FEATURE ARTICLE Evaluating Parent Involvement and Family Support in Early Intervention and Preschool

Early intervention and preschool programs for children with disabilities are also accountable for providing certain types of support for families. How should these efforts be evaluated? This article describes three potential levels of accountability: (a) providing the legally required services for familiesf (b) providing services that are considered recommended, and (c) achieving certain outcomes as a result of working with families. Issues and considerations related to each level of accountability are discussed and recommendations are made for advancing policy and practice related to the evaluation of parent involvement and family support efforts. A combination of legislative initiatives, fam-ily advocacy efforts, theory, and research has led to wide acceptance of the assumption that early intervention exists not just to support young children with disabilities, but also to support their families. Exactly what is meant by parent involvement and family support continues to be discussed, but at least three themes have emerged around which there i