Developing a Parental Involvement Scale for Preschool Children

IntroductionParental involvement in education has long been a topic of interest among those concerned with optimal developmental and educational outcomes for preschool and elementary school children. The idea that parents can enhance their children’s education has become very popular in many communities (specially in United States), but it has been referred to as an “institutional standard”(Lareau & Shumer, 1996) insofar as many schools spend considerable energy and resources to encourage parents involve in their children educational activities.Family Involvement Questionnaire (FIQ) (Fantuzzo, Tighe, and Childs, 2000), the most famous measure of family involvement in early childhood education, was developed based on this institutional standard. This scale was designed on Epstein’s (1995) parental involvement classification and developed in partnership with parents and teachers in a large program entitled HeadStart. Therefore it seems that FIQ is dependent on a specific academic system and is not appropriate for other social context. In response to the need for a measure of family involvement that is appropriate for Iranian parents, the purpose of this study was to develop and validate a parental involvement scale. Thus, the research addressed a primary question: does the new family involvement demonstrate acceptable construct validity and reliability?MethodSample and data collection This measure was designed based on investigators’ observation and interviews with parents. In this pilot study, 32 parents (14 fathers and 18 mothers) of preschoolers was directly interviewed. We asked parents about their beliefs, ideas, and behaviors regarding their involvement responsibilities and activities in children’s education. Based on this qualitative work, 37 involvement items such as “I talk to my child about the importance of learning new things” appeared. The scale was designed in a 5-point Likert format from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In the second step, data was collected from 319 parents of preschoolers (178 mothers and 141 fathers). Their mean age was 39 yr for fathers and 33 yr for mothers and the average age of their children was 5.8.ResultsTo determine the construct validity of the 37-item scale, principle component factor analysis was performed. The KMO ratio index, as a sampling adequacy, was 0.90 and the Bartlett sphericity test for correlation matrix was 3420 (P<0.0001). Principal component factor analysis offered a three-factor solution to this scale. The three-factor solution revealed through factor analysis is defined by the following constructs: parenting, learning at home, and home-school communicating. Each construct was found to be highly reliable, with Cronbach’s alphas of 0.79, 0.83, and 0.92, respectively. Also to check the reliability of the scale, test-retest coefficient for 14 days interval was 0.86 for total score and 0.86, 0.76, and 0.76 for three involvement components, respectively. Discussion In response to the need for a measure of family involvement that is appropriate for Iranian’s parents, the objectives of the present study were to develop and evaluate the scale. The development process produced a multidimensional scale that yielded three stable dimensions: parenting, learning at home, and home-school relationships. The three derived factors were congruent with three types of Epstein’s (1995) parental involvement. Therefore, the “Parenting” factor is defined by parent’s basic obligations toward their children, the “Learning at home” factor matches parental involvement in home learning such as spending time working with child, reviewing child’s school work, etc.; and “Home-school relationships” factor describes parents and school personnel (particularly teacher) about a child’s educational experience and progress. The other Epstein’s involvement types, Volunteering, Parental involvement in decision making, and Collaborating with the Community were absent in our scale. These types are special involvement activation that is not prevalent in our academic system. It means that based on Morgan’s (1992) perspective, the Iranian’s parental involvement can be understood at traditional level involvement.