Title: Oregon Parent Training and Information Center Mission
1Oregon Parent Training and Information Center
Mission
- Our goal is to educate and support parents,
families and professionals in building
partnerships that meet the needs of children and
youth with the full range of disabilities ages
birth to twenty-six.
2Oregon Parent Training and Information Center
Parent Participation
Coming together is a beginning, Keeping
together is progress, Working together is
success.
Henry Ford
3What we have in common
- Big expectations, little recognition or monetary
reward - We work long hard hours
- We care about our children
4Parent Involvement
- Includes several different forms of participation
in education and with the schools. Parents can - Attend school functions
- Respond to school obligations (parent-teacher
conferences, for example). - Volunteer at school
- Help their children improve their schoolwork
5Research Shows
- Parent involvement in children's learning is
positively related to achievement. - The more intensively parents are involved in
their children's learning, the more beneficial
are the achievement effects. - The most effective forms of parent involvement
are those which engage parents in working
directly with their children on learning
activities in the home. - The more active forms of parent involvement
produce greater achievement benefits than the
more passive ones. - Considerably greater achievement benefits are
noted when parent involvement is active--when
parents work with their children at home,
certainly, but also when they attend and actively
support school activities and when they help out
in classrooms or on field trips, and so on. - The earlier in a child's education that parent
involvement begins, the more powerful the effects
will be.
6- Research has established that the most successful
parent participation efforts are those which
offer parents a variety of roles in the context
of a well-organized and long-lasting program.
Parents will need to be able to choose from a
range of activities which accommodate different
schedules, preferences, and capabilities. As part
of the planning process, teachers and
administrators will need to assess their own
readiness for involving parents and determine how
they wish to engage and utilize them.
7Barriers to Collaboration
- Lack of Time
- High Caseloads
- Prior negative experiences
- Belief that families cause disorders
- High expectations
- Inadequate Knowledge
- Isolated Families
- Power imbalance
- Lack of support for staff
- Lack of Trust
- Miscommunication
8More Barriers
- Times of meetings
- Teachers hard to contact/ busy
- Language
- Unsure how to support students
- Lack of Support staff
- Little return for effort
- Dwindling support over time
- As students get older parents less involved
- Competing demands
9- Investigators have identified lack of planning
and lack of mutual understanding as the two
greatest barriers to effective parent
involvement. School staff wishing to institute
effective programs will need to be both
openminded and well-organized in their approach
to engaging parent participation.
10Five guiding principles for involving parents in
schools
- A no-fault approach, focusing not on who is to
blame but on what can be done. - Coordination and cooperation among all adults
concerned with the child's best educational
interests. - Decision by consensus whenever possible.
- Regular meetings representing the entire school
community. - Active involvement of parents.
- Comer and Haynes (1992)
11Other guidelines include
- Communicate to parents that their involvement and
support makes a great deal of difference in their
children's school performance, and that they need
not be highly educated or have large amounts of
free time for their involvement to be beneficial.
Make this point repeatedly. - Encourage parent involvement from the time
children first enter school (or preschool, if
they attend). - Teach parents that activities such as modeling
reading behavior and reading to their children
increase children's interest in learning. - Develop parent involvement programs that include
a focus on parent involvement in
instruction--conducting learning activities with
children in the home, assisting with homework,
and monitoring and encouraging the learning
activities of older students. - Provide orientation and training for parents, but
remember that intensive, long-lasting training is
neither necessary nor feasible. - Make a special effort to engage the involvement
of parents of disadvantaged students, who stand
to benefit the most from parent participation in
their learning, but whose parents are often
initially reluctant to become involved. - Continue to emphasize that parents are partners
of the school and that their involvement is
needed and valued.
12ACTION OPTIONS Educators
- Seek out opportunities for professional
development and training in parent involvement. - Make parents feel welcome in the school.
- Provide a parent center for parents to use while
at school. - Reach out to parents whose first language is not
English. - Learn about the various ethnic, cultural, and
socioeconomic backgrounds of the students and
know how to communicate with diverse families. - Accommodate parents' work schedules when creating
parent-involvement opportunities. - Assign homework projects that engage each child's
parents and family and make learning more
meaningful for the student, such as a family
history, interviews with grandparents, or
descriptions of parents' daily work. - Keep parents informed of their children's
performance and school activities by means of
notes, telephone calls, newsletters, conferences,
and meetings. - Provide clear, practical information on
home-teaching techniques for parents of children
who need extra help at home. - Provide opportunities for parents to visit the
school, observe classes, and provide feedback. - Start the school year with an opening conference.
- Develop a plan to promote teacher-parent
partnerships at school. - Invite parents to serve on school or district
committees.
13Professional development and training in parent
involvement.
- Ballen and Moles (1994) describe basic components
that could be included in such training - "Schools and school systems seldom offer staff
any formal training in collaborating with parents
or in understanding the varieties of modern
family life. However, both the National Education
Association and the American Federation of
Teachers are working to make such information and
skills widely available....There are myriad ways
for families to become more involved in schools,
and training can help teachers and other school
staff change the traditional images of contacting
parents only when a student is in trouble or when
the school needs help with a bake sale. Teacher
training programs can include general information
on the benefits of and barriers to parental
involvement, information on awareness of
different family backgrounds and lifestyles,
techniques for improving two-way communication
between home and school, information on ways to
involve parents in helping their children learn
in school and outside, and ways that schools can
help meet families' social, educational, and
social service needs."
14- As the student populations of American schools
continue to become increasingly diverse, teachers
and administrators may benefit from learning
about their students' various ethnic, cultural,
and socioeconomic backgrounds. Such knowledge is
beneficial in helping educators reach out to
families and encouraging parents to become
involved in the school.
15Parents
- Identify some ways to answer the question "How
can I be involved in my child's education?" and
select from among 50 ways parents can help
schools, especially those that help promote
meaningful, engaged learning. - Read to younger children.
- Provide a variety of reading materials in the
home and frequently take children to the library.
- Promote school attendance and discourage
absenteeism. - Monitor children's television viewing.
- Provide a quiet place for children to do
homework help with or check homework every
night. - Encourage children to participate in learning
activities when school is not in session.
(Activities that include parents are found in
Summer Home Learning Recipes.) - Encourage children's efforts in school.
- Help children choose appropriate preparatory
courses in middle, junior high, and high school. - Remain aware of the importance of parent
involvement at the secondary school level and
continue to stay involved. - Keep in touch with children's teachers.
- Volunteer to participate in school activities.
- Participate in school-improvement efforts and
join advisory or decision-making committees. - Look for innovative ways to improve schools, such
as helping to organize public schools called
charter schools.
16Attributes of Successful Partnerships
- Mutual respect
- Trust
- Shared problem solving
- Common vision and goals
- Conflicts, when present, are openly acknowledged
and addressed - Focus
17Elements of Collaboration
- Inclusive decision making
- Caring attitudes
- Sharing information
- Consideration of cultural factors
- Trust
- Considering the whole child
- Responsive services
- Families as a resource
18Atmosphere The Climate in Schools for Families
and Educators
- What is consistently advocated is that schools
must be welcoming, family friendly communities. - True collaboration occurs with CORE - when these
ingredients are present - Connection
- Optimism
- Respect
- Empowerment
19CORE
- Connection
- Trust building
- Shared goals
- Common vision
- Conflict resolution
- Optimism
- Problems are systems, not individual, problems.
(interface) - No one person is to blame. (nonblaming,
solution-oriented) - All concerned parties are doing the best they
can. (nonjugmental, perspective taking)
20CORE
- Respect
- Each person brings different, but equally valid
expertise to the problem-solving process. - Respect requires acceptance of differences,
especially perceptions about childs performance.
- Empowerment
- Both parties have strengths and competencies.
- Parents believe they can help.
- Parents know a role for which they feel
comfortable. - Parents see that their efforts make a difference
in achievement.
21Involving the Uninvolved
- Newer school practices include
- Identifying families who are not responding to
current outreach and making a personal contact. - Keeping interaction focused on genuine interest
in improving the childs school success. - Understanding parents goals for their childrens
education. - Being persistent about the importance of a family
learning environment.
22Invitations and information, but also
- If the parent chooses not to participate, school
personnel explain that they will do their part at
school however, they make it clear that this is
only part of the equation for school success. We
know children perform better if the school and
home work together to achieve a shared goal for
the childs learning. Without in- and
out-of-school time devoted to reading, the
probability the child will perform less well on
school tasks is increased.
23Top Ten Toolsfor Constructive Team Building
- Creativity
- Commitment
- Honesty
- Appreciation
- Chocolate
- Collaboration
- Patience
- Flexibility
- Assertiveness
- Endurance
24Tips for Parents
- Equal Partner
- Express needs
- Participate
- Be Prepared
- Develop Mutual Goals
- Put Away Negative Experiences
- Follow through
- Involvement with other Parents
- Consider Time
- No Bashing
- Support the Team
25Tips for Professionals
- Value parent input
- Respect involvement
- Avoid Jargon
- Solicit involvement
- Schedule at convenient times
- Commit to the Plan
- Connect Families
- Convey interest
- Be honest
26- Remember, there is no "one size fits all" answer
- Set clear and measurable goals
- Develop a variety of outreach mechanisms
- Provide a varied opportunities for participation
- Give families and students complete information
expectations - Recognize a community's historic, ethnic,
linguistic, and cultural resources - Hire and train a family coordinator
- Use creative forms of communication between
educators and families - Find positive messages to send to all families
- Offer regular opportunities for families to
discuss their children's progress - Make sure that family members acting as
volunteers in the school have opportunities to
help teachers - Provide professional development opportunities
- Involve families in evaluating the effectiveness
of family involvement programs - NCPIE
27Diversity
- Each person's map of the world is as unique as
the person's thumbprint. There are no two people
alike. No two people who understand the same
sentence the same way . . . So in dealing with
people, you try not to fit them to your concept
of what they should be. -- MILTON ERICKSON
28Contact Information
- Call us at 503-581-8156 or 888-505-2673
(toll-free in state only) - Help-line 888-891-6784
- Fax us at 503-391-0429
- E-mail us at info_at_orpti.org
- Website - http//www.orpti.org