Parent Child Development Centers PCDCs

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Parent Child Development Centers (PCDCs)

• A Dark History of the Genesis of the Head Start
  and Even Start Programs

Miguel Zavala Winter 2007 EDFN 440, CSULA
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Deficit Thinking Framework
We suggest that a deficit parenting style model
projects a distorted image of Latino families
dynamics, particularly those from low-income
households. A deficit model criticizes, ignores,
and downplays the values, beliefs, and behaviors
of Latino families, in particular with respect to
education, (Arzubiaga et al., p. 94)
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Head Start, Historical and Political
Contexts 1960's "War On Poverty"- aka social
engineering 1960 - 1965 - Growing body of
research in cognitive psychology 1965 - Head
Start "...to interrupt the cycle of poverty, the
nearly inevitable sequence of poor parenting
which leads to children with social and
intellectual deficits, which in turn leads to
poor school performance, joblessness, and
poverty,..." 1966 - Coleman Report on student
academic outcomes
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1969- U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO)
creates PCDCs, the "first social experiment" in
parent intervention history proposed as a
programmatic advance over Head Start.
1969 1972 experimental phase
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Program Goals
"The PCDC project was originally designed to
serve low-income families, the conviction being
that families in poverty have multiple needs and
stresses that are best met through
multicomponent, comprehensive programs. Benefits
expected to accrue to participating parents,
children, and families included (1) a wide range
of social skills and intellectual competencies
(2) more positive attitudes and motivations (3)
increased potential for employment of mothers
when infants reach school age (4) involvement of
fathers and their increased understanding and
psychological support of mothers in the
child-rearing task (5) greater family
solidarity and (6) positive effects on older
children and on subsequent children born to
participant families."
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Program Overview - The Houston Experiment
Sampling early intervention (child lt 2 years
old) amongst poor Mexican-American families
Build a research and training unit
(university/government) Formation of
experimantal and control groups
Interviews/assessment of community's cultural
norms In-Home and Family Workshops 2 year
program
Instruction on community resource management,
e.g. local clinics, acquiring food stamps, legal
assistance health/medical services provided,
family planning (contraception) planned
instruction in sewing, shopping, home management,
cooking Vocational training program for fathers
proposed but dropped ("participation problems")
Child Rearing Education pedagogical model-
teacher demonstration, practice by mother,
feedback to mother, and practice with adaptation
by mother. Setting variable-home/nursery
child interest building (1st year) --gt "cognitive
curriculum", experimental play
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Program Evaluation - Five-Year Report
EFFECTS ON MOTHERS- analyses of mother-child
interactions after 24 months showed program
mothers "engaged in more positive maternal
behaviors" than did control mothers EFFECTS ON
CHILDREN- children of the experimental mother
group outperformed control group children on
cognitive and competence assessments
1972 - 1975 Replication Phase Indianapolis,
Detroit, San Antonio
1975 - Fused into HEAD START
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Two 1980's follow-up studies on Houston sample
children of the Mexican-American mothers of the
Houston project showed that the group receiving
the "treatment" were better behaved at home
(Johnson Breckenridge, 1982) and in the school
than those whose mothers did not receive the
appropriate training (Johnson Walker, 1987).
WHAT DOES THIS HISTORY TELL US?
How are parents constructed? How is this
construction gendered, classed, and
racialized? What modes of reasoning enable both
the experiment and the subjugation of Black and
Latino parents?
HAVE OUR CONCEPTIONS OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT
REALLY CHANGED SINCE THE 1950S?
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Sources
Dokecki et. al., (1983). An overview of the
parent child development center social
experiment. In R. Haskins, and D. Adams, Parent
Education and Public Policy (pp. 81 111).
Norwood, NJ Ablex Publishing. Dokecki, P.,
Moroney, R. M. (1983). To strengthen all
families A human development and community value
framework. In R. Haskins, and D. Adams, Parent
Education and Public Policy (pp. 40 64).
Norwood, NJ Ablex Publishing. Florin, P. R.,
Dokecki, P. R. (1983). Changing families through
parent and family education Review and analysis.
In I. E. Sigel, L. M. Laosa, Changing Families
(pp. 23 64). New York Plenum Press. Johnson,
D. L. (1975). The development of a program for
parent-child education among Mexican-Americans in
Texas. In B. Z. Friedlander, G. M. Sterritt, and
G. E. Kirk, Exceptional Infant vol. 3 Assessment
and Intervention (pp. 374 398). New York
Brunner/Mazel. Johnson, D. L. Walker, T.
(1987). Primary prevention of behavior problems
in Mexican-American children. American Journal
of Community Psychology 15(3) pp. 375
385. Mancuso, J. C. Handin, K. H. (1983).
Prompting parents toward constructivist
caregiving practices. In I. E. Sigel, L. M.
Laosa, Changing Families (pp. 167 202). New
York Plenum Press.