Page 20 - Microsoft Word - School Readiness and Parenting Outcomes from ECE-Full Report.doc

“He talks with us about what he learned in the program that you helped us obtain. He now knows letters, numbers, and is more prepared for kinder.”
“He is asking me a lot of questions and we talk a lot.”
“My son's self confidence has increased very much. He knows more about school and understanding the English language.”
INCREASES IN PARENTS’ ABILITY TO SUPPORT CHILDREN’S SCHOOL READINESS TO SUSTAIN THEIR SUCCESS IN SCHOOL
Early home learning environments where parents are knowledgeable about supporting their child’s cognitive development are linked to children’s English, Math, and Self-regulation 6 years later xxxiv. Parent participation in play activities with their children is important for their social and emotional development xxxv. Specifically, children who play at home and whose parents understand the importance of play in children’s development demonstrate prosocial and independent behavior in the classroom xxxvi. Additionally, parent participation in activities such as arts and crafts is associated with children’s literacy development xxxvii. These findings illustrate the importance of helping parents learn how to support their children’s cognitive development prior to entering school, which is what many of our CCRC programs are designed to accomplish.
As with the assessment of school readiness, the measurement tool for parenting skills was a retrospective-pretest posttest asking parents to rate their ability before and after the program in the following domains: My knowledge of how to help my child learn, The amount of time I spend playing with my child, The amount of time I spend reading to my child, My knowledge about how children grow and learn, My ability to handle concerns with my child, My comfort in talking to school staff or teachers about my child, My confidence in my parenting skills, My confidence that I can support my child’s transition to Kindergarten, How often my child and I talk to each other, and My knowledge of community services and agencies. The scores on these items were averaged to form one “Parenting skills” score. Parenting skills changed dramatically from before to after the program. Prior to the program 43.1% of parents had fair or great parenting skills whereas after the program 91.9% were rated as such (See Figure 25). Overall, 89.1% of parents increased their parenting skills from before to after the program.
CCRC’s programs lead to significant gains in parent’s ability to support their children’s readiness for kindergarten and sustain their success in school: 89.1% of parents increased their parenting skills.
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