Program Description
Developed by New York University Langone Health’s Center for Early Childhood Health and Development, ParentCorps works with schools and parents/caregivers to help pre-kindergarten children develop foundational skills. ParentCorps is available in multiple languages and its program model is deeply rooted in racial equity, including an emphasis on honoring families’ expertise and cultures. Three programmatic components include:
- Professional development to help staff build strong, culturally responsive relationships with families and promote socio-emotional wellbeing in their classrooms. The training is designed to help educators and staff reflect on their beliefs about and the lived experiences of families, as well as learning the science of early childhood development.
- A group-based, 14-week parenting program to support families in nurturing early childhood development. The parenting program focuses on affirming families’ experiences, building family-family connections, and equipping families with more knowledge of evidence-based parenting practices.
- Friends School is a classroom-based program that emphasizes the development of children’s social-emotional skills, including communicating about their thoughts and feelings, developing a positive sense of self, and building healthy relationships.
Program Outcomes
The impact of ParentCorps was explored in a cluster randomized controlled trial in 10 public elementary schools with 26 pre-k classes in 2 high-poverty school districts in New York City. Participants were 1050 black and Latino, low-income children enrolled in the study over four consecutive cohorts of pre-k students. Intervention included after-school group sessions for families of pre-k students and professional development for pre-k and kindergarten teachers. At the end of kindergarten, students in ParentCorps schools performed better on the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement (KTEA), a standardized measure covering reading, writing, and math, than students in control schools (effect size = +0.18), with the reading results yielding the greatest impact (effect size = +0.25). In addition, on the New York Teacher Rating Scale for Disruptive and Antisocial Behavior, students in ParentCorps schools were rated as having less issues (effect size = +0.25). These results qualify ParentCorps for an ESSA Strong rating in the Academic and SEL Problem Behavior categories.
Staffing Requirements
ParentCorps works with existing staff and educators at Head Start or public pre-K programs, offering professional development and close support to implement programming for children and families. Staffing requirements depend on the services planned by partners.
Professional Development/Training
ParentCorps’ approach is grounded in high-quality training and coaching from experienced ParentCorps Educators. Our partnership model begins with professional development, where we provide group-based sessions for educators and staff (e.g., school/program leaders, early childhood teachers and teacher aides, mental health professionals, and/or parent engagement staff), depending on partners’ unique priorities and needs. We provide training, responsive coaching and close support for staff facilitating our group-based parenting program and classroom social-emotional learning program, Friends School.
Technology
Facilitators receive access to the ParentCorps Portal, where they can connect with ParentCorps staff, access all program materials, and receive additional resources to strengthen social-emotional learning and family engagement and enhance cultural and racial awareness in their daily practice.