Collaborative Learning Intervention associated with Increases in Home-Based School Involvement for Families in Deprived Neighborhoods

The current study set out to investigate the impact of the Dutch low-SES family-oriented Collaborative Learning intervention, characterized by a partnership approach and provision of personalized support. We assessed effects on parents’ home-based school involvement, the quality of the relationship with their child’s teacher, and parents’ parenting skills. Fifty-six children in grades 1-4 and their families were randomly assigned to an intervention or waiting list condition. Results of two path models, using cluster-robust standard errors to adjust for nesting within our data, and controlling for baseline values of our outcome variables, indicated significant improvements in home-based school involvement among families in the intervention group, but no differences in the quality of the parent-teacher relationship nor in parenting skills. Our findings support the idea that a partnership approach and the provision of personalized support by means of home visits are an effective strategy to increase home-based school involvement amongst low-SES families.