Parents Encourage Pupils (PEP)

1. Parents Encourage Pupils (PEP) A Targeted Tier 2 Intervention for Students “At Risk” for Reading Difficulties Shuck, Ulsh, & Platt (1983) See PEP Handout 1 Summary of PEP

2. PEP: Rationale • Urban children don’t achieve in reading at a comparable level to suburban children. • Parents’ reinforcement of skills taught at school have a direct effect on children’s achievement. • Parents from lower SES do not make as much contact with schools as middle or higher SES parents – maybe lack confidence, communication skills, or knowledge about learning processes. • When school staff assist parents, their involvement in academic programs increase resulting in increased student achievement.

3. PEP: Target Population • Low SES students from inner city schools • All students behind at least 2 grade levels in reading, of average intelligence or above, and served at a reading resource laboratory at school Experimental Group: • 75 randomly selected students grades 3-5 Control Group: • Comparable; did not receive PEP

4. Implementation ofParent Encourage Pupils (PEP) See PEP Handout 2 for list of Implementation Procedures

5. PEP: Intervention ProceduresSee PEP Handout 2 • Students participate in daily 30-minute reading lab over school year. • The lab provides: • daily homework, • word lists, • reading games, • books for tutoring activities at home • calendars to track completed activities. • Children chose one or more of four activities to do with their parents each day at home.

6. PEP: Intervention Procedures • The intervention materials are provided to parents: • During parent conferences • Sent home if parents could not attend the conferences. • Self-explanatory calendars given to parents with clear directions for how to reward and note the completion of the child’s selected daily activity

7. PEP: Directions to Parents • You can help your child become a better reader by listening and helping her to do at least one of the following activities available to her in the reading lab: • Read a book • Reading homework • Read a word list • Play reading games • Each activity earns 10 points

8. PEP: Directions to Parents(cont’d) See PEP Handout 3 • After work is completed: • Circle A, B, C or D on the calendar to show the work done by your child. • If your child does more than one activity, circle each letter that applies. • As a reward for doing at least one of the above activities, fill in the “Happy Face” with a pen or pencil. • Please return this calendar to the lab at the end of the month.

9. PEP: Example Completed Calendar

10. PEP: Intervention ProceduresSee PEP Handout 4 • After the child completes the daily activity, the parent fills in the happy face on the calendar. • Children return the home activity tracking calendar to school each month. • The reading lab teachers keep a school activity tracking calendar at school. • Points are recorded for completion of reading assignments in class and combined with points for activities earned at home.

11. PEP: Teacher Tracking Calendar 5-50 Prescription Sheet 5-50 Dolch Words 10 Homework 5-25 Written Book Report 5-25 Poems

12. PEP: Intervention Procedurescontinued • Each month students can save points or purchase a prize from the “class store”. • Two levels of prize values: • 600 points - pencils, jacks, or other small item; • 900-1,500 points- baseball hats, footballs, kites, books • Most prizes donated by local stores, civic groups and parents. • Parent and student post-treatment acceptability and outcome surveys may be completed. • Student Survey – See PEP Handout 5 • Parent Survey – See PEP Handout 6 • For Integrity Checklist see PEP Handout 7

13. About the Parents Encourage Pupils (PEP) Studies Shuck, Ulsh, and Platt (1983)

14. PEP: Intervention Procedurescontinued • Parent-teacher conferences held 3 times: beginning, middle (Jan.), and end of year. • At the conference the teacher gives parents a brief written progress report: • Total number of books read, • Teacher and parent comments, • Work completed in the lab, • Homework completed • The reports are sent home for comments and signatures for parents unable to attend.

15. PEP: Study Descriptions • Across entire school year (180 days), daily homework assigned by reading lab done with parents at home • Students participated in reading lab 30 minutes daily • Behavior modification plan reinforced students’ home and school reading assignment completion • Experimental and Control Groups • Pre-Post Test

16. PEP: Participants Experimental Group: • Parents of target students • 75 randomly selected students grades 3-5 who were at least 2 grade levels behind Control Group: • 75 Comparable peers; did not receive PEP All Study Subjects: • Average or above IQs • Low SES

17. PEP: Intervention Procedures • Students participated in reading lab 30 minutes daily • Lab met with parents at beginning, middle and end of school year • Parents provided with materials and tracking calendar for completion of 1 or more of 4 daily home activities supporting reading • Behavior modification plan reinforced students’ home and school reading assignment completion

18. PEP: Research Question • Does Parent Involvement increase students’ reading achievement?

19. PEP: Evaluation Measures • Pre-Post Testing with the Stanford Achievement Test – Reading Comprehension subtest • Slosson Intelligence Test used as quick screener of intelligence for subject selection

20. PEP: Overall Results Reading Achievement: • Post-Test reading comprehension scores on the Standford Achievement Test for students who received parent tutoring were significantly higher than those that did not receive parent tutoring.

21. PEP: Research Limitations • No cultural information provided • Limited information on how parents were trained or informed. • Measures too infrequent to inform intervention needs.