Working with Families: Promising Programs to Help Parents Support Young Children's Learning. Summary of Findings

摘要

The impetus for the study was the U.S. Department of Education's interest in improving the school achievement of disadvantaged children. The report presents the results from an in-depth study of promising family education programs that are working with low-income families. The study examines seventeen family education programs selected from a pool of programs identified in a national search as promising and innovative. Each of the programs has some evidence of impact on children or families; in addition, they share other indicators of success--operating for two or more years, being implemented in multiple sites, and having established strong, positive reputations in their communities. The study focuses on a particular category of family education programs: those that work with parents with the primary goal of enhancing children's cognitive development and school-related achievement. Among these programs, the authors selected those that: (1) target families with children between 3 and 8 years of age; (2) target or serve large numbers of low-income families; and (3) are linked with the public schools.