Family concepts in early learning and development standards

This exploratory study investigated the use of concepts related to families, parents, and the home in 51 state-level early learning and development standards documents. Guidelines from six national family involvement, engagement, and school-partnership models were used to create the Family Involvement Models Analysis Chart (FIMAC), which served as this study's analysis tool. Results showed that the vast majority of units examined did not align with family involvement guidelines from the six national models. In addition, the small percentage of units that aligned with national models – as well as the units related to family concepts that were not aligned with these models – tended to incorporate family concepts in the contextual narrative of the standards documents and not within the letter of the standards in their strict sense (the statements describing what students are supposed to know and be able to do). States desiring to implement early learning and development standards congruent with research-based practices should integrate families into standards documentation.