Positive Family Support: A tiered model for evidenced-based parental engagement

1. Positive Family Support: A tiered model for evidenced-based parental engagement National PBIS Leadership Forum October 11, 2013 Kevin J. Moore Child & Family Center

2. Illinois Montana Jennifer Phillips, LCSW PBIS External Coach and Meghan McCarthy, LCSW Family Support Facilitator Carol Ewin, MA RtI Specialist Tammy Tolleson-Knee, LSW School Counselor

3. Maximizing Your Session Participation Work with your team • Consider 4 questions: • Where are we in our implementation? • What do I hope to learn? • What did I learn? • What will I do with what I learned?

4. Where are you in implementation process?Adapted from Fixsen & Blase, 2005

5. Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheets: Steps • Self-Assessment: Accomplishments & Priorities Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheet • Session Assignments & Notes: High Priorities Team Member Note-Taking Worksheet • Action Planning: Enhancements & Improvements Leadership Team Action Planning Worksheet

6. Two objectives of this talk: To demonstrate that effectively engaging and collaborating with families in the public school context can make a difference in the success and well-being of students. To discuss specific strategies that can be used within the PBIS structure to constructively engage parents to collaborate with educators.

7. Family Engagement and Involvement In Student Learning and Schools Apparent in national initiatives General and special education legislation Statements and goals of countless education related professional organizations Critical aspects of many comprehensive school reform efforts (Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Lewis and Henderson, 1997; Reschly & Christenson, In press)

8. So what do we know about high performing schools? • 1. A clear and shared focus • 2. High standards and expectations for all students • 3. Effective school leadership • 4. High levels of collaboration and communication • 5. Curriculum, instruction, and assessments aligned with state and national core standards • 6. Frequent monitoring of teaching and learning • 7. Focused professional development • 8. A supportive learning environment • 9. High levels of parent and community involvement

9. 30 Years of Evidence: Family Involvement • Family involvement helps student achievement • Henderson & Berla, 1994; Henderson & Mapp 2004; Stormshaket al., 2011 • Teacher collaborative outreach to families related to strong and consistent gains in achievement in both reading and math • Effective outreach practices included: • Face to face • Sending materials home • Keeping touch about progress (joint monitoring) • Workshops for families on helping their children at home linked to higher reading and math scores • Schools with higher rated partnership programs greater gains on state tests than lower rated programs

10. Additional Benefits of Family Engagement for Students Higher grade point averages and scores on standardized tests Enrollment in more challenging academic programs More classes passed and credits earned Better attendance Improved behavior at home and at school Better social skills and adaptation to school

11. 30 Years of Evidence for Improved Parent Management on Youth Outcomes Early Childhood Problem Behavior Effective Family Management Interventions Reduce…. Middle Childhood Problem Behavior Adolescent Problem Behavior

12. Improved Problem Behaviors Include • School grades and attendance • Anxiety and Depression • Disruptive Disorders including arrest rates • ADHD • Health risking behaviors • Drug and alcohol use and abuse • High risk sexual • Young Adult Obesity

13. Unique Vulnerabilities of Secondary School Students: Decreased parent involvement Increased problem behavior Increased peer group influence Decreased attendance Decreased academic performance

14. Home • School Two Adult Sytems Concerned About Students Outcomes Expectations Monitoring Support Expectations Monitoring Support Parent-Teacher Contact Tracking Grades, Beh, Attendance Teacher-Parent Contact Behavior Expectations Homework Patterns Student What is going on at school? What is going on at home? • Parent • Awareness • School Awareness

15. Synergy of Family Engagement Coupled with Family Management Support in Educational Settings

16. Prevention Research in Public Middle Schools (Project Alliance 1 and 2: Dishion & Stormshak) Family Resource Room Offered Family Check-up & FU support 6th Grade Middle School Students: Portland Public Schools Randomly Assigned Control: Middle school as usual. 7th 7th ---> 11th Grade 2

17. FCU Intervention Outcome on Self Reported Substance Use for High Risk Students Self Reported Substance Use in the Last Month (adapted from Dishion, Kavanagh et al, 2002)

18. PERCENTAGE ARRESTED BY AGE 16-17 Connell Dishion et al 2007

19. Effects on Academic and Attendance Outcomes School Absences Grade Point Average Control FCU Control FCU FCU Prevents GPA Decline FCU Reduces School Absences

20. Challenges to Using Parenting Programs in Schools : Respectfully identifying and engaging parents of students who most need the services and support; Parents are often unable to participate in parenting ‘programs’ because they are delivered in groups and/or scheduling problems Schools don’t have resources to pay for personnel engage and work with parents in these interventions: There are often no formal strategies for linking work of parenting interventions with school based strategies;

21. Positive Family Support An adapted and tailored intervention model that is intentionally designed to be a collaboration with any particular school (i.e., based on a schools needs and goals regarding their students and families). Structures program around evidenced-based intervention constructs and intervention targets. Focused on reducing the response costs for schools to do effective family engagement using evidenced-based methods.

22. Key Features of this Model • Follows a Response to Intervention RtI approach • Note: Family involvement considered one of the Three Essential Components of RtI along with Tiered instruction/intervention and Ongoing Student Assessment • Designed to integrate into PBIS structures • Adapted to the unique ecology of each school • Partnership model: intervention team and school’s key personnel collaborate to learn the model

23. Integration into PBIS & RTI Indicated Selected Universal • Individualized Supports • Functional Behavioral • Assessments • Family Check-Up • Parenting Support Sessions • Parent Management Training • Community Referrals • Specialized Supports • Check-In/Check-Out • Parent Integration CICO • Attendance & Homework Support • Home-School BehChange Plans • Email and Text messages • Family Resource Center • Parenting Materials • (Brochures/Videos/Handouts) • Positive Family Outreach • Student Needs Parent Screening • School Rules & Expectations • Positive Reinforcement • Student Needs Screening

24. Preliminary Fam-Set Effects Sizes for PFS Model Implementation Across the Three Tiers

25. Talk Talk Talk…When Do We Eat?

26. Proactive Screening that is “Respectful to Parents” Revised Multiple Gating Approach Parent Readiness Screener (school entry) Teacher & Staff Screening* (fall-spring) Family Check Up School-Parent PBS plan Tailored Student & Family Support * Behavior (e.g., SWIS); Homework Completion/Grades; Attendance

27. The Parent Readiness Screen for Positive Family Support. • Use Parent Readiness Screen • to place students in the triangle • Use their data to guide your approach to contact parents • Use data to inform your practices (e.g., targeted parent nights) Begin the School Year with Parents Expressing THEIR Needs

28. Readiness Screening as a Proactive Caring and Collaborative “Joining Process” • Positive Family Support Readiness Screener • A pragmatic screening tool that: • Uses 14 questions to ask caretakers at beginning of the school year to express THEIR concerns and support needs about their child in regards to school • Asks parents if they need support for any of the questions • Asks parents if they would like school contact • Easily sorted into a triaged proactive parent contact strategy • Use caretaker data to guide parent contact by grade level teams, counselors, and/or administration

29. Behavior Peers Attendance Academics Affective/Mood Self-regulation

31. Multiple Uses of Parent Screener School-wide needs assessment from parent perspective. Increase teacher and administrative knowledge of what, if any, concerns caretakers have about their student. Creates opportunities for proactive reach-out to caretakers. Can inform teacher and administrator about caretaker knowledge or concern about a student’s problems before making an achievement or behavior related contact.

32. Sixth Grade Parent Responses to the School Readiness Screener (N=3 schools)

33. Worksheet for Preparing a Sensitive Parent Contact

34. Worksheet for Positive Communication Practices in Parent-Teacher Contacts

35. Worksheet Keeping Positive When Parents are Frustrated

36. Parent Scaffolding for Homework Support

37. Parent & Student Scaffolding for Attendance

38. Selected-Level: Behavior Change Plans 1 3 2 For parents and students (with teacher & family resource specialist help) For teachers & family resource specialists For teachers and parents

39. An Overview of the Family Check-Up and Follow-Up Services Parent Materials and Support The Family Check-Up Parent Topic Events/Groups Get to Know You Interview Family Questionnaire Collaborative Feedback & Motivation Student Intervention Support Community Resources

40. Case Example

41. FCU CASE STUDY Previous year: Threatened with expulsion unless referred out for individual therapy-- parents not invited to be involved with therapy—After 8 Sessions therapist thought youth was “fine” 4 3 In-school and out-school suspension

42. Get to Know You Interview

43. Sample FCU Assessment Questions

44. M/D M D D M M/D M D T M/D M D M/D M/D T T M D M/D M M D D M

45. Parenting Resources: Brochures

46. CICO Home Incentive Support

47. Encouragement Support Worksheets

48. Video Support for Families

49. FCU CASE STUDY Previous year: Threatened with expulsion unless referred out for individual therapy-- parents not invited to be involved with therapy—After 8 Sessions therapist thought youth was “fine” 4 FCU plus 2 follow-up sessions on home incentives for CICO and increased encouragement at home 3 1 session re-visit home and school CICO Plan-- found normal drift in both settings to lower rates of R+ increased adult attention and R+ at home and school back to levels of October plan 1 Finds out Adopted 1 In-school and out-school suspension

50. Summary and Conclusions Effectively and respectfully engaging parents in school contexts with empirically validated interventions can increase student success. PBIS provides an excellent infrastructure and behavior management structure for embedding parenting interventions into universal, selected and individualized intervention services. We need to create an integrated system that includes parent engagement, so that there is ‘value added’, and we help school staff be more efficient and effective at what they are doing already.