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8 - Parent Involvement in Preschool

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Edward Zigler ,
Walter S. Gilliam  and
Stephanie M. Jones
By
Christopher C. Henrich  and
Ramona Blackman-Jones
Edward Zigler
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Walter S. Gilliam
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Stephanie M. Jones
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Christopher C. Henrich
Affiliation:
Georgia State University
Ramona Blackman-Jones
Affiliation:
Winthrop University
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Summary

The benefits of parent involvement in children's schooling are widely recognized by educators. Policy makers agree, encouraging practices to involve parents in schools by codifying them in federal law: parent involvement was the eighth goal of the 1994 Educate America Act (U.S. Department of Education, 1996), has been periodically required of school programs funded under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (now called the No Child Left Behind Act; Arroyo & Zigler, 1993), and has been part of Head Start's national performance standards since they became law in 1975. As more states fund universally accessible preschool programs, planners would be wise to consider policies for involving parents in their children's preschool education. In this chapter we describe the most effective parent participation model to date, Head Start, and discuss how state programs can build on Head Start's success, using it as a template for practices that invite parents into schools.

We begin by summarizing the research on parent involvement in school and discuss the ramifications of the findings for universal preschool programs. We explain the mechanisms through which parent involvement is thought to be associated with children's academic achievement. We identify common barriers to parent involvement and ways of overcoming them. In addition to addressing the policy implications for state-funded preschool that can be gleaned from the research, we highlight opportunities that state preschool initiatives afford for a partnership between policy and research.

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Chapter
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A Vision for Universal Preschool Education , pp. 149 - 168
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

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