Immigrant parent involvement in government funded early childhood education programming: an examination of FACES

ABSTRACT

Head Start is a federally funded early childhood education programme that takes a unique 2-generation approach to working with families. Family engagement in early education like Head Start has been shown to improve academic and behavioural outcomes in children, with particular beneficial effects in the children of immigrant parents. This study seeks to explore predictors of involvement in Head Start services among immigrant families. Through an examination of Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) 2009 data, this study uses bivariate and multivariate regression, and Karlson/Holm/Breen (KHB) analyses to determine variables associated with involvement in Head Start services. Results indicate that immigrant and U.S.-born parents do not differ in their levels of involvement in Head Start services. Rather, for both groups of parents, parental education attainment and satisfaction in services predicted levels of involvement. Furthermore, for mothers, the relationship between levels of educational attainment and involvement was fully mediated by mothers’ levels of employment.

KEYWORDS:

• Early childhood
• head start
• parent involvement
• immigrant families

ORCID

Anne Day Leong http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1832-1414

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Anne Day Leong, Ph.D., is a fellow at the National Institutes of Health. Her research centers around policy solutions to support child and maternal health, with a focus on early childhood.

Stephanie Cosner Berzin, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean, Doctoral Program, at Boston College School of Social Work. As Director of the Center for Social Innovation, her research focuses on organizational capacity-building around innovation and intrapreneurship. Complementary research explores services to combat poverty and support vulnerable youth.

Summer Sherburne Hawkins, Ph.D., MS, is an Associate Professor at Boston College in the School of Social Work. She is a social epidemiologist with an interest in addressing policy-relevant research questions in maternal and child health. Her research examines the impact of policies on health disparities in parents and children, particularly using methodology that integrates epidemiology and economics.