Parent-based early childhood interventions do make a difference! A rebuttal to See and Gorard (2015a)
| Published date | 18 December 2017 |
| Pages | 224-238 |
| Date | 18 December 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JCS-07-2017-0030 |
| Author | Keith Goldstein,Angela Vatalaro,Gad Yair |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Children's services,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Children/youth,Parents,Education,Early childhood education,Home culture,Social/physical development |
Parent-based early childhood
interventions do make a difference!
A rebuttal to See and Gorard (2015a)
Keith Goldstein, Angela Vatalaro and Gad Yair
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to refute See and Gorard’s paper published in this journal in 2015
which argues that parent-based interventions for school readiness are ineffective.
Design/methodology/approach –Methods and results from 107 studies that were cited in See and
Gorard (2015a) and associated reports were reviewed. Evaluations were made based on comparing the
original studies with the summaries of those studies in the publication.
Findings –In this rebuttal, the authors show how See and Gorard erred to correctly report methods, sample
sizes, outcomes measured, and the actual results of prior research.
Practical implications –The authors suggest that See and Gorard do not provide solid evidence within
their article to back up their claims about parent intervention programs. This rigorous review of See and
Gorard’s primary sources reveals that the empirical evidence stands contrary to the claims being made. See
and Gorard inaccurately reviewed publications which contradict their conclusions, and they relied on a vast
amount of unpublished papers by students to support their claims.
Originality/value –The authors demonstrate how See and Gorard misapplied their own standards of
evaluation; the authors claim that their source materials contradict the “finding”they purport to present; and
the authors argue that they chose lesser known studies when more reputable ones were available.
Keywords Early childhood programs, Inequality in school readiness, Program assessment,
Research assessment, School readiness, Social inequality of life chances
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
See and Gorard (2015a) recently published a critical review in the Journal of Children’s Services
titled, “Does intervening to enhance parental involvement in education lead to better academic
results for children? An extended review.”Inthis paper, See and Gorard presentconclusions from
their review of 127 studies about parent-based interventions for improving children’s education.
In doing so, they set criteria for assessing evidence about interventions which aim to increase
parental involvement in raising children’s academic performance and conducted a “systematic
review of the existingevidence”(See and Gorard, 2015a,p. 252)[1]. The paper advances a unique
claim, namely thatparent-based interventions forschool readiness are ineffective. As we will show
in this rebuttal, their surprising results contradict prior studies of the same interventions. In the
following rebuttal, we make three main points: See and Gorard misapplied their standards of
evaluation; citations they bring to supporttheir conclusion actually contradicttheir claims; and the
authors relied on lesser known research evaluations when more reputable ones are available.
Lest we be misunderstood, we applaud See and Gorard’s ambition to improve educational
research. Unfortunately, in ourview, the authors have failed to meettheir own set of research and
ethical standards.
See and Gorard’s thesis surprised us as they start by contradicting their own prior studies
and reviews (e.g. Gorard et al., 2012) wherein they stated that “only parental involvement in
Received 6 July 2017
Revised 13 September 2017
Accepted 13 September 2017
Keith Goldstein is a
Post-Doctoral Scholar at the
Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Israel.
Angela Vatalaro is based at the
University of South Florida,
Tampa, Florida, USA.
Gad Yair is the Director at the
NCJW Research Center for
Innovation in Education,
Department of Sociology and
Anthropology, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, Israel.
PAGE224
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JOURNAL OF CHILDREN'S SERVICES
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VOL. 12 NO. 4 2017, pp. 224-238, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1746-6660 DOI 10.1108/JCS-07-2017-0030
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