Home visiting linked to lower school truancy and better reading outcomes
Jerome Watkins and his wife, Nicole Jones-Watkins, discuss the upcoming school year expectations for their son, Xavier Ferrell, 9, with Stanton Elementary teachers, Melissa Bryant and Samantha Antunez during a parent-teacher home-visit in 2013. (Amanda Voisard/For The Washington Post)
Students whose teachers visited them at home to build relationships with their families were less likely to miss school, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University.
Researchers also found that students who took part in a home visiting program were more likely to read on grade level and that their teachers received higher marks on some parts of their teacher evaluations.
The study included 4,700 students at 12 elementary schools or education campuses that took part in a family engagement program run by the District-based Flamboyan Foundation during the 2013-2014 school year.
“We’ve always known anecdotally and emotionally that home visiting helps families connect to teachers, but now we know home visits are increasing attendance,” said Kristin Ehrgood, president and board chair for the foundation.
Over time, research has shown that children whose parents are involved in their educations tend to have better attendance, grades, graduation rates, and other outcomes. But there is far less research about whether schools can make a difference in supporting greater engagement among families, said Steven B. Sheldon, a research scientist with the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnership who led the study.
“The question is, can we encourage and support those who are less engaged to be more engaged?” he said.
The Flamboyan Foundation, which funded the study, trains and pays teachers to conduct home visits designed to build trust between school and home. The goal is to make parents partners in their children’s academic growth and performance.
The report shows the effects of an effort that is gaining traction in the District. The foundation first piloted the program in 2011-2012 with five schools and expanded last year to partner with 27 traditional and charter schools.
Now about a quarter of teachers at D.C. Public Schools have been trained in the approach, and the school system has plans to significantly increase the Home visiting linked to lower school truancy and better reading outcomes - The Washington Post:
