Increasing parental knowledge through workshops on early childhood programs, home literacy, and technology use

ABSTRACT

This experimental study explores the effects of workshops designed to increase directly the knowledge of Latinx parents, and indirectly, their children’s vocabulary knowledge. Thirty-two Latinx mothers were randomly assigned to either attend six workshops in Spanish (n = 17), or to a wait-list control group (n = 15). Workshops included carefully designed strategies to scaffold the information based on parent English language proficiency, early childhood knowledge, and technology skills. Results indicate that mothers who attended the workshops significantly increased their early childhood knowledge, and children whose mothers attended the workshops significantly increased their Spanish expressive vocabulary. We did not find significant effects of the workshops on parental technology knowledge and literacy knowledge, although effect sizes were moderate. We discuss our findings in the context of building parental knowledge to increase their role construction and self-efficacy taking their funds of knowledge into account.

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the contributions to this study by HFN project leader Cynthia Perez, project assistant Perla Trejo, Bob Mong, former editor of the Dallas Morning News (DMN), Alfredo Carbajal and Tom Huang, current editors from the DMN, journalist volunteers from the DMN, and the financial support of the John S., and the James L. Knight Foundation. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not represent views of the DMN or the Knight Foundation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Notes on contributors

Doris Luft Baker

Doris Luft Baker is an Associate Professor in the Simmons School of Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University. One of her research interests is exploring evidence-based practices to support Latinx families in Spanish and in English that can lead to better academic outcomes for their children.

Hao Ma

Hao Ma is a Ph.D. Candidate and research analyst in the Simmons School of Education and Human Development and center of research and evaluation at Southern Methodist University. One of his research interests is quantitative methodology using a Bayesian approach.

Elisa Gallegos

Elisa Gallegos, MS, is a Senior Program Specialist for the Center on Research and Evaluation at Southern Methodist University. She has research experience in the areas of reading, special education, and developmental neurolinguistics. Her evaluation experience covers a variety of areas, including dual-generation programming in Latinx communities.

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