Filling Gaps for Research and Practice
The Family and Provider/Teacher Relationship Quality (FPTRQ) project offers unique tools for measuring the quality of relationships between families and the providers/teachers who care for their small children; these relationships are a key factor in promoting positive outcomes for children and families. FPTRQ is funded by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Head Start and Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation.
Project materials are available here, and on OPRE’s website.
The FPTRQ measures were developed through a rigorous four-year process that included:
- An extensive literature review that identified key elements of family and provider/teacher relationships;
- The development of a conceptual model that guided the development of the measures;
- Focus groups with parents and providers that confirmed and refined the conceptual model;
- A comprehensive item review that identified, adapted, and developed items to test;
- Iterative rounds of cognitive interviews that assessed the effectiveness of the questions;
- Pilot and field studies that were conducted in cities across the country; and
- Psychometric analyses established the reliability of the measures.
Should you have questions or need additional information, contact Eliza Brown at ebrown@childtrends.org.
About the Project
Why do we need measures of FPTRQ?
- Approximately 60 percent of U.S. children under age five spend time regularly in an early care and education setting. Research has found that good relationships between parents and their children’s providers or teachers can lead to positive outcomes for children and families. Positive, mutually respectful, and collaborative relationships between families and early care and education (ECE) providers and teachers contribute to young children’s school readiness, increase positive family engagement in children’s programs, and strengthen the home-program connection, an important contributor to children’s school success.
- While a variety of measures intend to assess different aspects of providers’ and teachers’ relationships with families, no single measure incorporates all elements of these relationships in ECE settings. The FPTRQ measures incorporate all elements of quality relationships.
What are the FPTRQ measures?
The FPTRQ measures assess provider or teacher knowledge, attitudes, and practices, as well as program environmental features that facilitate strong family and provider or teacher partnerships. Five measures capture multiple perspectives:
- The Director Measure asks questions about the education and child care environment, as well as program policies.
- The Provider/Teacher Measure asks questions about how they work with parents of children in their ECE settings.
- The Parent Measure asks questions about their relationship with their child’s care provider or teacher and is available in both English and Spanish.
- The Family Services Staff Measure for Head Start (HS) and Early Head Start (EHS) Family Services Staff asks questions about how they work with parents of children in these programs.
- The Parent Family Services Staff Measure for parents in the HS/EHS Family Services Staff programs asks questions about how they work with their Family Services Staff.
The FPTRQ measures are appropriate for ethnically/racially diverse populations across different types of early care and education settings, including Head Start/Early Head Start, center-based programs, and family child care, and for families at any income level.
Implications and uses:
- The measures are flexible and easily adaptable. They can be used as stand-alone tools, or incorporated into other monitoring/evaluation processes.
- Programs and practitioners can use FPTRQ measures as self-assessment or monitoring tools to determine the quality of family and provider or teacher relationships in their own programs, and to understand program progress in relationship-building over time.
- Programs can also use measures to inform the development of training or coursework aimed at improving provider or teacher capacity to create and maintain positive relationships with families.
- ECE policymakers and program administrators can use measures to inform the development or revision of Quality Rating and Improvement System indicators that effectively measure family partnerships. Policymakers can also better align professional development competencies needed for providers/teachers with these new indicator