Positive Family Support: A tiered
model for evidenced-based
parental engagement
National PBIS Leadership Forum
October 11, 2013
Kevin J. Moore
Child & Family Center
Illinois
Jennifer Phillips, LCSW PBIS External Coach and
Meghan McCarthy, LCSW Family Support Facilitator
Montana
Carol Ewin, MA RtI Specialist
Tammy Tolleson-Knee, LSW School Counselor
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Maximizing Your Session
Participation
Work with your team
Consider 4 questions:
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–
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Where are we in our implementation?
What do I hope to learn?
What did I learn?
What will I do with what I learned?
Where are you in implementation process?
Adapted from Fixsen & Blase, 2005
Exploration & Adoption
• We think we know what we need so we are planning to move forward
(evidence-based)
Installation
• Let’s make sure we’re ready to implement (capacity infrastructure)
Initial Implementation
• Let’s give it a try & evaluate (demonstration)
Full Implementation
• That worked, let’s do it for real (investment)
Sustainability & Continuous Regeneration
• Let’s make it our way of doing business (institutionalized use)
Leadership Team Action Planning
Worksheets: Steps
Self-Assessment: Accomplishments & Priorities
Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheet
Session Assignments & Notes: High Priorities
Team Member Note-Taking Worksheet
Action Planning: Enhancements & Improvements
Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheet
Two objectives of this talk:
 To demonstrate that effectively engaging and
collaborating with families in the public school
context can make a difference in the success and
well-being of students.
 To discuss specific strategies that can be used
within the PBIS structure to constructively
engage parents to collaborate with educators.
Family Engagement and Involvement
In Student Learning and Schools
 Apparent in national initiatives
 General and special education legislation
 Statements and goals of countless education
related professional organizations
 Critical aspects of many comprehensive school
reform efforts
(Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Lewis and Henderson, 1997; Reschly &
Christenson, In press)
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So what do we know about high
performing schools?
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1. A clear and shared focus
2. High standards and expectations for all students
3. Effective school leadership
4. High levels of collaboration and communication
5. Curriculum, instruction, and assessments aligned
with state and national core standards
6. Frequent monitoring of teaching and learning
7. Focused professional development
8. A supportive learning environment
9. High levels of parent and community involvement
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30 Years of Evidence: Family
Involvement
 Family involvement helps student achievement
 Henderson & Berla, 1994; Henderson & Mapp 2004; Stormshak et
al., 2011
 Teacher collaborative outreach to families related to strong
and consistent gains in achievement in both reading and math
 Effective outreach practices included:
 Face to face
 Sending materials home
 Keeping touch about progress (joint monitoring)
 Workshops for families on helping their children at home linked
to higher reading and math scores
 Schools with higher rated partnership programs greater gains on
state tests than lower rated programs
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Additional Benefits of Family
Engagement for Students
 Higher grade point averages and scores on
standardized tests
 Enrollment in more challenging academic programs
 More classes passed and credits earned
 Better attendance
 Improved behavior at home and at school
 Better social skills and adaptation to school
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30 Years of Evidence for Improved
Parent Management on
Youth Outcomes
Early
Childhood
Problem
Behavior
Effective
Family
Management
Interventions
Reduce….
Middle
Childhood
Problem
Behavior
Adolescent
Problem
Behavior
Improved Problem Behaviors Include
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School grades and attendance
Anxiety and Depression
Disruptive Disorders including arrest rates
ADHD
Health risking behaviors
 Drug and alcohol use and abuse
 High risk sexual
 Young Adult Obesity
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Unique Vulnerabilities of Secondary
School Students:
 Decreased parent involvement
 Increased problem behavior
 Increased peer group influence
 Decreased attendance
 Decreased academic performance
Two Adult Sytems Concerned About
Students Outcomes
School
Home
Expectations
Expectations
Monitoring
Monitoring
Support
Support
What is
What is
Student
going
on at
going
on at
Parent-Teacher
Contact
Teacher-Parent
Contact
school?
home?
Tracking Grades, Beh,
Behavior Expectations
Attendance
Parent
Awareness
Homework Patterns
School
Awareness
Synergy of Family Engagement
Coupled with Family Management
Support in Educational Settings
16
Prevention Research in Public Middle Schools
(Project Alliance 1 and 2: Dishion & Stormshak)
6th Grade
Middle School
Students:
Portland Public
Schools
Randomly
Assigned
Family
Resource
Room
Offered
Family
Check-up &
FU support
Control:
Middle
school as
usual.
2
7th
7th ---> 11th Grade
Self Reported Substance Use in the Last Month
FCU Intervention Outcome on Self Reported
Substance Use for High Risk Students
(adapted from Dishion, Kavanagh et al, 2002)
PERCENTAGE ARRESTED
BY AGE 16-17
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Connell Dishion et al 2007
Effects on Academic and Attendance
Outcomes
Grade Point Average
School Absences
Control
FCU
Control
FCU Prevents GPA Decline
FCU
FCU Reduces School Absences
Challenges to Using Parenting
Programs in Schools :
 Respectfully identifying and engaging parents of
students who most need the services and support;
 Parents are often unable to participate in parenting
‘programs’ because they are delivered in groups
and/or scheduling problems
 Schools don’t have resources to pay for personnel
engage and work with parents in these interventions:
 There are often no formal strategies for linking work of
parenting interventions with school based strategies;
Positive Family Support
 An adapted and tailored intervention model that is
intentionally designed to be a collaboration with any
particular school (i.e., based on a schools needs and goals
regarding their students and families).
 Structures program around evidenced-based intervention
constructs and intervention targets.
 Focused on reducing the response costs for schools to do
effective family engagement using evidenced-based
methods.
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Key Features of this Model
 Follows a Response to Intervention RtI approach
 Note: Family involvement considered one of the Three Essential
Components of RtI along with Tiered instruction/intervention
and Ongoing Student Assessment
 Designed to integrate into PBIS structures
 Adapted to the unique ecology of each school
 Partnership model: intervention team and school’s key
personnel collaborate to learn the model
Integration into PBIS & RTI
•Individualized Supports
•Functional Behavioral
Assessments
•Specialized Supports
•Check-In/Check-Out
• School Rules &
Expectations
•Positive Reinforcement
•Student Needs Screening
Indicated
Selected
Universal
•Family Check-Up
•Parenting Support Sessions
•Parent Management Training
•Community Referrals
•Parent Integration CICO
•Attendance & Homework Support
•Home-School Beh Change Plans
•Email and Text messages
•Family Resource Center
•Parenting Materials
(Brochures/Videos/Handouts)
•Positive Family Outreach
•Student Needs Parent Screening
Preliminary Fam-Set Effects Sizes for PFS
Model Implementation Across the Three Tiers
Provided questionnaire to assess parents' perspectives on student
strengths and risk factors (U)
Number of resources available to families at school (U)
Parents contacted before a child's behavior got out of hand (U)
Defined system for regular, positive contact with families (U)
Provided assessment-based feedback about parenting related to
academics (S)
Worked directly with parents to support family involvement in academic
issues (S)
Offered family-based services or educational material (U)
Parents had input into school-wide policies regarding student discipline
practices (U)
Asked parents to participate in positive reward systems for targeted
school behaviors (S)
Worked directly with parents to support positive parenting practices (I)
Followed-up with parents about previously discussed concerns (I)
School budget contained an allocated amount of money for school-wide
behavioral support (U)
0.0
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0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
Talk Talk Talk…When Do We
Eat?
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Proactive Screening that is “Respectful to Parents”
Revised Multiple Gating Approach
Parent
Readiness
Screener
(school entry)
* Behavior (e.g., SWIS);
Homework
Completion/Grades;
Attendance
Teacher &
Staff
Screening*
(fall-spring)
SchoolParent
PBS plan
Family
Check Up
Tailored
Student &
Family
Support
The Parent Readiness Screen for
Positive Family Support.
Begin the School Year with Parents Expressing THEIR Needs
• Use Parent Readiness Screen
to place students in the triangle
• Use their data to guide your
approach to contact parents
• Use data to inform your practices
(e.g., targeted parent nights)
Readiness Screening as a
Proactive Caring and Collaborative
“Joining Process”
 Positive Family Support Readiness Screener
 A pragmatic screening tool that:
 Uses 14 questions to ask caretakers at beginning of the school
year to express THEIR concerns and support needs about their
child in regards to school
 Asks parents if they need support for any of the questions
 Asks parents if they would like school contact
 Easily sorted into a triaged proactive parent contact strategy
 Use caretaker data to guide parent contact by grade level
teams, counselors, and/or administration
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Behavior
Peers
Attendance
Academics
Affective/Moo
d
Self-regulation
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Multiple Uses of Parent Screener
 School-wide needs assessment from parent perspective.
 Increase teacher and administrative knowledge of what, if
any, concerns caretakers have about their student.
 Creates opportunities for proactive reach-out to
caretakers.
 Can inform teacher and administrator about caretaker
knowledge or concern about a student’s problems before
making an achievement or behavior related contact.
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Sixth Grade Parent Responses to the
School Readiness Screener (N=3 schools)
Item
Description
Doing Great
Some
Concern
Serious
Concern
Asking for
Support
Completing
Homework
assignments
59%
30%
8.9%
11%
Needing
Structure and
Supervision
65%
28%
6%
9%
Getting easily
distracted by
other kids
51%
40%
10%
11%
Focusing and
staying on task
at school
60%
33%
7%
9%
Depressed or
anxious
69%
25%
6%
7%
Parent Scaffolding for Homework Support
41
43
Selected-Level:
Behavior Change Plans
Use Home
Incentives Plan
Check-In/
Check-Out
Invite Parents
to Join CI/CO
For teachers &
family resource specialists
For parents and students
(with teacher & family
resource specialist help)
For teachers and parents
An Overview of the Family Check-Up
and Follow-Up Services
Parent
Materials and
Support
The Family Check-Up
Get to Know
You
Interview
Family
Questionnaire
Collaborative
Feedback &
Motivation
Parent Topic
Events/Group
s
Student
Intervention
Support
Community
Resources
FCU CASE STUDY
3
4
In-school and out-school suspension
47
48
49
M/D
M
D
D
M/D
M
M
M/D
D
D
T
M
M/D
M/D
T
T
M
M/D
M
M
M
D
D
50
D
Parenting Resources: Brochures
52
54
Video Support for Families
FCU CASE STUDY
3
4
FCU plus 2 follow-up sessions
on home incentives for CICO
and increased encouragement
at home
Finds out Adopted
In-school and out-school suspension
1
1
57
1 session re-visit home and school
CICO Plan-- found normal drift in
both settings to lower rates of R+
increased adult attention
and R+ at home and school back to
levels of October plan
Summary and Conclusions
 Effectively and respectfully engaging parents in school
contexts with empirically validated interventions can
increase student success.
 PBIS provides an excellent infrastructure and behavior
management structure for embedding parenting
interventions into universal, selected and individualized
intervention services.
 We need to create an integrated system that includes
parent engagement, so that there is ‘value added’, and we
help school staff be more efficient and effective at what
they are doing already.
Current First Year Implementers
Where we are at
Things we are learning
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PFS Acknowledgements
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Intervention Developers and Consultation Team
Kimbree Brown
Tom Dishion
Rosemarie Downey
Corrina Falkenstein
Greg Fosco
Kate Kavanagh
Kevin Moore
Beth Stormshak
PFS Research Evaluation Research Team
Carey Black
Jeff Gau
John Seeley
Keith Smolkowski
Thank you for your attention
For more information on Positive Family Support
Please contact Dr. Kevin Moore at kmoore2@uoregon.edu
And visit the FCU and PFS website:
(http://fcu.cfc.uoregon.edu/)