Student-Outcomes-and-Parent-Teacher-Home-Visits.pdf -...

Prepared for
Parent Teacher Home Visits
Authors:
Steven B. Sheldon
Sol Bee Jung
Center on School, Family, &
Community Partnerships
Johns Hopkins University
November 2018
Student Outcomes and Parent
Teacher Home Visits

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Student Outcomes and Parent Teacher Home Visits iii
Contents
Foreword ........................................................................................................................................... v
Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ vii
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 1
FINDINGS ........................................................................................................................................... 7
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................................................................. 15
Appendix A ....................................................................................................................................... 17
References ....................................................................................................................................... 27

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FOREWORD
Student Outcomes and Parent Teacher Home Visits v
Foreword
Across the country, we know with increasing clarity that when children miss too much school, they are less
likely to read proficiently by third grade, pass middle school classes, graduate from high school, and persist in
college. When chronic absence reaches high levels, the resulting churn in the classroom impacts the learning
experience of all children.
Chronic absence, typically defined as missing 10% of school in a school year for any reason, has profound
implications. Absenteeism contributes to high school dropout rates, leaving students without the academic
credentials and skills needed to compete in a 21st century workforce. Regular attendance is the precursor to
the “soft skills” that employers expect and require. Students who do not develop the habits associated with
good attendance in the early years will find it difficult to develop them as adults. Children who are sick miss
school, and their parents miss work. All of us committed to a strong economic future for our nation have a
real stake in reducing the number of days that children stay home due to preventable causes.
Fortunately, we can do something about chronic absenteeism. What works is taking a comprehensive
approach that begins with engaging students and families as well as leveraging the power of data and
relationships to notice and prevent absences from adding up. The Parent Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) model
of building trusting relationships among educators and families is a proven foundational strategy that helps
engage families as partners in children’s education on multiple fronts. As this report shows, PTHV is an
invaluable strategy that schools can use to make a measurable difference. Attendance Works has seen the
impact of PTHV firsthand while privileged to work together in the same school districts.
It might not always be obvious that simply strengthening relationships among families and schools would be
associated with concrete academic and social-emotional outcomes for students, but it is. This report details
the results of rigorous research conducted by Johns Hopkins University that show a strong connection
between the PTHV model of relational home visits and decreases in chronic absence rates and increases in
English Language Arts proficiency among students. Moreover, these outcomes were observed for individual
students who received a home visit as well as for students who attended a school that systemically
implemented home visits, whether the student had a home visit or not.