Research Question:
What are the benefits to children, parents, and families of adding education & training for parents to
Head Start services for children as compared to Head Start alone?
First Study: Voices of Parents
• Almost all mothers concerned for their children’s education & most believe college education
essential
• Parents who observe children thriving may be more motivated
to pursue education
Implications of First Study
o High quality early childhood education centers may be promising platform for adult education and training
o Many parents do not make the connection between their own educational success & their children’s
Sommer, Chase-Lansdale, Brooks-Gunn, Gardner, Rauner & Freel, 2012
Example of Parent Linking Own Education & Child’s
You are an example to your kids and if you are the type of parent where
you are trying to make your life better for you and your children… if
you had that type of support system here, it’ll push you to do better, and it will push you to be better parents because you are doing this for your children.
Second & Third Studies:CareerAdvance®
• Two federally funded implementation and effectiveness studies of CAP Tulsa’s CareerAdvance®
• Studying parent human & social capital investment in Head Starto stackable, sector-based
education, trainingo individual coaching, peer groups
Fourth Study: Evanston Two-Generation Initiative
• Builds on first three studies and CareerAdvance®
• Low-cost model • Emphasis on hands-on career
exploration, financial skill building, skills, and goal setting
• Began with employers & employment opportunities
Composite Case Study:CareerAdvance®
• Sienna, 28 year old mother of Taylor (4 years) and Briana (9 years)
• Worked Walgreens 10 years at $8 per hour
• Enrolls in CAP & CareerAdvance®, achieves CNA and finds hospital job
for $11 per hour; LPN next
Children• Quality early learning
• Parent-teacher interactions & improved problem solving
• Better resources & learning interaction at home
• Improved routines & parenting practices
What has Sienna & her family gained?
Mother• Extended social network, steady
friend• Improved problem solving for self,
with employer, & with children• Sense of competency & self-
confidence improves• Educational advancement &
increased income at no cost
What have Sienna & family gained?
• Will her Taylor and Briana have enough time with their mother while she is working & in school?
• Will improvements in income be enough to positively impact her children, especially given unpaid educational loan debt?
Challenges: Children
• Will Sienna be able to persist educationally given multiple competing family demands?
• Will she find employment at wages & levels that lead to increasing family income?
• Will short-term tradeoffs of time & stress be worth the long-term benefits in wages? “mom guilt”
Challenges: Family
• Peace of mind about young child & child thriving in center
• Coordinated schedules
• Increased parent confidence
• Skill building as parent, student & worker
Successes: Program
• Peers who create sense of belonging & provide support
• Coach who helps parents develop problem solving skills
• Financial supports that make school possible & that increase
family resources
Successes: Program
• True integration of parent & child programming
• Employers & employment
• Cost: siloed funding streams
• Research: study implementation & effectiveness
Challenges: Program
• Current two-generation programs: parallel play
oChildren play adjacent to one another, but don’t try to influence other’s behavioroChildren play alone but are interested in what other children are doing.
Integration of Parent & Child Programming
• Integrate child classroom materials for English language learning
curriculum
• Financial literacy and math curriculum for parents & children simultaneously, culminating in children’s savings account
New Advances in Child-Parent Programming
• Other shared parent-child curriculao socio-emotional skill buildingo cognitive & attention building
skills
• Family needs assessmento coach, teacher & parento goal setting for child & parent in
tandem
New Advances in Parent Child Programming
• Employers & Employmento Employer partnerships essentialo Selection of sectors based in part on
employer interest
• Program Costo Evaluate effectiveness of low & high
cost interventionso Economies of scale: individual
coaching & peer support
Challenges: Program
• Evidence-based practice & continual innovation
• Willingness to be open laboratory
• Real-time feedback & program improvement
• Yet patient for longitudinal, experimental results
Research-Program Partnership
• Early indications promising
• Need for continued innovative programming for both generations
• Engagement of philanthropy during field-building
• Creative use & braiding of existing public dollars
Conclusion
They deserve all the credit. We as interveners don’t. And that’s the best way to intervene. Ultimately, a person has within themselves some kind of capital, some kind of asset, like knowledge or confidence. And if they can bring that out, they carry that asset with them to the next difficulty in life. David Yeager quoted in “Who Gets to Graduate?”
by Paul Tough, NYT Magazine, May 18, 2014
Conclusion
