Targeting Parent Trust to Enhance Engagement in a School-Home Communication System: A Double-Blind Experiment of a Parental Wise Feedback Intervention

• Published in: School psychology 2019-07, Vol.34 (4), p.421-432
• Main Authors: Houri, Alaa K., Thayer, Andrew J., Cook, Clayton R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic Success; Behavior Modification; Child; Communication; Cost Effectiveness; Double-Blind Method; Double-blind studies; Electronic Mail; Elementary School Students; Family School Relationship; Feedback; Feedback (Response); Female; Grade 5; Home school relationship; Human; Humans; Intermediate Grades; Intervention; Letters (Correspondence); Male; Parent Participation; Parent Teacher Cooperation; Parent-Child Relations; Parental Engagement; Parental Expectations; Parental Involvement; Parents; Parents - psychology; Program Effectiveness; Race; School Based Intervention; School Teachers; Schools; Student Behavior; Students; Teacher Expectations of Students; Teacher Student Interaction; Teachers; Test Construction; Trust; Trust (Psychology); Trust (Social Behavior)
• ISSN: 2578-4218; 2578-4226
• DOI: 10.1037/spq0000318

Parental behavioral and relational engagement in school include components of trust, communication, and respect that are positively predictive of student academic success. Parents who report high levels of trust with their child's teacher are more likely to be involved in school and related programs and events. Direct teacher-parent communication has been demonstrated to strengthen parental trust, thereby increasing parental engagement. The parent wise feedback intervention is a relational technique that communicates high expectations from one person to another while simultaneously creating a space for reciprocal dialogue to strengthen trust. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of this intervention on parental behavioral and relational engagement and student behaviors through a double-blind randomized control trial. The sample consisted of 51 students in third through fifth grade whose parents demonstrated low levels of engagement. Results demonstrated a significant increase in parental behavioral and relational engagement for the majority of parents in the intervention condition. In addition, changes in parental responses were positively correlated with changes in student behaviors. Educators can easily implement this low-cost, parent-directed intervention to enhance parental behavioral and relational engagement in populations that demonstrate high levels of mistrust with school personnel. Impact and Implications This study demonstrated an increase in parental behavioral and relational engagement in parents of third through fifth grade students following the use of a parent-directed intervention. Teachers who participated in this study implemented this low-resource intervention by communicating their high expectations of success for the student directly to the parent in a personalized letter. Educators can easily implement this intervention in populations that demonstrate high levels of mistrust with school personnel.