Source: Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Volume 32, Issue 1, 2011, pages 84-96.
The current study reports the relationship of an undergraduate course in family and community relations to the teaching practices of 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-year elementary and early childhood education graduates of a mid-sized Midwestern university.
Sixty students were surveyed in this study.
21 students assigned to a treatment group who having taken the course.
39 students assigned to a control group who did not take the course.
Quantitative measures indicated minimal differences between groups.
Qualitatively, however, treatment group members reported engaging families in creative, less standardized levels of involvement than members of the control group.
Treatment group members articulated a theoretical and practical understanding of the benefits of family involvement.
They emphasized importance of collaboration between home and school, while control group members expressed frequent antagonism and ambivalence toward families.