Martine van der Pluijm

17 General introduction Van Steensel, Herppich, McElvany, & Kurvers, 2012). Another problem is the ecological validity of shared reading activities, as many lower-educated parents are not familiar with them (Manz et al., 2010). Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) programs aim to prevent developmental delays of children growing up in disadvantaged contexts at schools (Burger, 2010). The Dutch ECEC programs mainly focus on the school curriculum and not on the home environment. These programs, with a single focus on school, have shown disappointing results. A recent meta- analysis of effect studies in the Netherlands from 2000 to 2015 shows no significant effects on various measures of child development (Fukkink, Jillink, & Oostdam, 2017). Several meta-studies report that programs with a dual approach (i.e., combining a center (i.e., school) and a home-based approach of child and parent support) show small to medium effects on cognitive and social-emotional development (Blok, Fukkink, Gebhart, & Leseman, 2005; Burger, 2010; Camilli, Vargas, Ryan, & Barnett, 2010; Nores & Barnett, 2010). Most of these programs have been implemented in the United States, where the first early intervention programs were developed (Fukkink et al., 2017). A recent meta-study of Van Steensel et al. (2019) shows larger effects for child literacy when parent programs are conducted at one of these settings, i.e., engaging parents in programs either at home or at school. The authors argue that programs directed at both school and home might be more associated with the school curriculum and might, therefore, lack ecological validity for particularly lower-SES parents. School-Family Partnerships (SFPs) focus on establishing connections between schools and parents in support of child development (e.g., Epstein, 1987; Sheridan, Knoche, & White, 2019). Meta-studies have shown that SFPs that include measures of language development and reading have a positive effect on children’s academic achievement, particularly those that stimulate parental involvement at home (Castro et al., 2015; Hill & Tyson, 2009; Jeynes, 2007; 2016; Wilder, 2014). The effects of parental involvement at home are irrespective of parents’ ethnical backgrounds and child grades. Fewer effects have been found for parent- teacher cooperation and parent participation at school. Several meta-analyses (Hill & Tyson, 2009; Jeynes, 2012; Wilder, 2014) reveal that particularly high parental expectations of child achievement have a positive effect on academic development. Parental expectations reflect parents’ general beliefs and attitudes towards school and learning. Wilder (2014, p. 392) assumes that parents’ positive expectations and encouragements influence children’s attitudes towards learning, which in turn might explain their better achievements. Effects of parental expectations on children’s academic achievement were also found by two more meta-studies, but these effects were smaller for low SES and minority parent populations (Castro et al., 2015; Jeynes, 2003).