Teacher Perceptions of Preschool Parent Engagement: Causal Effects of a Connection-Focused Intervention

Background Strong connections between children’s teachers and their parents fosters their learning and development in early childhood and throughout their schooling. Developing strong connections in preschool may ease the transition to elementary school for children. Objective The goal of this study is to examine the initial implementation of the Kindergarten Transition Practices intervention, its impacts on parental engagement, and how these impacts varied by family race/ethnicity, maternal education, and children’s behavior problems. Method Children (N = 391) were randomly assigned to one of three groups: KTP-Classroom, where they received a classroom-level intervention; KTP-Plus, where they received both the classroom intervention and an additional home visiting component; or the business-as-usual control group. Transition Coordinators worked with both teachers and parents throughout the intervention to build connections between parents and their children’s teachers and schools. Results Results showed that the classroom intervention (KTP-Classroom) led to significantly higher levels of teacher-reported parent involvement and that, for Hispanic families, the classroom plus home visiting intervention (KTP-Plus) led to more positive teacher perceptions of parent involvement, parent-teacher relationships, and parent values. Conclusions These findings suggest that connection-focused models may be one way to enhance parental engagement during preschool.