Evaluation and Research
PARENTS MAKING A DIFFERENCE
International Research on the Home Instruction for
Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) Program
Edited by Miriam Westheimer
 This
book delivers a comprehensive picture of HIPPY, a family support,
parent-focused, early childhood literacy program. With 17 evaluation
studies of the program, offered by researchers and practitioners
from seven different countries, the book highlights the successes
and challenges HIPPY faces in communities around the world. Dedicated
to HIPPY's founder, Professor Avima D. Lombard, the collection presented
here aims to provide answers to the different questions that might
arise among all kinds of stakeholders, from program practitioners
to policy makers to family members to researchers.
The studies are organized around five themes: exploring theoretical
perspectives; examining HIPPY's impact on children, on families
and on communities; and navigating the research process. An in-depth
introduction describes the various purposes of the book, outlines
the contents of each chapter, and provides, in the form of two unique
tables, detailed information that can be used as a reference for
many stakeholders. With the goal that the book be as accessible
and useful to program practitioners as to researchers, each chapter
is followed by suggestions on how to integrate the evaluation findings
into the daily life of the program. The result is a volume that
can serve as an invaluable tool for international early literacy
and family support program development, while also offering direction
for the future course of the HIPPY program.
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Chapter-by-Chapter
Part 1: Exploring Theoretical Perspectives
1. Ready or Not: One Home-Based Response to the School Readiness
Dilemma
Miriam Westheimer
(USA)
This chapter describes the HIPPY program from both a theoretical
and a practical perspective, beginning with a description of the
complexities of the school readiness concept and HIPPY's programmatic
response to school readiness. A brief historical perspective is
provided to set the stage for the growth of the program in the United
States. The HIPPY program is described in some detail focusing on
learning activities, staffing, and working with parents. Some programmatic
implementation issues are presented, such as using structured (as
opposed to open-ended) curricular materials and working with paraprofessional
(as opposed to professional) home visitors. Through explicit discussion
of the program's basic philosophy and elaborations on its programmatic
tensions, the chapter offers an insider's view into the issues that
can emerge as a model program gains a national scope and presence.
2. Principles of Child Development, Learning, and Partnerships:
Where Does the HIPPY Program Fit?
Sue Bredekamp
(USA)
Focusing on three principles of program development - child development,
the learning process, and the adult role in the learning process
and on partnerships between professionals and parents, this chapter
peels open the many layers of developmentally appropriate practice
to show how HIPPY fits within each. It uses practical and realistic
examples from the field to illustrate how decisions about the best
practices for young children can and should be made. The chapter
compares the appropriate scaffolding and support that children need
to learn and develop with the scaffolding that HIPPY provides parents
as they assume new roles with their own children. It concludes with
a discussion of the importance of productive partnerships between
parents and professionals.
3. Understanding HIPPY in the Context of Contemporary x
Perspectives on Development, Risk, and Intervention
Lucy Le Mare
(Canada)
Building on the well-established relationships among poverty, compromised
development, and academic failure, this chapter provides a conceptual
framework that examines HIPPY in the context of a model of development
and risk. The HIPPY program is validated through comparison with
a set of principles and values that are believed to constitute a
successful early intervention approach. These principles are developmental
timing, program intensity, direct provision of learning experiences,
program breadth and flexibility, individual differences in program
benefits, and environmental maintenance of development. Following
this discussion, the chapter analyzes HIPPY in the context of recent
perspectives on development and risk, with the aim of shedding light
on both the links between poverty and academic/social outcomes and
the mechanisms that explain how HIPPY contributes to the positive
development and school readiness skills of young children. Through
close examination of the Vancouver, Canada HIPPY program, the chapter
then provides a model that links factors influencing early childhood
development to the different components of HIPPY. The model is built
through a process of conceptualizing risk status in terms of both
proximal and distal factors capable of affecting family interaction
patterns that influence the developmental outcomes of children.
Part 2: Examining HIPPY's Impact on Children
4. The Impact of HIPPY on School Performance in Third and Sixth
Grades
Robert H. Bradley
Barbara Gilkey
(USA)
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of HIPPY on
school performance during third and sixth grades. This longitudinal,
quasi-experimental study used a post-hoc matching design to compare
demographically similar children who participated in the HIPPY program
to children in the third and sixth grades who had no preschool experience,
and to children in those grades who had other preschool experiences.
The program showed modest positive impact on school suspensions,
use of Title 1 services, grades, classroom behavior, and achievement
test scores at both grade levels. Although the effects were generally
modest, they were broad-based and consistent with program aims and
activities. Because of the potential for selection biases in the
design, the authors claim that the results should be interpreted
with caution.
5. A Promising Start: An Evaluation of the HIPPY Program in New
Zealand
Galia BarHava-Monteith
Niki Harré
Jeff Field
(New Zealand)
Three studies were carried out to investigate the impact of participation
in the HIPPY program on New Zealand children's reading ability,
school readiness, and school behavior. In study 1, scores on a Reading
Diagnostic Survey were obtained for 77 six-year-old HIPPY children
and 704 six-year-old non-HIPPY children. In study 2, 29 HIPPY children
who had recently entered school and 29 control children were assessed
using four sub-sections of the Metropolitan Readiness tests. In
study 3, the Behavioural Academic Self Esteem Scale (BASE) was completed
by teachers for the HIPPY and control children in study 2, and for
all their classmates. HIPPY children were found to show consistently
better performance on all of the measures used and the differences
reached statistical significance on three of the six sub-tests of
the Reading Diagnostic Survey and the BASE scale.
6. The Use of Item Response Theory
to Develop a Measure of First-Grade Readiness
Thomas P. Gumpel
(Israel)
This paper examines perceptions of school readiness in Israel as
a first step toward describing the development of a measure of readiness
for first grade. That measure, the Readiness Inventory (RI) (which
has been used in other studies, including the one of HIPPY Australia
that appears as chapter 18 of this book), consists of six items,
uses a four-point rating scale, and has an alpha of 0.86. It was
completed on 139 first-grade children and analyzed using a polytomous
rating scale model of Item Response Theory. The instrument shows
a high level of item and case fit. Based on an item map which elucidates
the latent trait of school readiness as perceived by first-grade
teachers, the RI reveals that behaviors dealing with academic skills
are less indicative of readiness than abilities dealing with role-governed
behaviors or strategic learning behaviors. The study validates the
RI through the examination of two different groups of pre-school
children: those who participated in HIPPY and those who did not
participate in HIPPY or any other similar program. Scores on the
RI were significantly higher for HIPPY graduates than for non-HIPPY
graduates; a breakdown by sex revealed that only HIPPY boys out-performed
their non-HIPPY boy peers on the RI. This validation study suggests
that the RI is able to discriminate between ready and not-ready
children.
7. Preschool Children in the HATAF and HIPPY Programs:
Feedback from Preschool Teachers
Drora Kfir
Irit Elroy
(Israel)
After a full day of professional development, HIPPY and HATAF coordinators
in Israel decided they wanted to know how their programs were faring.
To answer the question, the coordinators, with the help of a research
team, conducted a survey about the satisfaction of the preschool
teachers of children in these programs. The original sample included
46 teachers in 46 different preschools and, of these, 34 were interviewed.
Based on this small sample, the survey attempted to explore teachers'
familiarity with the program's goals, their familiarity with how
the program actually functions, and their attitudes toward the program.
The authors' overall conclusion is that both HATAF and HIPPY resonate
very positively with the teachers who are familiar with the programs
and who work in neighborhood preschools.
8. Program Effectiveness and Parent Involvement in HIPPY
Amy J. L. Baker
Chaya S. Piotrkowski
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
(USA)
This article presents the findings from a series of interconnected
research studies, including a two-site, two-cohort evaluation in
New York and Arkansas, a one-site case study, and a three-site qualitative
study. With respect to program effectiveness, results varied across
the New York and Arkansas sites, and across participating cohorts
at each site. For Cohort I, children who had been enrolled in HIPPY
scored higher than children in the control/comparison groups on
measures of cognitive skills (New York), classroom adaptation (New
York and Arkansas), and standardized reading (New York); and more
children were promoted to first grade (Arkansas). For Cohort II,
comparison group children outperformed HIPPY children on school
readiness and standardized achievement at post-test (Arkansas).
Analyses to account for the differing results between cohorts were
inconclusive. Qualitative analyses revealed considerable variation
in parent involvement in HIPPY. Program staff identified four patterns
of attrition from HIPPY: (1) early attrition within the first month
after enrollment, (2) attrition between the program's first and
second years, (3) attrition due to changes in the life circumstances
of participating families, and (4) attrition due to turnover among
the home visitors. Families were more likely to participate in in-home
than out-of-home aspects of the program (for example, group meetings),
but different family characteristics were associated with participation
in the in- and out-of-home aspects. The authors conclude with recommendations
for future practice and research.
9. The Vancouver HIPPY Project: Preliminary Evaluation Findings
From a Multicultural Program
Lucy Le Mare
Karyn Audet
(Canada)
After briefly describing how the HIPPY project came to Vancouver,
its first site in Canada, Le Mare and Audet report on preliminary
findings of this program's first evaluation. Using a quasi-experimental
design, the researchers compared a group of 14 multi-ethnic children
(including Chinese, Vietnamese, European, African, and Latin American)
in the HIPPY program to two other similarly-sized groups of children
from the same classrooms. The children in one comparison group had
no preschool experience prior to kindergarten and the children in
the second comparison group had been in center-based programs. Using
a wide range of measures that examine children's cognitive and social
and emotional development, they found that the HIPPY children outperformed
the children in the two comparison groups on every measure. After
explaining the limitations inherent in this research design, Le
Mare and Audet conclude with a highly positive evaluation of the
HIPPY program.
Part 3: Examining HIPPY's Impact on Parents
10. Maternal Scaffolding Behavior within the HIPPY Context
Wanda Roundtree
(USA)
This study investigates the scaffolding behavior of three African-American
mother-child pairs participating in HIPPY. Pre- and post-HIPPY observations
looked at how the mothers and children engaged with literacy materials,
such as commercial puzzles, books, and construction toys. The study
was designed to address the following research questions: (1) Prior
to intervention, what are the predominant scaffolding strategies
utilized by African-American mothers during literacy activities?
(2) In what ways does the HIPPY intervention affect lower socioeconomic
status (LSES) mothers' natural scaffolding abilities? (3) In what
ways do the HIPPY materials and/or method facilitate parents' natural
scaffolding behavior? Research findings resulted in relatively strong
claims regarding the mothers' propensity to use a range of scaffolding
strategies. However, only one dyad appeared to be more responsive
to the HIPPY treatment when compared to the other pairs, as evidenced
by an increase in the mother's scaffolding behavior during the post-HIPPY
observation period. Nevertheless, since all three dyads demonstrated
a range of scaffolding functions during their engagement around
HIPPY materials, it can be concluded that the HIPPY model is an
appropriate intervention paradigm for facilitating parental scaffolding
behavior, because of the program's emphases on the parent-child
relationship, language as a primary medium to support children's
functioning, and child-centered, academically-oriented tasks.
11. An Evaluation of a HIPPY Early Intervention Program:
Can Parents Benefit Too?
Galia BarHava-Monteith
Niki Harr?
Jeff Field
(New Zealand)
This quasi-experimental study assessed the potential benefits of
HIPPY to parents, or more generally to caregivers, who participate
in the program. The study used a sample of 134 primary caregivers,
both HIPPY and non-HIPPY, to examine the caregivers' formal educational
involvement, attitudes toward education, and self-esteem. HIPPY
caregivers were found to be significantly more involved than comparison
caregivers in educational activities; no significant effects were
found in terms of attitude, and no significant effects were found
in terms of self-esteem. Ethnic group membership emerged as an important
variable. Pacific Islander caregivers were less likely to be involved
in formal educational activities and had significantly lower self-esteem
than both New Zealand European and indigenous Maori caregivers.
12. On Hugh McLean's Evaluation of HIPPY Outcomes in South Africa
Miriam Westheimer
This chapter is about a study of caregivers in South Africa. Using
comparative focus groups - with two of the four groups comprised
of HIPPY participants and two comprised of non-HIPPY participants
- McLean designed an exploratory study to focus on parents' attitudes
and approaches to parenting. This essay teases out of the study
a few major themes and issues raised by parents: defining and differentiating
between naughty versus good children, women's dominant role in childrearing,
parents adjusting to a changing world, and the quality of time spent
with children. Each issue is illustrated with direct quotes. The
chapter concludes with a list of program recommendations and implications.
(South Africa)
Part 4: Examining HIPPY's Impact in a Community Context
13. Reaching Out and Making a Difference:
The Context of Meaning in a Home-Based Preschool Program
David W. Britt
(USA)
Britt examines two years of operation of an American HIPPY program
and shows the impact of changed context on process and outcomes.
Over two years, the program examined in the study went from a basic
staff consisting of a program director and paraprofessionals, to
an augmented staff that included a family support specialist. "Reaching
out to families" and "making a difference" in their
lives was a strong norm during both years of the program. In the
second year, however, the more resource-rich service context altered
several things: the nature of problems observed, the directness
of interventions tried, and the meaning and limits of "reaching
out" to families and "making a difference" in their
lives. Alternative explanations of the data are briefly discussed
and eliminated.
14. The Mutually Reinforcing Roles of Volunteers and Professionals:
HIPPY as a Case in Point
Oliver Schuberth
(Germany)
Considering HIPPY paraprofessionals to be comparable to volunteers,
Schuberth argues for the value of incorporating volunteers in the
social services and offers three models to define the potential
relationship between professional and voluntary service providers:
the substitutive model, the supplementary model, and the complementary
model. He contends that the complementary model, with very intensive
collaboration between social workers and volunteers, is the most
effective, and he uses HIPPY as a context to better understand it.
To explore HIPPY in this regard, Schuberth conducted semi-structured
interviews with one professional, one paraprofessional, and one
mother who worked together in the program, and he reports on the
relationship of the professional and paraprofessional from each
of these three perspectives. In addition, he reports on the participants'
overall evaluations of the HIPPY program.
15. HIPPY Program's Influence on Establishing Home-School
Partnerships and Enhancing Children's School Readiness
Pia Rebello Britto
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn
(USA)
This study examined the HIPPY program's influence on establishing
home-school partnerships and enhancing school readiness in one program
in New York City. Direct and indirect parental involvement in children's
school activities were used as indicators to assess HIPPY's influence
on home-school partnerships. Kindergarten children's classroom adaptability
was used to assess the program's influence on children's readiness
for school. Two instruments were developed for the evaluation: the
HIPPY Parent Interview and the Kindergarten Teacher Survey. The
sample size was 17 HIPPY families and 13 teachers who have HIPPY
children in their kindergarten classrooms. There was no comparison
group. The survey results suggest that the HIPPY program has encouraged
high rates of parental participation in children's schooling, despite
the fact that mothers reported feeling a time-bind. The program's
influence on parental participation was seen partly in mother's
choices of schools for their children. The teacher reports indicate
that most of the HIPPY children were performing at the same level
or higher than their classmates. Most of the teachers stated that
they would like more children like "a HIPPY child" in
their classrooms. The study concludes with a caution against generalizing
these findings, which are limited because of the small sample size,
the lack of a comparison group, and the lack of pre- and post-data.
Part 5: Navigating the Research Process
16. The Florida HIPPY Recipe for Research
Lois-Lynn S. Deuel
Mary Lindsey
Dabaram Rampersad
(USA)
Utilizing a metaphor of research as recipe, this article makes the
experience of researching HIPPY in Florida accessible to field practitioners.
It describes the initial research planning stages, which include
establishing the need for research, considering community-based
priorities, and gathering support from important stakeholders. It
also discusses how the authors developed a research plan in Florida,
and chose the appropriate instruments and data collection methods.
It concludes with a consideration of how the research-practitioner
team in Florida was able to use the data collected to develop programmatic
recommendations regarding the promotion of elementary school success,
behavioral changes that can be expected for participating parents
and families, and paraprofessional training and development.
17. Evaluating HIPPY in Texas: Process and Progress
Arminta Lee Jacobson
(USA)
This study presents the results of a three-year evaluation of HIPPY
programs in Texas, looking specifically at children's adaptation
to kindergarten and parents' involvement in their children's education.
In designing the study, it was assumed that kindergarten teachers
can recognize early childhood preparation for school by mothers
and that children's growth in school readiness is accompanied by
parental development and increased involvement. Data were collected
only for those participating in HIPPY; there is no comparison group.
A variety of measurements were used, including parent interviews,
teacher surveys, children's test scores, and staff self-assessment.
The evaluation processes and procedures for each of the three years
of the study are described in great detail, so that this chapter
depicts the evolution of an evaluation, including changes in measurement
instruments and methodology. The changes that took place over the
course of three years reflect refinement in ways of asking questions
about HIPPY's impact. Findings for each measure in each of the three
years of the study are presented along with a discussion of what
changes were made and why. While the findings are generally quite
positive, the lack of any comparison group clearly precludes the
possibility of coming to any general conclusion.
18. HIPPY Implementation and Research in Australia: Progress and
Prospect
Suzanne Dean
Cynthia Leung
Tim Gilley
Jacqueline Grady
(Australia)
This chapter describes the process of starting HIPPY in Australia.
From the outset, that process included an integral role for research.
As part of the original committee formed to explore implementation
options with the responsibility to help set the research agenda,
Dean et al. provide both an insider and outsider view of the process.
They build on lessons learned from research conducted in other countries,
and report on the process of working in close collaboration with
the program staff to document a need for the program through a qualitative
needs assessment; better understand the process of starting a new
program in a new country through a process study; place the program
in its academic context through an extensive literature review;
and make the case for the program's effectiveness through a quasi-experimental
outcome study. In this study, they also build on previous HIPPY
research to promote the potential for an international research
effort by using the Readiness Inventory tool created in Israel (see
Chapter 6). Throughout the chapter, Dean et al. raise issues which
deserve serious programmatic attention, and they conclude with directions
for future research efforts.
EVALUATION OF PARENT EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN GERMANY
Accessible Parental Education Programs
By Dr. Gabriel Haug-Schnabel and Dr. Joachim Bensel
Under the direction of Thomas Becker of the Catholic Social Department
of Labor
June 2003
Summary:
As part of a much larger evaluation of parental education programs
in Germany, HIPPY met the criteria for selecting parents from the
poorest strata of society. It was found to be superlative
in preventing an educational gap. Parents were active participants
in the program. The problematic group was reached and the
parents were found to have undergone a change.
Specific questions addressed by this survey:
How do parents get to the project? How accessible is it
for the parents?
Where and how are the parents addressed?
It is accessible because it is local and because part of the work
is done at home. The materials used are clear and structured.
Activities are readily understood by parents and then by children.
Daily activities take up a small amount of time which is appropriate
for the parents in the program. The program is publicized
by word of mouth. Kindergarten teachers and pediatricians
spread information about the program in the community.
Is this a program conceived for underprivileged strata, socially
neglected families or problem target groups? Which parents
should be approached?
HIPPY is specially designed for immigrant families with preschool
age children. These children are frequently neglected by the
schools; they are sometimes neglected socially and they often live
in substandard housing. The main difficulty lies in their
knowledge of the German language.
Is the project a preventative or a crisis intervention technique?
It is preventative. We would expect that graduated parental
competence should make equal opportunity in school attainable.
Should the project offer parents a foundation for effective
parenting?
HIPPY is not a program that teaches effective parenting directly,
but parents should get a general orientation. They make good
connections through then program and learn what is expected of their
children in school.
How is the problematic target population reached? Is the
approach more through providing resources or is it more oriented
towards problem solving? What are the parents offered? What
are the parents promised?
The program staff tells parents that they will learn what they
can do at home so that their children can do better in school.
School holds a lofty place in the family, and so this is an important
motivation. Parents see better opportunities for the children's
future and expect that their children will struggle less in school
as a result of participating in the program.
Does the program staff learn to work with this target group
before the start of the program?
Yes, professional educators lead the mothers of the target population
who then become home visitors. It is a peer-to-peer teaching model.
Is the program reaching parents who would not otherwise be served
by other services?
Yes, parents with multiple problems participate in the program.
These parents were not previously receiving other services.
Is there proof of change in parenting ability? Is it in
the way the parent sees the child? Is it the way the parent solves
child rearing problems?
At this time, there are no research indicators to address this.
The program receives positive recommendations from local doctors.
The children's entrance exams to kindergarten are quite good.
HIPPY children are recognized by the school in an affirmative way.
Parents are considered to be competent partners.
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