Families, Children and Teachers Thriving Together

Families, Children and Teachers Thriving Together

The current study examines the impact of ParentCorps in high-poverty district schools in New York City (NYC). The study is conducted within the context of the NYC Department of Education (DOE) Pre-K Thrive initiative. As part of this initiative, the Center for Early Childhood Health and Development (CEHD) at NYU Langone Health is implementing services to strengthen family engagement and support parents and teachers in creating safe, nurturing and predictable environments for young children. All parents of Pre-K students in the 81 district schools will be invited for them and their Pre-K children to participate in the study, which includes 2 school-based assessments in Pre-K over a 10-month period and 1 school-based assessment at the end of Kindergarten, and teacher ratings of children in Pre-K and Kindergarten. Additionally, parents will be invited to consent to the use of their children's NYC DOE administrative records from Pre-K through grade 5 for the purposes of this study. Parents will also be invited to participate by completing surveys with NYU study staff. Parents will be consented to complete two surveys when their child is in Pre-K. Parents may be randomly selected to complete a third survey when their child is in Kindergarten or to participate in a focus group with other parents.

This randomized controlled trial is an evaluation of Thrive Professional Learning plus ParentCorps compared to the Thrive and Inspire Professional Learning tracks in 81 district schools. The study will include families of Pre-K students and Pre-K students. Forty-one (41) district schools are participating in Thrive Professional Learning, delivered by NYU Langone-based staff; 20 of these schools are randomly assigned to implement ParentCorps (in addition to Thrive Professional Learning). Forty (40 district schools) are participating in Inspire Professional Learning and will not implement ParentCorps.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Pre-K students and families who attend one of the 81 district schools in 2019-2020.
• Only parents and students who are English or Spanish speaking will be eligible for participation in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Families in sites other than the 81 district schools randomized to this study are excluded.
• Parents or students who do not speak English and/or Spanish will not be eligible to participate.
• Teachers and principals from the 81 sites are not considered participants in the study of student and family outcomes.