Targeting parent trust to enhance engagement in a school–home communication system: A double-blind experiment of a parental wise feedback intervention.

Abstract

Parental behavioral and relational engagement in school include components of trust, communication, and respect that are positively predictive of student academic success. Parents who report high levels of trust with their child’s teacher are more likely to be involved in school and related programs and events. Direct teacher–parent communication has been demonstrated to strengthen parental trust, thereby increasing parental engagement. The parent wise feedback intervention is a relational technique that communicates high expectations from one person to another while simultaneously creating a space for reciprocal dialogue to strengthen trust. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of this intervention on parental behavioral and relational engagement and student behaviors through a double-blind randomized control trial. The sample consisted of 51 students in third through fifth grade whose parents demonstrated low levels of engagement. Results demonstrated a significant increase in parental behavioral and relational engagement for the majority of parents in the intervention condition. In addition, changes in parental responses were positively correlated with changes in student behaviors. Educators can easily implement this low-cost, parent-directed intervention to enhance parental behavioral and relational engagement in populations that demonstrate high levels of mistrust with school personnel.

A comprehensive model of preschool through high school parent involvement with emphasis on the psychological facets

“…For this reason, school and educational psychology researchers are encouraged to consider future intervention studies that not only intervene with parent expectations or aspirations, but also measure progress in parent expectations. However, Houri et al. (2019) found that teacher notes to parents that emphasized a positive characteristic of their child and high hopes about their child’s future achievement led to increased parent engagement and stronger parent-school relationships.…”

“…Parent-school relationships can be promoted through positive communication between the teacher and parent, including sharing positive expectations for student behavioral engagement and achievement. For instance, in a double blind randomized control trial, Houri et al (2019) found that teacher notes to parents that emphasized a positive characteristic of their child and high hopes about their child's future achievement led to increased parent engagement and stronger parent-school relationships. This intervention also led to stronger teacher ratings of safe and respectful behavior among students in the treatment group relative to the control group.…”

“…Positive school-tohome notes are in the intervention repertoire of most school psychologists, as this has been an effective intervention for increasing positive behaviors for a long time (Cox, 2005). The BEAR model and the work of Houri et al (2019) help the school psychologist see that the positive school-to-home notes can be enhanced by emphasizing a positive expectation about their child's long-term academic success and featuring a positive characteristic of the child that will help them succeed. Unlike many positive school-to-home notes, the A-Autonomy aspect of the BEAR model suggests that it is not best to combine home-based or school-based rewards with the positive notes, as this could suggest to the child that the main reason for engaging in the learning is to pursue the extrinsic reward, rather than grow through the process of learning Ryan & Deci, 2017).…”

“…Parent involvement researchers have just begun to develop and study parent expectations interventions, even though numerous studies have long indicated that parent expectations are one of the strongest predictors of academic achievement throughout the school years (Froiland & Davison, 2014; Jeynes, 2012). In addition, many parents across the U.S., Germany, and Spain, do not trust elementary, middle and high schools and/or do not feel welcomed by the school (Adams & Christenson, 2000; Froiland & Davison, 2014; Houri et al., 2019; Reparaz & Sotés-Elizalde, 2019). Given that schools across the world want to elevate student achievement and many are interested in promoting mental health (Froiland et al., 2015), it is surprising that more attention is not given to promoting parent involvement, which predicts student achievement, motivation, and wellbeing throughout the school years and beyond.…”

“…However, parents may need to be prepared for the likelihood that years of autonomy supportive communication will result in a child who thinks for herself and feels comfortable challenging the merit of parents’ rules and requests. Parent-school relationships are also an important part of parent involvement (Froiland & Davison, 2014; Houri et al., 2019; Smith et al., 2019). This aligns with the bioecological model of development which posits that the home-school mesosystem is crucial for healthy child development (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).…”