Archived: National Evaluation of The Even Start Family Literacy Program 1998

A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

National Evaluation of The Even Start Family Literacy Program, 1998

Chapter 6

What Was the Extent of Participation in Adult and Parenting Education?

A key requirement for Even Start participation is the parent's regular involvement in adult and parenting education. In 1996-97, 94 percent of the 29,219 parents for whom projects submitted participation data participated in some form of adult education, and 95 percent participated in parenting education.⁷⁴ Adult education participation reflected parents' education and English proficiency levels at the time of intake (Exhibit 6.3).

Exhibit 6.3: Percent of Parents Participating in Adult and Parenting Education Services, by Pre-Even Start Educational Level and English Proficiency (1996-97)

	Type of Adult Basic Education (ABE) Program
Pre-Even Start Educational Experience	Beginning	Inter- mediate	Secondary/ GED	ESL	Parent- ing Ed.	None
Parents with English Proficiency (N=21,432)
0 - 6th grades (N=566)	20%	18%	30%	29%	79%	9%
7th - 9th grades (N=6,800)	8%	21%	60%	4%	84%	6%
10th - 12th grades (N=10,955)	5%	14%	65%	3%	82%	6%
High school diploma, GED, or post-secondary ed. (N=3,111)	4%	7%	28%	10%	83%	11%
Parents with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) (N=9,897)
0 - 6th grades (N=4,038)	16%	6%	6%	75%	77%	11%
7th - 9th grades (N=2,665)	7%	8%	18%	66%	75%	12%
10th - 12th grades (N=1,940)	6%	5%	22%	66%	76%	12%
High school diploma, GED, or post-secondary ed. (N=1,254)	<3%	3%	13%	81%	79%	8%

Note: The percentages are based on the number of parents in each educational level and English proficiency level for whom participation and pre-Even Start educational level data were submitted. The percentages do not total 100 because a parent could participate in more than one program or in no program.
Exhibit reads: In 1996-97, 16 percent of LEP parents who entered Even Start with six or fewer years of schooling participated in beginning adult education programs.

Among parents who were proficient in English⁷⁵, 60 percent to 65 percent of those who entered Even Start with a 7th- to 12th-grade education (but without a high school diploma) participated in adult secondary/GED programs. A majority of parents who entered with 6th-grade or less education participated in beginning, intermediate, and/or ESL programs.

Roughly 10 percent of all parents entered Even Start with a high school diploma, GED, or some postsecondary education and could read, speak, and understand English (not shown in exhibit). However, 28 percent of these parents participated in secondary/GED education and 83 percent participated in parenting education; 11 percent (representing 1 percent of all participants in 1996-97) did not participate in any adult or parenting education programs.⁷⁶

Among the parents with limited English proficiency, a majority participated in ESL programs, especially those who entered with 6th-grade or less education and those who had a high school diploma, GED, or some postsecondary education.

Hours of Participation in Adult Education

Over the course of the first evaluation, the hours of participation in adult education increased steadily in the 120 projects that began operation in 1989-90 and 1990-91—from sixty-eight hours per year in 1990-91, to ninety-one hours in 1991-92, and to 107 hours in 1992-93. These findings, based on a relatively small number of maturing projects, indicated that participation rates increased as projects matured.

During the second national evaluation, the program-wide averages have stabilized after the sharp increases evident in the program's early years. From 1994-95 to 1996-97, average adult education participation hours per year ranged from ninety-two to ninety-six hours, based on substantially larger numbers of projects (including yearly additions of new projects)⁷⁷. In 1996-97, on average, Even Start parents participated in ninety-six hours of adult education services. This average included about 15 percent of parents who specifically reported zero hours of participation. The average for parents who attended adult education was 114 hours.

While the average in adult education participation hours has stabilized, every year the participation hours have varied widely across parents—for example, from zero to nearly 2,000 hours per year in 1996-97. To better understand the factors that influence participation in adult education, we used a multiple regression analysis to examine the participant and project characteristics introduced earlier in this chapter (Exhibit 6.1).⁷⁸

The number of support services families received and the intensity of adult education (hours offered) were related to adult education participation hours (Appendix C, Exhibit C.7). Families that received between five and nine support services participated in an average of 142 hours of adult education, compared to an average of forty-two hours for families who received no support services (Exhibit 6.4).⁷⁹

The participation hours were higher in projects that offered more hours of adult education services compared to projects with lower service intensity. In projects that offered forty-five or more hours of adult education per month, parents participated an average of 144 hours, compared to an average of sixty-eight hours in projects that offered less than fourteen hours per month of adult education services (Exhibit 6.4).

Exhibit 6.4: Annual Hours of Participation in Adult Education, by Project Characteristics: 1996-97 Participants

Project Characteristics	Hours of Participation in Adult Education
Number of Support Services Received by Family
0 support services received (N=4,562)	42
1-2 support services received (N=9,270)	79
3-4 support services received (N=9,947)	104
5-9 support services received (N=7,281)	142
Hours per Month of Adult Education Offered
Less than 14 hours per month (N=7,047)	68
14-23 hours per month (N=5,610)	80
24-44 hours per month (N=9,662)	89
45 or more hours per month (N=8,427)	144

Note: The results are based on analyses of variance.
Exhibit reads: In 1996-97, parents in families that received five to nine types of support services participated in adult education services for an average of 142 hours.

The regression analysis also identified several characteristics of educational curricula and instructional approaches that were related to adult education participation hours (Appendix C, Exhibit C.7). On average, higher adult education participation hours were reported by projects that used or accomplished the following features more so than other projects:

Standardized (rather than individually-tailored) curriculum;
Group-based activities (rather than students working alone);
Learner involvement in lesson plans;
Many different types of parenting education activities;
Integration across the three core service areas; and
More than nine days per year per staff of inservice training.

These findings are potentially useful in identifying specific service delivery approaches that promote higher participation rates. However, it is important to note that many of these relationships were relatively small in magnitude (although statistically significant) and did not appear consistently in similar analyses. Thus, they should be interpreted as preliminary indications regarding factors that influence participation.

Contrary to our expectations, age of project (years of experience in operating Even Start) was not as strongly related to adult education participation hours as other program characteristics discussed above. Regression analysis allows us to examine the impact of one factor (e.g., project age) while statistically controlling for the effects of all other factors. While we may assume that mature projects are more likely to achieve greater adult education attendance, a more accurate description may be that mature projects tend to have more of the features that are discussed above (e.g., more service hours, more standardized, group-based curriculum, greater integration across service areas, more staff training), features that are related to participation.

We also examined the extent of adult education participation in relation to parents' age and educational background (Exhibit 6.5). Teen parents were the most active participants in adult education (139 hours average). Parents who enrolled in the program with a high school diploma, GED, or some postsecondary education spent the least time in adult education—seventy-nine hours, compared to less educated parents, who averaged ninety-nine to 102 hours (Exhibit 6.5, the right-most column).

Exhibit 6.5: Annual Hours of Participation in Adult Education, by
Parents' Age and Educational Background (1996-97)

Educational Levels	Parent Age				Across All Age Groups
Educational Levels	Less than 20 Years	20-29 Years	30-39 Years	40 or More Years	Across All Age Groups
6th grade or less	106 hours (111)	97 hours (1,618)	96 hours (1,911)	108 hours (764)	99 hours (4,404)
7th-9th grades	135 (1,902)	91 (4,523)	97 (2,072)	107 (537)	102 (9,034)
10th-12th grades	146 (2,201)	89 (6,735)	95 (2,815)	88 (560)	100 (12,311)
High School diploma, GED, or postsecondary ed.	100 (113)	81 (1,822)	80 (1,713)	63 (418)	79 (4,066)
Across All Educational Levels	139 (4,927)	89 (14,698)	93 (8,511)	95 (2,279)	98 (29,815)

Note: The number of parents in each group is indicated in parentheses. The number of parents included in this analysis was lower than the number reported in Exhibit 6.3 because records with missing data for age were excluded from this analysis.
Exhibit reads: Teen parents who had reached the 10th to 12th grades at the time of enrollment participated in adult education programs for an average of 146 hours in 1996-97.

In addition, there was a significant interaction between parent age and education level. Teen parents who enrolled with 10th- to 12th-grade education (but without a high school diploma or GED) were the most active participants (146 hours per year). It is not surprising that parents with a well-defined short-term goal would participate more regularly and intensively. The higher participation rates among teen parents also may be explained by projects reporting (correctly) most or all of high school class hours for parents enrolled in high schools.

At the other end of the spectrum, among parents age 40 or older, those educated at or below the 9th-grade level participated the most, possibly because their educational needs and the effort necessary to overcome them are the greatest. The group that may present the most challenges in maintaining regular attendance in adult education consists of older parents (40 years or older) who lack a few years of high school education.

For all age groups 20 years or above, the parents who enrolled with a high school diploma, GED, or some postsecondary education had considerably lower participation rates than the national average. As we discussed earlier, many of these parents were in the process of leaving the program during 1996-97.

Hours of Participation in Parenting Education

In 1996-97, 95 percent of parents participated in parenting education.⁸⁰ The average participation across all parents (including those who indicated zero hours of participation) was twenty-eight hours per year. Among parents who attended parenting services at least one hour during the year, the average was thirty-two hours.

The average participation hours in 1992-93 (based on participants in 120 mature projects) were 58 hours per year, substantially higher than 32 hours in 1994-95, 27 hours in 1995-96, and 28 hours in 1996-97. The averages since 1994-95 represent new and continuing projects, and project age was related to the hours of participation in parenting education. Thus, part of the difference between the 1992-93 and subsequent averages could be due to new projects included in the lower averages. However, even among the 1996-97 fourth-year projects, the average participation hours were much lower (35 hours, Exhibit 6.6) than 58 hours reported for 1992-93. As the Even Start program expanded and evolved during the latter half of the 1990's, it is possible that the emphasis on parenting education may have waned somewhat.

Since the extent of participation in parenting education also varied greatly across parents, we used a multiple regression analysis to examine factors related to parents' participation in parenting education (see Appendix C, Exhibit C.8 for detailed regression results).⁸¹ Greater hours of participation in parenting education activities were related to the following features of service delivery:

Number of support services families received (families receiving five to nine types of support services participated an average of forty-two hours in parenting education, compared to twelve hours for families that received no support services, Exhibit 6.6);
Hours of parenting education services offered (projects offering fewer than eight hours of parenting education per month reported an average of twenty participation hours per year compared to forty-two hours in projects offering twenty-four or more hours of parenting education);
Many different types of parenting education activities; and
Integration across three core services.

These service features also were related to greater participation in adult education. In addition, the relationship between project age and parenting education participation hours was similar to the relationship observed in the first national evaluation. Fourth-year projects reported higher participation hours than younger projects (Exhibit 6.6).

Exhibit 6.6: Annual Hours of Participation in Parenting Education,
by Project Characteristics: 1996-97 Participants

Project Characteristics	Hours of Participation in Parenting Education
Number of Support Services Received by Family
0 support services (N=4,472)	12
1-2 support services (N=9,242)	22
3-4 support services (N=9,956)	31
5-9 support services (N=7,274)	42
Project Age
Less than 2 years (N=3,606)	21
Two years (N=4,082)	26
Three Years (N=3,307)	28
Four Years (N=7,104)	35
Five Years + (N=12,212)	27
Hours per Month of Parenting Education Offered
Less than 8 hours per month (N=5,802)	20
8 -13 hours per month (N=9,155)	18
14-23 hours per month (N=9,323)	31
24 or more hours per month (N=7,045)	42
Number and Extent of Parenting Education Activities Offered (Rating range 11-60)
Less than 54 rating (N=5,808)	20
54-56 rating (N=6,679)	26
57-58 rating (N=7,281)	28
59+ rating (N=11,406)	32
Extent of Integration Across Educational Service Areas (Rating range 2-4)
Integration measure rating 2 (N=8,476)	25
Integration measure rating 3 (N=19,112)	28
Integration measure rating 4 (N=2,576)	39

Exhibit reads: On average, participants who received five to nine types of support services participated in forty-two hours of parenting education in 1996-97.

In 1996-97, there was a slight drop in the average participation hours for projects five years or older. This "drop" was not due to fifth- and sixth-year projects enrolling many new participants and possibly repeating the participation patterns similar to parents in the first- and second-year projects. Except for the first-year projects, the percentages of new families were fairly constant among all other project age groups, and the percentages of families participating in all core services did not drop among older projects. Another possible explanation for the drop in average parenting education hours is that projects in their second four-year cycle may relax the parenting education requirements somewhat. Although this hypothesis is not testable by currently available data, it alerts us to explore this issue in future Even Start evaluations.

Footnotes:

⁷⁴ Approximately 15 percent of participating families and adults in 1996-97 had missing data on participation in adult and/or parenting education. The participation rates cited above are based on participants with data, excluding those with missing data on these variables. While the level of missing data has stayed fairly constant since 1994-95, the methods to deal with them in analysis were refined each year based on improvements in data reporting methods. However, one trade-off for increased data accuracy is that resulting participation rates are not precisely comparable across years.

Computing the participation rates treating records with missing data as non-participants (as was done in previous years) yields 89 percent and 91 percent for parents participating in adult and parenting education, respectively, in 1996-97. These figures are slightly higher than respective percentages of 85 percent and 88 percent reported for 1995-96.

⁷⁵ Included in this group were about 10 percent of all 1996-97 participants who spoke languages other than English at home but could read, write, and understand English well or very well.

⁷⁶ This small percentage of parents was more interested in the early childhood and parenting education services of Even Start than the average Even Start parent. Thirty-five percent were primarily interested in Even Start early childhood education services; 25 percent were mostly interested in improving their parenting skills; and 35 percent sought to improve their basic academic and literacy skills. For all Even Start parents, the respective percentages were 19 percent, 14 percent, and 56 percent.

Further, some parents who were native English speakers with a high school diploma or GED and who did not participate in adult education in 1996-97 were in the process of leaving the program. More than half had entered the program in 1995-96 or earlier, and 67 percent left the program during 1996-97 (9 percent after completing their goals and 25 percent due to problems such as poor attendance and family conflicts).

⁷⁷ Program participation data were not collected in the 1993-94 evaluation year. Due to many differences in data collection procedures between the first and the second evaluations and refinements in the data reporting system during the second evaluation, relatively small changes in participation rates over the years should not be interpreted as reflections of substantive changes in program effectiveness.

⁷⁸ In this regression analysis, two independent variables listed in Exhibit 6.1 were excluded: hours per month of parenting education offered and hours per month of early childhood education hours offered.

⁷⁹ Causal interpretations of these regression results should be made with caution. For example, the relationship between support services received and participation hours may mean that regularly participating families also had more opportunities to receive support services, rather than the availability of more support services leading to greater hours of participation.

⁸⁰ This percentage excludes parents for whom parenting education participation data were missing.

⁸¹ For this regression analysis, the same set of independent variables was used as the adult education participation hour analysis, except for replacing "Hours of adult education services offered" with "Hours of parenting education services offered."

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[ What Was the Extent of Participation in Early Childhood Education? ]