What Happened During Teacher Visits? A Closer Look at the Parent Engagement Effort of the HighScope Perry Preschool Project

The HighScope Perry Preschool Project (PPP), a landmark research study that examined the longitudinal impact of high quality early childhood education, began in 1962 to support the academic success of low-income African American children living in a race-restricted neighborhood of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Its conceptualization and initiation, and the subsequent implementation by the teachers, were deeply influenced by the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the fight for racial justice. In addition to daily half-day classroom instruction, teachers visited children at home on a weekly basis. We analyzed 702 teacher records of 24 children documented in the last two waves of the PPP. Teachers covered a variety of topics, with emphasis on children’s ability to observe, classify, and speak. Sixty-four percent of teacher visits took place at children’s homes (home visits) and 36 percent took the form of community outings (field trips). Of the home visits, 69 percent had either full or partial parent participation. Parents accompanied very few individual field trips (12%). Households with fathers who held higher skilled jobs and those with fewer persons had parents who were more likely to participate in the teacher visits. Exploratory analysis showed that children whose parents accompanied at least one field trip scored higher in cognitive outcomes at age 14. The PPP’s historical significance and implications are discussed. (217).