Summarizes recent evaluations of parenting education curricula and recommendations for improving evaluation design and measurement. Overall, recommendations offer standards for credible evaluations of parenting curricula, and three are of particular interest because they can yield a research base to improve the responsiveness of programs aimed at a particular population. Key recommendations involve: (1) incorporating evaluation into all phases of program design, development, and implementation; (2) employing a conceptual model of the anticipated mechanisms of change in parenting programs; and (3) systematically examining program outcomes according to such factors as parental income. A number of lessons were learned from implementing these recommendations in programs aimed at parents of elementary-school-age children in diverse urban and small-town communities in Indiana and Ohio, including: the need to better support the collaborative team of professional and parent; the importance of involving parental perspectives in program design; and the importance of establishing links between parents’ views on the factors influencing their children’s education and parent’s beliefs about their ability to change these factors.
