Martine van der Pluijm

162 Chapter 6 parents were positive about being more involved in their children’s language development. Our study of teachers’professional development (Chapter 4) shows evidence that teachers were sufficiently prepared to work with the AHL program and perceived it as a valuable extension of their role as teachers. Based on our study of parental perceptions and behavior (Chapter 5), we conclude that AHL had a positive impact on parental ratings of the HLE and their interactive behavior. How do we explain these findings compared to other research? One explanation might be that the steps of AHL are built on a body of evidence from SFPs and FLPs for lower-educated parents. This knowledge was integrated during a design process with teachers and parents to strengthen the link between school and the home environment and to stimulate parental support at home, in line with the bioecological model of Bronfenbrenner (1977; 1992). First, we drew on the literature on how teachers’ initiatives to build SFPs lead to engaging parents from diverse backgrounds (e.g., Epstein, 1992; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1995; 1997, Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005; Lusse, Van Schooten, Van Schie, Notten, & Engbersen, 2019; Sheridan, Knoche, Kupzyk, Edwards, & Marvin, 2011). We derived theoretical notions and practical guidelines such as the need to be well informed about parental knowledge and beliefs (e.g., Epstein, 1992; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005), to apply a child-centered approach (e.g., Epstein, 1992; Sheridan et al., 2011), to stimulate teacher behavior that invites parents (e.g., Epstein, 1992; Hoover-Dempsey et al., 2005), to align SFP procedures in schools, and to use reciprocal communication with parents (e.g., Lusse et al., 2019; Sheridan et al., 2011). Our program focused on supporting child language development through these SFPs and closely resembles programs such as Getting Ready (e.g., Sheridan et al., 2011; Sheridan, Knoche, & White, 2019). However, we found that more extensive knowledge was needed to involve lower-educated parents in our SFPs in support of child language development. To this aim, we identified usable knowledge through FLPs in support of lower-educated parents (e.g., Boyce et al., 2010; Landry et al., 2008; Reese et al., 2010), summarized in our review study (Chapter 2). We learned more about the benefits of understanding parental beliefs, strengths, and abilities and tailoring interventions to the specific needs of parents. We decided to integrate this perspective and emphasize learning about family backgrounds as the basis for our program, acknowledging the pivotal roles parents play in child language development. This adaptive approach has become the common thread of AHL at schools and could be a key factor for improving partnerships. Increasedunderstandingof theHLEprovided teacherswithnewand successful ways of engaging parents in child language learning and parent-child activities in classrooms. Our findings are in line with other studies that show the benefits of teachers’improved understanding of the home environment (e.g., Banks & Banks, 2004; Delgado-Gaitan, 2006; Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992; Stepanek & Raphael, 2010).