Stacey Farber
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center

Examining the longitudinal nature of parental engagement, its predictors, and its effects across race and gender in the early grades

Using items of parent behavior gleaned from interviews conducted for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study – Kindergarten Class 1988 – 1989, this study explores the nature of parent engagement in their children’s learning during Kindergarten and Grade 1. Data from 12,924 parents of Kindergarten children across the nation were analyzed via multilevel exploratory factor analysis to determine the factor structure for the construct while controlling for variation attributable to school membership. Then, using exploratory structural equation modeling, the solution was used to determine the degree to which latent factors predicted achievement in Kindergarten. This process was then repeated using data from 9,939 of the same parents when their children were in Grade 1.

Findings suggest that patterns of parent engagement are similar in the early grades, where parents act as relational advocates for their children in Kindergarten and Grade 1 (volunteering at school, interacting with other parents, attending parent-teacher conferences), teach their children through everyday interactions more generally in Kindergarten and Grade 1 (telling stories, doing chores, playing games) and more academically in Grade 1 (helping with homework, practicing reading, writing, and numbers), encourage extracurricular activity in Kindergarten and Grade 1 (participating in clubs, doing performing arts), encourage extracurricular learning in Kindergarten (going to the zoo, going to a museum), manage television watching in Kindergarten and Grade 1, and act as a resource agent in Kindergarten (books, audio, and computer in the home). A six-factor solution for Kindergarten and a five-factor solution for Grade 1 (on the within levels) fit the data well. Also found for both grades were a substantial number of parent behavior items - 31% of Kindergarten and 33% of Grade 1 - with 20% or more variance attributable to school effects, suggesting a high degree of school or school-related influence on parent engagement behaviors.

Correlations among latent factors also suggest that parents differentially engage in their children’s learning, in that parents who engage highly with their child’s school and class may not have many rules around television in the home, for example. In addition, not all forms of parent engagement may have a positive predictive effect on achievement in Kindergarten and Grade 1. For example, parent as relational advocate was a moderate, positive predictor of math, reading, and general knowledge achievement in Kindergarten and math and reading in Grade 1. Parent as resource agent was a moderate-to-strong predictor of reading, math, and general achievement in Kindergarten. Interestingly, parent “teaching” via more academic activities (helping with homework, practicing reading, writing, and numbers) was weakly, but negatively associated with math and reading achievement in Grade 1. Other types of parent engagement, such as rules for television, general interactions between parent and child around daily activities, and encouraging extracurricular activity and learning, as latent factors, had negligible to no effects on achievement scores in the early grades.