Page 22 - Microsoft Word - School Readiness and Parenting Outcomes from ECE-Full Report.doc

APPENDIX: METHODOLOGY
Table 1 illustrates the breakdown of which measurement tool was utilized in each of our programs. The DRDP-R (Desired Results Developmental Profile-Revised) measures development across a number of domains and is currently available in 2 separate tools for children ages 0-5 years: one for Infant/ Toddler and one for 3 years – kindergarten. Our Parents as Teachers program uses a modified version of the DRDP (a former version of the DRDP-R) that is more appropriate for home visitation programs. Our Retrospective Pretest instrument asks parents to compare their children before and after the program on various dimensions of school readiness and also asks to compare themselves before and after the program on various dimensions of parenting skills.
Table 1. Measurement Tools Used Measure
DRDP-R (3 years-Kindergarten) DRDP-R (Birth-36 Months)
DRDP-R (internally modified for Home Visitation)
Retrospective Pretest (School Readiness & Parenting Skills)
ParticipantGroup
Head Start + FCCHEN Preschool Age FCCHEN Infants and Toddlers Parents As Teachers
Head Start FCCHEN
Parents As Teachers Mommy & Me Enrichment
To measure changes in school readiness due to participation in our programs, we asked parents’ about their children’s school readiness interest and skills before and after participating in the program by employing a retrospective-pretest posttest evaluation method. We measured this construct with the following items: My child’s interest in going to school, My child’s interest in singing and dancing, My child’s interest in books, My child’s interest in the alphabet, My child’s interest in art, My child’s interest in numbers, My child’s interest in learning, My child’s readiness to start school, My child’s ability to speak English, My child’s vocabulary, My child’s self-confidence, and My child’s independence. Alpha coefficients are reported in Table 2 for these items before the program and after the program (Alpha is a statistic that measures how well a set of questions asks a central construct or theme and any value over .70 is considered acceptable). All Alphas show a good level of consistency (the questions are measuring the same construct of “School Readiness”).
To measure changes in parenting skills we asked parents to evaluate their parenting skills before and after the program on the following dimensions: 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. Alpha coefficients for these items are reported in Table 2 for before and after the program. All Alphas show a good level of consistency (the questions are measuring the same construct of “Parenting.”
19