Deck 9: Strengthening Developmentally Appropriate Programs Through Family Engagement

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT an effective type of family involvement for long-term engagement?

A) School provides family members with idea for helping children learn at home.
B) Family members attend workshops or other programs for their own education or training.
C) Family members take decision-making roles on advisory councils or on other committees.
D) Family members are called to the administrator's office because the child is misbehaving in class.

Answer 1

Family members are called to the administrator's office because the child is misbehaving in class.

Question 2

What is characteristic of effective family involvement?

A) The program should plan the events that require all families to be involved in the same ways, at the same time, or to the same degree.
B) Once you build a trusting relationship between programs and families, it is not necessary to maintain contact.
C) There is a match between what programs are designed to accomplish and what families need as well as between the strategies implemented and those to which family members feel receptive.
D) Family members cooperate in fund raising for field trips and materials for the school.

Answer 2

There is a match between what programs are designed to accomplish and what families need as well as between the strategies implemented and those to which family members feel receptive.

Question 3

How can you promote family involvement?

A) Provide calendars that describe simple daily or weekly learning activities that families can try at home with their children.
B) Restrict your family contact to formal conversations between family members and program personnel.
C) Send home catalogues with all children to sell wrapping paper and holiday cards.
D) Tell other teachers in the teacher's lounge about the families they will deal with next year.

Answer 3

Provide calendars that describe simple daily or weekly learning activities that families can try at home with their children.

Question 4

Which of the following is less likely to achieve an effective two-way communication between the program and the families?

A) Create a notebook that family members and staff communicate as it is sent back and forth between the child's home and the program.
B) Carry out home visits to get to know children and family members in the home environment.
C) Structure family conferences to emphasize collaborations between members and teachers.
D) Send home a regular newsletter.

Question 5

Why don't parents participate in some early childhood programs?

A) They already know and understand what is going on in the school.
B) They may feel unwelcome in the environment because of their own school experience.
C) They are uninterested and uninvolved in the children's education.
D) They believe that they are participating just by sending the children to school.

Question 6

Mrs. Graue was busy at her desk when Josh's mother came into the room. She looked up at this stranger and said, "Do you want something?" Josh's mother, who was cleanly but poorly dressed asked, "How is Josh doing in school?" Mrs. Graue responded with a succinct report, indicating that Josh was quiet and did not bother anybody. She added that he could pay attention better during group time than he had been. Then she looked at her watch. Josh's mom nodded her head and left. She did not return to school again. Who should be held accountable?

A) The mother, because parents should be expected to call ahead for appointments.
B) The mother because not attending other functions indicated her lack of interest.
C) The teacher was responsible because her responses were unfriendly and indifferent.
D) The teacher because she knew so little about Josh.

Question 7

Which childcare center will have the greatest amount of parental participation?

A) The center where regular first Tuesday of the month parent meetings are held.
B) The center that has staff committed to parent involvement and trained for effective interaction with family members.
C) The center that promotes big name specialists in child development.
D) The center that has mostly families with two parents.

Question 8

Which of the following alternatives are the LEAST likely reason family members do not get involved in young children's programs?

A) Most adults are disinterested in the children's education.
B) Adult family members may feel that they don't have the skills to participate meaningfully.
C) Some adults are rebuffed when they are limited to menial skills and fund raising.
D) Family members may be asked to participate when they have other commitments.

Question 9

Three-year-old Samantha clung to her mother and cried vigorously every morning when she was brought to the St. Mary's Childcare center. Ms. Brines began phoning Samantha's mother after she had settled down to play after having discussed this strategy with the family in advance. What Characteristic of effective family involvement is this?

A) Collaboration
B) Variety
C) Intensity
D) Individuation

Question 10

Ms. Novak was timid and wary of talking to teachers. She did not attend the group meetings of parents for the classroom because she did not want to look foolish. Mrs. Schurig telephoned her from time-to-time talking about the progress that Abraham was making. What characteristic of effective family involvement is this?

A) Collaboration
B) Variety
C) Intensity
D) Individuation

Question 11

Michael Carr, a non-custodial parent, was interested in the reading level of his son Josh during this first-grade year. He phoned the school in the middle of November only to learn that the parent conferences were just over. Mrs. Kundel, Josh's teacher arranged for another conference the following week. What characteristic of effective family involvement is this?

A) Collaboration
B) Variety
C) Intensity
D) Individuation

Question 12

Mrs. Lachance organized her family centered childcare facility to provide a space for parents to sit and relax as they picked up their children. She developed a coupon sharing opportunity and library on child rearing. There was either a monthly breakfast or potluck in the evening in addition to bimonthly phone calls or opportunities for conferences. One Saturday a year she arranged for a gym day at the center. What characteristic of effective family involvement is this?

A) Collaboration.
B) Variety
C) Intensity
D) Individuation

Question 13

Why provide the parents of very young children who are in a program for the first time with a guide for participation in a parent conference?

A) So the teacher will know what to expect parents to ask.
B) To increase the likelihood of parents attending and feeling comfortable enough to ask questions.
C) This strategy is unnecessary because if the parents have been to school, they should know it already.
D) The teacher will have control of the situation.

Question 14

What is the least appropriate step in preparing for the parent conference for a second grade child?

A) Invite the family to come on an evening and time so that the parent can confer with all the teachers in the building if that parent has more than one child.
B) Set up a comfortable space with adult sized chairs and paper to make notes of things you agree to do.
C) Arrange the books that the child is using so that the parent can look at them while waiting and your record book so that you can read off the report typically sent to the parent.
D) Outline key ideas you want to share with the parent, making sure positive or pleasant experiences the child has had in the classroom are reported.

Question 15

Ms. Silwa offered the parents an opportunity to express their concerns about the childcare program in a semiannual parent forum designed specifically for that purpose. What principle of establishing relationships with the families did this support?

A) Show genuine interest in family members by listening carefully and responding.
B) Make personal contact with families.
C) Focus on family strengths.
D) Treat family members with consideration and respect.

Question 16

Which of the following are considered family strengths that are supported by research?

A) Firm control of behavior at home and church attendance.
B) Stability of family routines and reasonable expectations for the children.
C) A parent who volunteers regularly and works fund raisers.
D) Permissive attitude toward electronic media and homework.

Question 17

Which is NOT a barrier to male participation in early childhood classrooms?

A) Female family members are often gatekeepers of information and do not share it with the men in the family.
B) Men frequently have work schedules that are not conducive to participation.
C) Men simply are not as interested in the education of the young children as are women.
D) The interaction styles of men are different than those of women and that makes teachers uncomfortable.

Question 18

Transitions from a community preschool to a public Kindergarten are:

A) very automatic as long as the parents register their children in the right district school.
B) the responsibility of the parents or other family members, not the preschool teacher.
C) easier on children and family members if preschool teachers provide information.
D) the responsibility of the preschool teacher, not the family members.

Question 19

The best description of the role of the early childhood teacher as he or she collaborates with the community is represented in which of the following statements?

A) A conduit of information between family members and other community resources or agencies.
B) A community board member on other organizations advisory groups.
C) A group leader in a support group for parents of young children.
D) A person who tells families the limits of his or her role as a teacher, not a social worker.

Question 20

Which of the following agencies or standard setting organizations do NOT require family engagement?

A) Head Start Performance Standards
B) NAEYC accreditation
C) The Common Core Standards
D) DOD (Dept. of Defense) Military Child Care

Question 21

Explain what family-teacher partnership or collaboration means.

Question 22

If a large proportion of family members want to be involved in their youngster's education, why is family engagement still a problem?

Question 23

What characteristics of parent involvement can be varied?

Question 24

Why should the teacher take the time to send home a one or two line note about the child's successes?

Question 25

What kind of content could be included in a classroom level newsletter and why would that type of content be important to share?

Question 26

Describe how your interaction with a family whose child has a disability would differ from one that has a typically developing child.

Question 27

Explain why there are fewer male family members engaged in the children's early education and what professionals can do to encourage broader involvement.

Question 28

If a parent should become angry at you during a parent conference, how should you handle the situation?

Question 29

Describe the role of technology in teacher-family engagement. Specify some of the advantages of using it. Identify some strategies that are protective of family members, children and yourself that you might need to use.

Question 30

Explain the role of the early childhood professional in connecting to the community. Which activities do you think a new professional could and should (or should not) do? Justify your answer.