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Office of School Improvement and Community Services (NYC) Shelia Evans-Tranumn, Associate Commissioner

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Guidance for Using the Parenting Education Profile (PEP)

for New York State Performance Indicator Reporting 

The Parenting Education Profile (PEP) was designed to enable Even Start programs to gauge parents’ progress in learning how to support their children’s learning.  The PEP scales and sub-scales are based on research about parenting practices that are related to children’s success in learning.  New York State is currently using the PEP to determine progress toward the desired performance indicators for parenting education:

 Indicator 1.12

      Fifty percent of the parents who have participated in Even Start within the reporting year will demonstrate a 0.3 gain in supporting interactive literacy activities [Scale II] as indicated on the Parenting Education profile.

 Indicator 1.13

      Fifty percent of the parents who have participated in Even Start within the reporting year, will show a 0.3 gain in supporting children’s learning in formal educational settings [Scale III] as indicated on the Parenting Education Profile. 

Indicator 1.11

      Fifty percent of the parents who have participated in Even Start within the reporting year, will show a 0.3 gain in supporting children’s learning in the home environment [Scale 1] as indicated on the Parenting Education Profile.

 Indicator 1.14

      Fifty percent of the parents, who have participated in Even Start within the reporting year, will show a 0.3 gain in taking on the parent role [Scale IV] as indicated on the Parenting Education Profile.

Directions for Use

1.   Programs will complete PEP assessments in all four scales for newly entering families.  Continue to use Scales II and III for families enrolled prior to July 2002.  You are not required to introduce Scales I and IV with such families.

2.   In general, all scales will be applied to all families.  However, if an individual rubric does not apply to a particular family situation, i.e., in a case where no one speaks the language of the parent and cannot judge the verbal interaction or a case in which there are no outside service providers that serve the children in the family, consider the rubric “not applicable.”  Divide the total for the scale only by the number of rubrics scored to obtain the average score for the scale.

3.   The initial use of the PEP should occur approximately three months after a family has enrolled in an Even Start program, giving the staff enough time to get to know the family and see the typical patterns of behaviors.

4.   Document your observations each six months from the previous assessment. 

A] Use the six month scores in order to inform instruction and service delivery.  Although you reassess every six months, only report scores that are twelve months apart.

B] If the PEP assessments take place over the course of different data years, re-enter the last PEP score from the previous program year in the pre-test box for the current data year.

5.   All staff people who are expected to rate parenting education behaviors should have some training on the PEP and its related research base.

6.   When rating on the PEP, consider the parents’ actions over the preceding three months.  The intent is to rate on the basis of typical behavior patterns and to determine a “solid” level, that is, what the parent has consistently demonstrated over time.  Parents’ interactions with all their children should be used in determining the score.  The “gray areas” between levels are the keys to instructional planning and intervention, that is, what areas to work on to move the parent forward.

7.   It is helpful to have all staff members who have contact with the parent work together on determining the scoring.  Including the parents’ own assessment of their progress is valuable.  During a dialogue (perhaps facilitated by the program coordinator or the local evaluator), information about what individuals have seen the parent do and say is shared for each sub-scale.  The most important part of the dialogue is the interpretation that observers make about parents’ actions and behaviors.  What sense are they making of what they see every day?  On what basis do they say the parent has reached a certain stable level? You may want to include other special services staff who have contact with the family.  The family educator should make the final decision regarding scoring based on input from all involved in the scoring discussion.

8.   Documentation of reasons for each rating for each sub-scale is necessary.  Summarize the discussion in writing about why the team decided to give a particular rating and include in the parents’ folder.

9.   Programs should use the information from the scoring and discussion to plan intentional instruction for parents.

Note:

Example of what documentation might look like for a score of 3 on the sub-scale “Reading with Children”: Lately during free play time, we have seen Sheila try to engage Rodney in looking at or reading a book that she picks out from the books at the center.  She usually asks him to tell her the names of objects in pictures when they stop on a page; sometimes she asks him what will happen next.  He doesn’t always stay interested enough for her to finish the story, which is frustrating to her, but she, no longer gets angry when that happens.  In the last few home visits, Sheila has asked the family worker to bring books that will be interesting to Rodney.  Sheila complimented the family worker on how “nicely” she reads.  The family educator noticed Sheila read the same book to Rodney that she had read aloud to the four-year-old group.  Sheila asked some of the same questions of Rodney that the family worker had used.  At the end, Sheila asked Rodney to show his favorite part of the book (just as the family worker had done).