ABSTRACT
Programs designed to train mothers to teach school-related skills to their young children have proliferated rapidly in the decade since Head Start was first funded. The criteria used in evaluating the effectiveness of the programs focus on outcomes assumed to be relevant to school performance, since increased school performance is the ultimate goal of the intervention efforts. Parents are considered crucial in the child's development, and direct efforts are applied to parental behavior as a way of reaching the child. A common feature in many parent teaching activities was an emphasis on the use of educational toys and materials to generate stimulating parent/child interaction. The educational interchange between parents and professionals seems to be moving toward a sharing process, away from didatic intervention. The possibility of a relationship between changes in parental attitudes and gains in children's performance was examined in only one study and no relationship was found.
