An Action Plan for Parent Involvement

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An Action Plan for Parent Involvement

• Presented by
• Dr. Vivian Stith-Williams
• Virginia Department of Education

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What is Parent Involvement?

• Traditionally, parent involvement has been
  defined as parents responsibility for supporting
  education by making sure that their children are
  attending school, arriving ready to learn, and
  receiving help with homework.

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• Parent involvement grew out of a desire to
  include
• parents in their childrens education, but in
  school-
• prescribed ways. This approach which is often
• considered to be aligned with traditional, middle
  class
• values about education - views parents and
  school staff
• members as serving separate roles and
  responsibilities for
• educating and socializing children and youth.

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Parent involvement is

• Activities room mother, parent volunteer,
  school visitation, field trip chaperone,
  responding to school obligations

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• Strategies Parent surveys, school advisory
  boards, partnerships, decision making and
  governance roles

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• Actions Monitoring homework, Newsletters,
  tutoring at home, phone trees
• designed to engage parents and families in the
  education of their children

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Barriers to Parent Involvement

• School culture/Climate
• Balancing work family life changing roles and
  responsibilities of parents/families
• Changing demographics differential birthrate,
  immigration, diverse language learners
• Changing family structure single, incarcerated,
  blended

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• Pre-existing school goals not aligned with parent
  involvement goals
• Lack of team approach to parent involvement
  programs
• Teacher, staff preparation, expectations and
  behaviors
• One size fits all approach

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Barriers to Parent Involvement con.

• Failure to conduct a school community survey or
  apply demographic data to school goals and
  program planning
• Negative attitudes towards parent/family
  involvement commonly held by both teachers and
  parents
• Rarely viewing parents as leaders/change agents
  in their schools.

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Six Types of School-Family-Community Involvement
Epstein National PTA

• Parenting
• Communicating
• Volunteering
• Learning At Home
• Decision- making
• Collaboration with the Community

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• Parenting - providing for the health, safety and
  support of children in a home environment that
  encourages learning and good behavior in school.
  Schools providing training and information to
  help families understand and support their
  childrens development.
• Parenting skills are promoted and
  supported.

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• 2. Communicating Communication between home and
  school is regular, two-way, and meaningful.
  Schools reaching out to families with information
  about school programs and student progress
  using traditional and nontraditional strategies.
• Communication must be in forms that
  families find useful, understandable and
  sensitive to their culture.

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• 3. Volunteering Making significant
  contributions to the environment and functions of
  a school. Parents are welcome in the school, and
  their support and assistance is sought.

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• Student Learning/Learning at Home
• Family members play an integral role in
  supervising and assisting students with homework
  assignments and other school related activities.

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• School decision making and advocacy
• Parents are full partners in the decisions
  that affect children and families. Schools can
  give parents meaningful roles, training and
  information to fully participate in the process.

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• 6. Collaboration with the Community
• Community resources are used to strengthen
  schools, families and student learning. Schools
  can help families gain access to support services
  and provide services to the community.

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What Works!

• A welcome atmosphere, school climate structure
  that supports family involvement
• A no-fault approach, focusing on what can be done
• Coordination and cooperation among all adults
  concerned with the childs best educational
  interests

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• Recognition of the feelings of disconnect between
  parents/families and school staff- teachers
• Offering a variety of ways parents can
  participate a continuum of options for parent
  participation
• Learning about the various ethnic, cultural and
  socio-economic backgrounds of your students
• Knowing how to communicate with diverse families.

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• Decision by consensus whenever possible
• Regular meeting representing the entire school
  community
• Specific tasks, activities and roles for parents
  based on their needs, talents and individual
  child/children
• Survey of the community to determine needs,
  concerns as well as a demographic profile

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• Accommodations for parents work schedules.
• Collaboration with community leaders and
• services.
• A parent resource center with reading materials
• and information about child development/
• learning.

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• Homework hotline for students and parents.
• Opportunities for parents/family to share/discuss
  hopes for and concerns about their children, then
  plan to work together to set student goals.
• Providing families with a list of required
  mastery skills for each subject taught at childs
  grade level.

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• Maintaining regular communication with home
  family, using a variety of methods
• Professional development and training in parent
  involvement
• A written plan to promote, structure and develop
  positive teacher-parent partnerships at school.

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What is an Action Plan?

• An action plan is a written tool designed to
  incorporate a range of parent involvement or
  school involvement choices, options, interests,
  and activities based upon the learning needs of a
  child/student and their family, as well as the
  schools requirement.

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Action Plan Guiding Steps

• Identify strengths and weaknesses of
• -your child
• -your family
• - your school
• Ask yourself what do you want for your child and
  what are your childs needs!
• How can you help make these wants/needs a
  reality?
• Is your child achieving on grade level in all
  areas?

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• Does your school have a written mission statement
  that guides the behavior of both adults and
  students?
• How does the achievement of your childs school
  compare with the district wide achievement level?

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• What have you done or what can you do to enhance
  your childs academic development?
• How do you communicate with your childs teacher
  or school?
• How do your share your concerns about your
  childs academic performance and overall school
  progress?

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School Action Plan Steps

• Conduct a school community survey
• Identify options for parent involvement at your
  school
• Align parent involvement goals with pre-existing
  goals
• Partnerships with community groups and services
• Attention to school climate/culture
• Team approach and mission statement

• Administrators/staff trained in working with
  parents/families
• Tap into parents resources, specialized
  knowledge skills.
• Workshops, resource library, web page, homework
  hotline, etc., as means of communicating with
  parents
• Cultural competence/diversity awareness and
  training
• Offer variety of communication methods to reach
  parents
• Accommodations for work schedules, language and
  cultural differences

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REFERENCES

• Strong Images Practical Ideas- A Guide to
  Parent Engagement in School Reform (Research for
  Action) Rochelle Nichols Solomon Amy Rhodes
• New Skills for New Schools Preparing Teachers in
  Family Involvement (1997) Angela M. Shartrand,
  Heather B. Weiss, Holly M. Kreider M. Elena
  Lopez. Harvard Family Research Project
• Improving School Culture (2005) Ellen R. Delisio.
  Education World
• A Dozen Activities to Promote Parent Involvement!
  (2005) Linda Starr Education World
• An Exploratory Study of African-American Parents
  Perceptions on Individualizing School
  Involvement. (1997) Dissertation Vivian
  Stith-Williams. University of Denver.
• Parent Involvement in Education. ((2000) Kathleen
  Cotton Karen Reed Wikelund- School Improvement
  Research Series NW Regional Educational
  Laboratory.
• National Standards for Parent/Family Involvement
  Programs. (2000) National PTA.
• Five Guiding Principles for Involving Parents in
  Schools. (1992) Comer Haynes. North Central
  Regional Educational Laboratory.
• Needed Parents! (2005) Roberta Furger. NCLB
  Confidential. Edutopia.
• School/Family/Community Partnerships Caring for
  the children We Share, (1995) J.L. Epstein, Phi
  Delta Kappan, 76 (9), p.705-707.
• Critical Issue Supporting Ways Parents/Families
  Can Become Involved in Schools. (1996) Joe Nathan
  Hubert H. Humphrey Institute Center for School
  Change.

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RESOURCES

• Families Schools Together (FAST)
• Lynn McDonald
• Wisconsin Center for Education Research
• University of Wisconsin Madison
• 1025 W. Johnson Street
• Madison, WI 53706
• 608-263-9476 (F) 608-263-6448
• National Network of Partnership Schools
• Dr. Joyce Epstein, Director
• John Hopkins University
• 3003 North Charles Street, Suite 200
• Baltimore, MD 21218
• 410-516-8800 (F) 410-516-8890
• Harvard Family Research Center Project
• 3 Garden Street
• Cambridge, MA 02138
• 617-495-9108 (F) 617-495-8594

• Home School Institute
• Sandra Getner, Outreach Coordinator
• MegaSkills Education Center
• 1500 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
• Washington, D.C. 20005
• 202-466-3633 (F) 202-833-1400
• Institute for Responsive Education
• Scott Thompson
• 605 Commonwealth Avenue
• Boston, MA 02215
• 617-353-3309 (F) 617-353-8444
• School Development Program
• Edward T. Johner, Acting Director
• 47 College St., Suite 212
• New Haven CT. 06520
• 203-737-1020 (F) 203-737-1023