Realizing the American Dream:
A Parent Education Program
Designed to Engage Marginalized
Families’ Involvement
Joan Walker, Ph.D.
School of Education
AERA 2013 Annual Meeting
1
Abstract
• Since 2006 more than 21,000 Arizona parents in over 190
unique schools in more than 45 school districts have
completed the Realizing the American Dream program.
RAD has been offered more than 425 times.
• Grounded in Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler’s (1995,1997,
2005) model of the parent involvement process, the
program targets parents’ involvement beliefs, knowledge
and behaviors.
• This presentation shares:
1. pre- and post-program survey results for two cohorts of
parents who completed RAD in 2011-12
2. program implementation fidelity ratings for three sites.
2
The Research Team
• Realizing the American Dream is the signature program of
the American Dream Academy (ADA) at Arizona State
University.
• In 2008, ADA commissioned private industry partner the
Parent Institute to create the free 7-week intervention
program.
– Offered in both Spanish and English; Latinos are the majority of
program completers.
• In 2011, these partners asked the developers of the
Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler model to undertake an
evaluation of the Realizing the American Dream program.
3
Program Evaluation Questions
1. Does the Realizing the American Dream
(RAD) program impact parents’ involvement
knowledge, beliefs and behaviors?
2. If positive differences are observed in
parents’ involvement behaviors, what
predicts these changes?
3. Is the RAD curriculum being fully and
consistently implemented across classes?
4
Theoretical Framework
5
RAD Curriculum
• Class Topics:
1. YOU make the difference!
2. Being a partner with your school
3. Academic standards and performance requirements
4. Success factors: Communication & discipline
5. Success factors: Self-esteem & motivation
6. Success factors: Reading & spending time together
7. Your academic success plan
• Orientation and Graduation ceremony
• Principals’ Forum
http://www.parent-institute.com/rad.php
6
RAD Participants
Fall 2011
Spring 2012
N = 1245
91
5
N = 1126
91
4
86
14
72
21
25-35
36-45
43
42
32
49
Education
High school or less
Some college or college degree
73
26
32
68
Ethnicity
Hispanic
Caucasian
Gender
Female
Male
Age
7
Methods: Survey
• 31-item survey about involvement beliefs,
knowledge and behavior; developed in English
and translated into Spanish by native Spanish
speakers.
– Items rated on a 4-point scale (agree-disagree)
• Administered at first and final RAD sessions.
• Demographics survey completed mid-way
– All scales available in Spanish and English
8
Analyses: Survey Data
• Factor analysis confirmed a 3-factor structure
– Beliefs, knowledge, behavior
• Scale reliabilities >.74, pre and post
• Missing data =< 5%
– Replaced with item mean
– No significant correlations between missing data and
demographics
• Paired samples t-tests on pre-post responses
– Cohen’s d
– Corrections for multiple tests
9
Question: Does RAD Influence Parents'
Beliefs, Knowledge & Behavior? (Avg ES)
4
ES =.34*
ES = 1.21**
ES = .72**
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
Beliefs
Knowledge
Pre
* = p < .05; ** = p .01
Behaviors
Post
10
Results: Beliefs
• RAD impacts parents’ beliefs about the role
of the home in children’s education.
• Of the 13 items in this scale (a = .75 -.79), one
showed meaningful change across cohorts:
– My child spends more of his/her time learning at
home than at school. (ES = .64 for 2011 and .76
for 2012 cohorts)
11
Beliefs, continued
• Items that did not change were high at pretest
– Suggests parents already held strong beliefs about
their role in some aspects of involvement (e.g.,
“It’s my responsibility to make sure my child
finishes high school”).
• Program participation is voluntary and thus
attracts parents who believe they can make a
difference—however, they may not know how
to put their beliefs into action.
12
Results: Knowledge
• All 10 items changed (a: pre= .85; post = .90)
– Effect size range = . 44 – 1.31
• Largest effects found for:
–
–
–
–
academic terms and concepts
academic requirements and standards
how to build reading skills at home
steps required to succeed academically and go to a
university
– how to work with my child’s teacher principal,
counselor, or parent liaison.
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Results: Behaviors
• All 9 items increased (a, pre= .80; post = .87)
• Largest effect size found for:
– “I have made a plan to make sure my child succeeds
academically and graduates from high school.” (ES =
.93 for 2011 cohort, .90 for 2012 cohort)
• Other items with meaningful change related to:
– parent-teacher communication, a central concept in
the curriculum.
• e.g., “I keep in touch with the teacher about my child’s
academic performance.” (ES = .48, .51 by cohort)
– home-based behaviors:
• e.g., “I talk with my child about my expectations for success.”
(ES = .53, .47 by cohort)
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Analyses: Predicting Behaviors
• Hierarchical regressions were conducted using
factors in the following blocks:
– Block 1: demographics (education, annual family
income, and ethnicity)
– Block 2: parents’ beliefs, knowledge and
behaviors, pre-RAD
– Block 3: self-reported involvement-related beliefs
and knowledge, post-RAD
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Results: Factors Predicting Behavior
Fall 2011
DV: post-RAD behavior
Education
Annual income
Ethnicity
F
181.02**
Adj. R2
.63
Beliefs-pre RAD
Knowledge-pre RAD
Behavior-pre RAD
Beliefs-post RAD
Knowledge-post RAD
Spring 2012
DV: post-RAD behavior
Education
Annual income
Ethnicity
Beliefs-pre RAD
Knowledge-pre RAD
Behavior-pre RAD
Beliefs-post RAD
Knowledge-post RAD
91.8**
B
SE B
b
p<
.00
.01
-.01
.01
.01
.02
.01
.02
-.01
.69
.33
.50
-.07
-.02
.02
.02
-.06
-.03
.01
.25
.13
.02
.19
.01
.23
.03
.18
.01
.58
.02
.63
.01
.00
.01
.00
.99
.01
-.02
.04
.01
.02
.03
.06
-.02
.04
.03
.48
.20
-.06
.02
-.10
.01
.07
.02
.10
.01
.25
.05
.17
.01
.64
.03
.59
.01
.50
Question 3: Is the RAD curriculum being
fully and consistently implemented?
• Sample: 3 RAD courses (in Spanish) at 3
separate elementary schools in Fall 2011
– 35 programs total offered , 10% of population
• Taught by 3 different RAD facilitators
• 3 trained, bilingual observers completed
identical observation rubrics for each RAD
class at each school
– One observer completed the rubric on-site, in real time
– The second observer cross-evaluated a video recording of
the classes
17
Demographics: Fidelity Study Team
Facilitators
Observers
• Facilitator 1: Medical
degree; previously taught
12 RAD classes
• Facilitator 2: MS in
education; previously
taught 6 RAD classes
• Facilitator 3: BA; previously
taught 12 RAD classes
• Evaluator 1: BS in Film
Production; 3 years with
ADA
• Evaluator 2: RAD facilitator;
K-12 Teacher; 3 years with
ADA
• Evaluator 3: RAD facilitator;
BS in Engineering; 2 years
with ADA
Facilitators and observers were female, native Spanish speakers in their 30s
and 40s. All had completed RAD as a family or community member.
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Assessing Treatment Fidelity
• Rated fidelity of curriculum for each class as:
– fully met (2), partially met (1) or unmet (0).
– If both raters did not agree that the component was either
fully met or unmet, coded as partially met.
• Compared curriculum as outlined in Facilitator’s
Guide to real time observation (rater 1) and video
recording (rater 2)
• Agreement between raters
– School 1: r = .85
– School 2: r = .81
– School 3: r = .79
19
20
Percentage of Curriculum Met by Class by
School
Fidelity and Parent “Ownership”
of RAD Curriculum
• Created their own ‘curriculum’
– Parent additions, suggestions, adaptations
• Parent networks
– Sharing of information, facilitator  participants
– Participant  participant communication
• Linguistic, cultural idioms within curriculum
– e.g., “It takes a village” vs. concept of aldea
– Analogy between Ladder of Success and planning
for quinceanera
22
Summary: Research Findings
• Surveys showed meaningful changes in
participants’ knowledge, behaviors and
(some) beliefs targeted in RAD curriculum.
• Post-RAD behaviors are a function of parents’
knowledge and beliefs, not family
demographics.
• Observations indicate RAD curriculum was
implemented with an acceptable degree of
fidelity.
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Significance
• RAD program enhances parents’ knowledge of
US school system
• RAD also influences parents’ behaviors:
– Home-school communication and home-based
support for academic skill development
– Basic parenting skills (communication, discipline)
• RAD impacts parents’ beliefs about the role
they play in their child’s education.
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Limitations
• Self-report bias (parent survey)
• Small sample of classes observed (10%)
• Cannot directly attribute changes to RAD
given complex set of factors that influence the
parent involvement process.
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Future Directions
• Follow up study of RAD graduates to track their
children's’ outcomes relative to peers whose
parents did not complete RAD
• Capture individual parent narratives
• Replication
• Implement RAD alongside teacher professional
development targeting family engagement
– TIP http://www.parent-institute.com/product/5P02B
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