The Relations between Parent-Educator Communication, the Home Environment, and Children's Outcomes in Preschool

Background: The literature suggests that educators can use parent-educator communication to support parents with engaging their children in home learning activities (Epstein, 1995; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997). Objective: This study examines the relations between parent-educator communication and preschoolers' numeracy, literacy, executive function, and vocabulary, and explores if the home numeracy environment (HNE) and the home literacy environment (HLE) was a better predictor of children's outcomes than parent-educator communication. Method: Data for this study came from a larger quasi-experimental study evaluating a state-funded preschool program (n = 558). Regression models were run controlling for child's age, sex, race/ethnicity, family income, group, parental education, and baseline skill scores. Results: Analyses revealed a significant relation only between parent-educator communication and numeracy skills ([beta] = -0.14, p = < 0.001). Unexpectedly, more frequent parent-educator communication in preschool were related to lower numeracy skills. Additionally, there was a statistically significant association between all three predictors -- parent-educator communication ([beta] = - 0.15, p = < 0.001), the HNE ([beta] = 0.14, p = 0.016), and the HLE ([beta] = - 0.18, p = 0.004) -- and children's numeracy skills. Specifically, more frequent parent-educator communication and higher HLE scores in preschool predicted lower numeracy skills. Additionally, the higher quality of the HNE predicted greater numeracy skills in the spring of preschool. Conclusion: There may be increased communication when the children are performing lower on their numeracy skills than their peers and teachers and parents are working to remediate those challenges.