Promoting positive parental perceptions

Most educators believe that parental involvement produces postive academic achievement in the child. But many times parents have internal and external barriers that inhibit taking an active role in their child’s education. The pur-pose of the study was to develop and evaluate an intervention program designed to increase parent involvement through the use of interactive storybook techniques. This program provided parents with the skills and knowledge base to enrich their children’s literacy development and higher order thinking skills. Along with the child outcomes, the program also high-lighted the importance of parent outcomes such as higher levels of parental efficacy and parental role construction. The SPARKLE Program used a book club format to elicit parent discussion of book titles. The discussions revolved around three guiding questions. Parents used the discussion questions developed to help their children connect with the stories in deeper, more meaningful ways. Parents reported more positive perceptions of their abilities to work with their children as well as seeing their children as capable learners.