September 26, 2016

Dear Families,
As you may already know, I am a graduate student in the Department of Early and Middle Grades
Education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania, working toward my M.Ed. in Early Childhood. As
part of my Masters degree program, I will be conducting a action research assignment to understand
family involvement in preschool.
For the next six to eight weeks, I would like to include your child and your family (and all of my students
in the Honey Bear Room) in my research project on family involvement in preschool.
During a six week period, you will be receiving a survey on what family involvement means to you and
your child. Your child will have a take home folder where activities will be placed for you to reinforce the
skills we are learning at school. Each time you would like to take the folder home you will need to sign it
in and out. I will also be documenting the academic progress of your child throughout the six week
period.
All data that I collect (observations, family surveys and sign in/out sheets) will be kept confidential and
no references to childrens names or family members names will be used in my work.
I do not anticipate any risk greater than normal school life. You and your child's participation in this
project is completely voluntary. If you choose for you and your child to participate your involvement
will be documented in my research. If you choose for your child to "not participate" I will not include
observations, surveys or other information from your family or child in my study. The choice to
participate or not will not impact you and your childs status at school in any way. You may withdraw
your consent for your child to participate at any time, with no penalty.
All information that is obtained during this research project will be kept strictly secure and will not
become a part of your child's school record. Your childs name and any other information concerning
his/her identity will be deleted from the research information. Your childs confidentiality is most
important and every effort will be made to insure that this research remains confidential at all times.
The results of this study will be used for an online website that is required in my course, Early Childhood
Researcher, in the College of Education at WCU. Pseudonyms or codes will be substituted for the names
of children and the school. This helps protect confidentiality. The website is a private site, viewable by
myself, my classmates and my professors only. I will be constructing a summary of my research project
that will be available online to all, however, childrens/family names and the name of our school will not
be included in the summary of my research.

In the space at the bottom of this letter, please indicate whether or not you allow your child to
participate in this project. Family surveys will be sent during this time. Simply return your
survey if you wish to allow your responses to be included in my research when it is sent out.
Simply discard the survey if you choose not to participate.

Please return one copy of this completed form as soon as possible. The second copy is to keep
for your records. If you have any questions about this research project, please feel free to contact
me. Please keep a copy of this form for your records.
Sincerely,
Stacey Wolverton
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________ I agree for my family and child to participate.
________ I would rather my child and family not participate.
Parents signature and date:
_________________________________________________________________________________
If you have any questions about your childs participation or this research project, please contact me at
our school phone or email address.