Impact
ParentCorps is one of very few early childhood programs with demonstrated impact on all three critical areas of child development: academic achievement, mental health, and physical health. It has been rigorously studied with 1,200+ children in low-income neighborhoods in NYC, where structural racism has led to large shares of children of color living in poverty. Studies show ParentCorps’ full model has large, sustained benefits for children, including:
Kindergarten
24%
lower risk of
reading below
grade level
Elementary School
50%
less likely to have
mental health
problems
Elementary School
50%
lower risk
of obesity
Middle School
44%
less likely to
be chronically
absent
In addition, ParentCorps has meaningful impacts on parenting and teacher practices: parents showed greater involvement in their children’s learning, increased parenting knowledge, and increased use of evidence-based practices, while teachers demonstrated more responsive teacher-student interactions and effective behavior management.
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In a cost-effectiveness analysis, ParentCorps was found to have a 4:1 return on investment over and above the well-documented benefits of pre-K.
Lastly, randomized controlled trials also show powerful impacts from ParentCorps Professional Development alone. Professional Development has been found to improve the home-school connection and trust between parents and teachers, as measured by 10,000+ parents over four years.
How ParentCorps Works
Several government and nonprofit organizations endorse ParentCorps as an evidence-based early childhood intervention.
Blueprints for Healthy Youth Development, considered the most rigorous registry of evidence-based positive youth development programs, awarded ParentCorps the highest rating for evidence, with suggestions about using Head Start funding for implementation.
The National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, includes ParentCorps in its Compendium of Parenting Interventions, a resource that helps schools, early childhood programs, community-based organizations, and others assess parenting interventions for families of young children.
The nonprofit, nonpartisan research center Child Trends highlights ParentCorps as an evidence-based intervention that improves outcomes for young children.
The Parenting Curricula Review Database, published by the Office of Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center, lists ParentCorps as one of 28 research-based parenting curricula to help Head Start programs meet Head Start program performance standards.
The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse, for Child Welfare gives ParentCorps their top rating (“well-supported by research evidence”) for mental health prevention and/or early intervention, and is a trusted source for state and federal decision makers in the education sector and beyond.
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Additional endorsements include the Scottish Government’s Early Intervention Framework for Children and Young People’s Mental Health and Wellbeing and Results for America.