Initially funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and by the National Institutes of Health, this project, conducted in collaboration with Gigliana Melzi, PhD, examines the family engagement practices of low-income, Latine* families with young children in the US. The original goal of this study was to identify low-income, Latine parents’ conceptualizations of their engagement with children’s education, learning, and development and then to link these culture-contextualized dimensions of family engagement to children’s school readiness in the areas of language development and social-emotional competency.

The major outcome of this project has been the creation of a family engagement measure in both Spanish and English for low-income, Latine families of preschool-aged children. The Parental Engagement of Families from Latine Backgrounds Questionnaire [PEFL- English] and el Cuestionario de Participación Educativa de Familias Latinas [PEFL- Spanish] is a 43-item Likert-type measure of parental engagement designed for and validated with Latine Head Start families. The PEFL explores four culture-specific dimensions of parental engagement found to be salient among low-income Latine families and related to children’s school readiness: Foundational Education, Supplemental Education, School Participation, and Future-oriented Teaching. Currently, we are using a grounded theory approach to understand more about how Latine Head Start families describe the unique cultural and linguistic realities of being Latine parents in the U.S., based on focus group data.

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* Latine refers to individuals whose cultural background originated in Latin America. In U.S. academic circles, Latinx is used as a gender-inclusive term to refer to people from Latin American backgrounds. As does Zentella (2017), and other native Spanish-speakers, Latinx is found to be unpronounceable in Spanish. Therefore, we have opted to use the gender-inclusive term, Latine, commonly used throughout Spanish-speaking Latin American countries. See Zentella (2017) for more information:
Zentella, A. C. (2017). “Limpia, fija y da esplendor”: challenging the symbolic violence of theroyal Spanish academy. Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures, 1, 21-42. http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/chiricu.1.2

For more information on this line of research, please read:
*Indicates student co-author

McWayne, C. M., & Melzi, G. (2008). Developing a parent-derived measure of Latino family involvement. The Evaluation Exchange, 14 (1&2), 30. Harvard Family Research Project. Click here for a pdf copy of the issue.

McWayne, C., Melzi, G., *Schick, A. R., *Kennedy, J. L., & *Mundt, K. (2013). Defining family engagement among Latino Head Start parents: A mixed-methods measurement development study. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 28, 593-607. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2013.03.008

McWayne, C. M., & Melzi, G. (2014). Validation of a culture-contextualized measure of family engagement in the early learning of low-income Latino children. Journal of Family Psychology, 28, 260-266. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036167

*Mundt, K., Gregory, A., Melzi, G., & McWayne, C. M. (2015). The influence of ethnic match on Latino school-based family engagement. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 37, 170-185. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739986315570287

McWayne, C. M., Manz, P. H., & Ginsburg-Block, M. D. (2015). Examination of the Family Involvement Questionnaire-Early Childhood (FIQ-EC) with Low-Income, Latino Families of Young Children: An Application of Rasch Modeling. International Journal of School & Educational Psychology, 3(2), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683603.2014.950439

McWayne, C. M. (2015). Family-school partnerships in a context of urgent engagement: Rethinking models, measurement, and meaningfulness. In S. Sheridan (Ed.), Research on Family-School Partnerships: An Interdisciplinary Examination of State of the Science and Critical Needs (pp. 105-124). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13838-1_6

McWayne, C. M., Melzi, G., *Limlingan, M. C., & Schick, A. (2016). Ecocultural patterns of family engagement among low-income Latino families of preschool children. Developmental Psychology, 52 (7), 1088-1102. http://doi.org/10.1037/a0040343

McWayne, C. M., *Foster, B., & Melzi, G. (2018). Culturally embedded measurement of Latino caregivers’ engagement in Head Start: A tale of two forms of engagement. Early Education and Development, 29 (4), 540-562. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2018.1442094

Melzi, G., McWayne, C. M., & *Ochoa, W. (2020). Family engagement and Latine children’s early narrative skills. Early Childhood Education Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01132-7

Melzi, G., McWayne, C., Prishker, N., & *Segovia, J. (2021). Por Los Niños: Latine caregivers’ reflections on parenting in the context of immigration. Journal of Latinos and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348431.2021.1971085

Selected Presentations:
*Indicates student co-presenter

McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2010, June). Family involvement and school readiness: Developing a parent-derived measure with Latino Head Start families. Part of the Evaluar, Entender, Ensenar: Variations of the English Language Learners’ Head Start University Partnerships 2007-2010 symposium presentation (Chair: DeCourcey, W.) at Head Start’s Tenth National Research Conference: Research on Young Children and Families: Launching the Next Decade for Policy and Practice. Washington, DC.

McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2010, June). Family involvement and school readiness: Developing a parent-derived measure with Latino Head Start families. Part of the Evaluar, Entender, Ensenar: Variations of the English Language Learners’ Head Start University Partnerships 2007-2010 symposium presentation (Chair: DeCourcey, W.) at Head Start’s Tenth National Research Conference: Research on Young Children and Families: Launching the Next Decade for Policy and Practice. Washington, DC.

McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2011, April). An emic approach to create a family involvement measure for Latino parents. Paper presented in the symposium entitled: Developing culturally-sensitive measures for ethnically-diverse families using mixed-methods approaches (Chair: Melzi, G.). 2011 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

McWayne, C., Melzi, G., & *Kennedy, J. (2011, April). Low-income Latino parents’ conceptualizations of family involvement in their preschool children’s development and education. Paper presented in the symposium entitled: Diverse conceptions of parental involvement and advocacy among Latino families of school-aged children (Chair: Durand, T.) at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development. Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Melzi, G., McWayne, C., & *Schick, A. R. (2012, February). Family involvement and the emergent literacy skills of dual-language Latino children. Poster presented at the 2012 Society for Research in Child Development Themed Meeting: Positive Development of Minority Children. Tampa, FL.

McWayne, C., Melzi, G., *Kennedy, J., *Mundt, K., & *Schick, A. (2012, June). Latino parents’ conceptualizations of family involvement in their children’s preschool education. Part of the New learning and future directions for dual language learners: Recommendations from the ELL Consortium projects (2007-2010) symposium presentation (Chair: Mendez, Julia.) at Head Start’s Eleventh National Research Conference: Research on Young Children and Families: Effective Practices in and Age of Diversity and Change. Washington, DC.

McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2012, June). Developing a parent-derived measure of Latino family involvement: A mixed methods approach with Head Start families. Part of the The road less traveled: Measurement development responsive to the increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse Head Star population symposium presentation (Chair: Lopez, Michael.) at Head Start’s Eleventh National Research Conference: Research on Young Children and Families: Effective Practices in and Age of Diversity and Change. Washington, DC.

McWayne, C., Melzi, G., *Limlingan, M., & Schick, A. (2013, April). Patterns of Family Engagement for Low-Income Latino Families of Preschool Children and their Relation to School Readiness. Paper presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development Conference, Seattle, WA.

McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2014, April). Family engagement in children’s early learning among low-income Latino caregivers: The validation of a culture-contextualized measure. Paper presented as part of the symposium entitled, “Advancements in assessing the early educational experiences of diverse children and families living in poverty” (Chair: John Fantuzzo). American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA.

*Hyun, S., *Limlingan, M. C., McWayne, C., & Melzi, C. (2014, July). Patterns of Family Engagement for Low-Income Latino Head Start Families and their Link to Children’s Peer Play Interaction. Paper presented as part of the symposium entitled, “Identifying Social Competence to Foster Resilience in Latino Low-income Preschoolers: Ecocultural Perspectives on Social Development” (Chair: Julia Mendez Smith). 12th National Head Start Research Conference. Washington, D.C.

McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2014, August). Patterns of family engagement for low-income Latino families of preschool children and their relation to school readiness. Paper presented as part of the symposium entitled, “The influence of culture and context on family-school partnerships” (Chair: Sue Sheridan). American Psychological Association Annual Conference. Washington, D.C.

*Foster, B. (Chair), McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2016, July). Validity explorations in culturally-situated measures designed to promote preschool children’s school readiness. Poster symposium at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) National Research Conference on Early Childhood. Washington, DC.

Melzi, G., *Wisnia, J., & McWayne, C. M. (2019, March). Por los Niños: Latino Caregivers’ Reflections on Immigration and Parenting. Poster presentation at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Baltimore, MD.

*Ochoa, W., McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2020, February). Promoting Two Cultures: Understanding the Parenting Experiences of Foreign and U.S.-Born, English-speaking Latino Parents of Preschool Children. Poster presented at the 32nd Annual Ethnographic & Qualitative Research Conference, Las Vegas, NV.

*Ochoa, W., McWayne, C., & Melzi, G. (2020, May). Promoting Two Cultures: Understanding the Parenting Experiences of Foreign and U.S.-Born, English-speaking Latino Parents. Poster session presented at the Construction of the ‘Other’: Development Consequences, and Applied Implications of Prejudice and Discrimination special topic meeting for Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), Rio Grande, Puerto Rico. Postponed due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.

*Ochoa, W., McWayne, C.M., & Melzi, G. (2020, June). Latine Parents’ active socialization of biculturalism in their preschool-aged children. Poster presentation at National Research Conference on Early Childhood (NRCEC), Arlington Virginia.

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