Franci Davila and Emma Sajben

1
Parent/Community Resources in Hartford Public
School ReformSpring 2009 Internship Summary

• Franci Davila and Emma Sajben
• Educational Studies Program
• Trinity College, Hartford, CT
• April 2009

2
How could parents be involved in facilitating
their childrens academic achievement?

• Its not about the happy-meter of adults
• Parents gt mom dad
• Parent involvement ? parent satisfaction
• Home-effect highly predictive of student
  achievement (Appx1)

3
Multi-tiered approach inclusive of various
stakeholders yielding a wide range of responses

• Response rate by schools (Appx2)

• Qualitative quantitative data
• District documents
• Interviews with
• Central Administrators
• Community Organizations
• Focus group of parents parent leaders
• Parent survey

4
Parent survey

• 388 out of 1200 returned
• Response rate 32.2
• Distributed to
• 4 schools
• 4 OPMAD Schools
• PTO Presidents
• Non-representative sample

5
Central resources provided by the district to
support student achievement

• Welcome Center

• Percent of parents who have never received
  information from the Welcome Center (Appx3)

• Mediator between the district and the schools
• Limited resources to establish a systemic
  family-school/district relationship
• 55.8 of surveyed parents do not know of the
  Welcome Center (Appx3)

6
What resources are available at the school level?

• F(amily)R(esource)A(id)

• P(arent)T(eacher)O(rganization)

• FRA does not provide consistent resources across
  different schools (Appx4.1)
• The wide range of responsibilities shift the
  focus from family/community engagement

• Parents affiliated with the PTO tend to be more
  informed of district policies (Appx4.2)
• Could be a good channel for communicating with
  parents but this relationship lacks trust and is
  inconsistent

7
What resource do parents use at the school level?

• Teachers
• 78 of parents turn to the teacher when a problem
  occurs
• First and only access point for parents in the
  schools
• Teachers primary focus is student achievement
  and cannot be expected to be the primary resource
  for parents

8
How do community organizations facilitate parents
in supporting student achievement?

• Provide supplementary services that the district
  is unable to provide
• Serve as an agent for Parental Engagement
• OPMAD parents are more likely to volunteer (46)
  than other parents (34)
• Weak district-community partnership
• few initiatives
• need to update CO-database

9
Implication 1
More effective ways of connecting parents with
resources to support their childs achievement
10
Implication 2

• Re-establishment of relational trust (Bryk
  Schneider)
• Community Organizations (e.g. panel discussion,
  conference on shared responsibility, cooperation)
• Parents (e.g. newspaper column, blog, suggestion
  box etc.)
• PTO (e.g. more frequent attendance at monthly
  meetings)

Bryk, A. Schneider, B. (2002) Trust in
schools A core resource for improvement. New
York Russell Sage Foundation
11
Implication 3

• More transparent structure of family/community
  engagement
• Comer model a compelling, well-researched
  structural model (Appx6)
• Basic structure three-level system of
  interconnected teams involving teachers, parents
  and administrators
• HPS piecemeal elements (e.g. future SGCs, PTO,
  FRA)
• Guiding principals no fault principle, consensus
  decision-making, collaboration

12
Implication 4

• Theres a need for a consistent, concerted vision
  for family/community outreach

13
Appendix 1 - References

• Abt Associates. (2001). National evaluation of
  family support programs.
• Final report volume B Research studies.
  Cambridge, MA Abt Associates.
•  
• Barton, A. C., Drake, C., Perez, J. G., St.Louis,
  K., George, M. (2004). Ecologies of Parental
• Engagement in Urban Education. Educational
  Researcher, 33, 3-12.
•  
• Comer, J. P. Haynes, N. M. (1991). Parent
  involvement in schools An ecological approach.
  The Elementary School Journal, 91(3), 271-277.
•  
• Epstein, J. (2001). School, family, and community
  partnerships. Boulder Westview Press.
•  
• Gibson, M.A. (2002). The new Latino diaspora and
  educational policy. In S. Wortham, E.G. Murillo,
  E.T. Hamann (Eds.), Education in the new Latino
  diaspora Policy and the politics of identity.
  Westport, CT Ablex Publishing.
•  
• Gold, E., Simon, E., Brown, C. (2005). A New
  Conception of Parent Engagement Community
  Organizing for School Reform. In F.W.English
  (Ed.), The Sage Handbook of Educational
  Leadership Advances in Theory, Research, and
  Practice (pp. 237-268). Thousand Oaks, CA Sage
  Publications, Inc.
•  
• Harvard Family Research Project Family
  Involvement Resources and Publications
  http//www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publication
  s-resources?topic12
•  
• Jeynes, William H. (2005). Parental Involvement
  and Student Achievement A Meta-Analysis.
  Harvard Family Research Project,
  http//www.hfrp.org/family-involvement/publication
  s-resources/parental-involvement-and-student-achie
  vement-a-meta-analysis, retrieved January 10,
  2008.
• Henderson, A.T., and Mapp, K.L. (2002). A new
  wave of evidence The impact on school, family,
  and community connections on student achievement.
  Southwest Educational Development Laboratory
  Austin, TX.
•  

14
Appendix 2
15
Appendix 3

• Do you know about..?

16
Appendix 4.1

• How often do you get information from the FRA?

• Which school does your child attend How often
  do you get information from Family Resource Aide?
  Crosstabulation

17
Appendix 4.2

• How many times have you gone to parent meetings?
  Do you know about your schools score on CMT?
  Crosstabulation

• How many times have you gone to parent meetings?
  Do you know about the Boards Welcome Center?
  Crosstabulation

Count
Do you know about your schools score on CMT? Do you know about your schools score on CMT? Do you know about your schools score on CMT? Do you know about your schools score on CMT?
No Yes Blank Total
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 0 0 1 0 1
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? Never 42 67 7 116
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 3.5 18 49 3 70
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 1-2 47 93 5 145
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 6 or more 9 23 1 33
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? Blank 1 6 1 8
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? Total 117 239 17 373

Count
Do you know about the Boards Welcome Center? Do you know about the Boards Welcome Center? Do you know about the Boards Welcome Center? Do you know about the Boards Welcome Center?
No Yes Blank Total
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 0 0 1 0 1
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? Never 76 34 6 116
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 3.5 30 35 5 70
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 1-2 91 50 4 145
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? 6 or more 8 25 0 33
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? Blank 3 5 0 8
How many times have you gone to parent meetings? Total 208 150 15 373
18
Appendix 5
19
Appendix 6

• "The Comer Process provides a structure as well
  as a process for mobilizing adults to support
  students' learning and overall development."
• - Systemic reform program as well as school
  reform program
• - Recognizes many barriers to parental
  involvement that are directly relevant to
  Hartford population
• Role of parents in Comer model
• Level 1 Parents provide general support and
  participate in a variety of activities designed
  to stimulate their interest in the school.
• Level 2 Parents are involved as volunteers in
  daily school affairs.
• Level 3 Parents participate in school decision
  making by serving on the School Planning and
  Management Team(SPMT). 

20
Appendix 7
21
Appendix 8