Do Parent Groups Add Value to Multi-Component School-Based Programs? Evidence From a Randomized Socioemotional Learning Intervention

The causal impacts of multi-component school-based interventions are difficult to differentially ascertain. In addition to components directed at teachers and students, some interventions include parent groups that serve to reinforce content at home. It is important to determine the added value of parent groups – typically expensive and labor-intensive – when assessing the effects of such interventions.

Twenty-two urban elementary schools were randomly assigned to INSIGHTS or a supplemental reading program. INSIGHTS is designed to enhance the academic and social-emotional development of children at-risk for adjustment difficulties during the early years of elementary school. The program teaches parents, teachers, and children temperament-based strategies to enhance children’s classroom engagement and academic skill development in urban elementary schools. Study participants included 435 kindergarten and first grade children and their parents and 122 teachers. Children were assessed pre and post-intervention on measures of academic achievement (Woodcock Johnson Letter-Word ID & Applied Problems), sustained attention (Leiter-R), and in-school behaviors (Sutter Eyberg Student Behavior Inventory). Thirty-eight percent of the parents decided to attend at a high-level (>80% of the sessions) while 36% decided not to participate in any sessions.

In the current study we first examine intent-to-treat effects of INSIGHTS on child outcomes. Second, we use propensity score matching techniques to address selection bias of participating parents. A multi-level logistic regression was used to identify a counterfactual group of parents in the comparison condition, who, based on baseline characteristics would have likely been either high-level participants or non-participants in the temperament intervention parent groups. Then, the weights from those logistic regressions, known as propensity scores, were used to estimate the effect of participating in the parent, teacher, and student program components on child outcomes relative to participation in only the teacher and student components.

Overall, children in INSIGHTS demonstrated faster growth in math and reading achievement and sustained attention, and slower growth in behavior problems, compared to children in the supplemental reading program. No significant differences in program effects were found based on participation in parent, teacher, and student components on academic achievement and sustained attention compared to participation in only teacher and student components. Children whose parents attended at least 80% of the INSIGHTS sessions, however, evidenced lower levels of behavior problems than children of non-participants.

The results suggest the additional benefits of the parent component. However, the practical significance of the effects should be examined. Implications for dissemination and prevention science will be discussed.