Developing an equitable measure of parent engagement in early childhood education for urban schools

Deborah Gross, Amie F. Bettencourt, W. Holmes Finch, Corinne Plesko, Rachael Paulson and Demetria L. Singleton

Children and Youth Services Review, 2022, vol. 141, issue C

Abstract: This study evaluated the validity of the Parent Engagement in Early Childhood Education (PEECE) Survey as an equitable measure of parent engagement in early childhood education that would address limitations of existing parent-report measures for use in urban schools in high poverty neighborhoods. We examined the PEECE Survey factor structure; item difficulty; discrimination; measurement invariance; and associations with children’s kindergarten readiness, school absenteeism, and teachers’ ratings of parent engagement among 304 parents of kindergarteners (74% mothers, 68.4% African American, 63.2% single parents, 59.2% low-income). Factor analyses revealed 3 PEECE Survey factors: Knowledge/Expectations, Trust/Communication, and Home-based Engagement (factor reliabilities ranged from 0.63 to 0.85). There was minimal evidence of differential item functioning by parent and child characteristics. PEECE subscale scores were significantly positively associated with kindergarten readiness and teacher ratings of parent’s engagement; and significantly negatively related to kindergarten absenteeism. Subscale scores did not differ by parents’ income level, marital status, or education or by child gender; African American parents reported higher scores on Knowledge/Expectations. Results suggest the 25-item PEECE Survey is a valid and equitable measure of parent engagement, capturing behaviors and perspectives that are feasible for parents with limited incomes and resources and linked to indicators of children’s early academic success.

Keywords: Parent involvement; Family engagement; Early childhood education; Education equity; School readiness; Urban education; Measurement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740922002493
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:141:y:2022:i:c:s0190740922002493

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106613

Access Statistics for this article

Children and Youth Services Review is currently edited by Duncan Lindsey

More articles in Children and Youth Services Review from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().