The Power of Partnerships with Parents

1
The Power of Partnerships with Parents

• Debra Jennings SPAN, Inc. of NJ
• Peggy OReilly NJ SDE
• Isabel C. Garcia Parent to Parent of Miami
• Russ Hammond ID SDE

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NCLB/IDEA

• NCLB SEAs must support the collection and
  dissemination of effective parental involvement
  practices to its LEAs and schools.
• IDEA SEA must establish measurable and rigorous
  targets for indicators established by the
  Secretary

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Indicator for Family Involvement

• Percent of parents with a child receiving special
  education services who report that schools
  facilitated parent involvement as a means of
  improving services and results for children with
  disabilities.

4
Parent Involvement - Definition

• Six types of parent involvement
• Parenting
• Communicating
• Supporting school
• Learning at home
• Decision-making
• Collaborating with the community

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NCLB Definition

• Parent involvement is defined as regular, two-way
  communication.
• Sec. 1118

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Key Findings of Parent Involvement Research

• Impact on Student Achievement
• Linked to high student achievement
• Continuity has a protective effect as children
  progress through the education system
• All families can have a positive influence on
  their childrens learning
• Activities linked to student learning have a
  greater effect on achievement than more general
  forms of involvement

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Research on Effective Strategies

• Successful programs address specific parent and
  community needs
• Effectively engage diverse families by
  recognizing, respecting and addressing cultural
  and class differences
• Programs embrace a philosophy of partnership

8
Research on Organizing Parents to Improve Schools

• Efforts in low-performing schools have
  contributed to changes in policy, resources,
  personnel, school culture and educational
  programs.

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Recommendations for Practice

• Recognize that all parents want their children to
  do well.
• Create programs that will help families guide
  their childrens learning
• Work with families to build their social and
  political connections
• Develop of the capacity of school staff to work
  with families and community organizations

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Recommendations for Practice

• Link family and community engagement efforts to
  student learning
• Focus efforts in building trusting respectful
  relationships
• Embrace a philosophy of partnership and be
  willing to share power with families
• Build strong connections between schools and
  community organizations

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Recommendations for Future Research

• Design and conduct research that is more rigorous
  and focused and that uses culturally sensitive
  and more empowering definitions of parent
  involvement.

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Research

• Henderson Berla (1994) Meta-analysis
• 3 factors influence student achievement
• Parents create an encouraging learning
  environment
• Influences achievement more than family income,
  education level, or cultural background
• Sets high, realistic goals
• Becomes involved in their childs education
• Specific programs
• Teacher practices
• Welcoming school climate

13
Research

• Westat and Policy Studies Associates for the U.S.
  Department of Education (2001)
• Analyzed the relationship between student test
  scores and several variables
• Outreach to parents of low-performing students,
  was linked to improved student achievement in
  both reading and math
• Schools that reported a high level of outreach
  to parents scored 40 percent higher than schools
  with reported low levels of outreach.

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References

• Education Research Service, Building Family
  School Partnerships, 1999.
• Harry, Beth, Building Cultural Reciprocity with
  Families Case Studies in Special Education,
• National PTA, National Standards for
  Parent/Family Involvement Programs, 2004.
• Henderson, Ann Karen Mapp, A New Wave of
  Evidence The Impact of School, Family and
  Community Connections on Student Achievement,
  2002.

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Websites

• http//www.directionservice.org/cadre/parent_famil
  y_involv.cfm
• http//www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/pubs/pubslist.html
  FSCHead

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Region 1 Technical Assistance to Parent Centers

• Serving PTIs and CPRCS in 8 states
• Connecticut,
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey,
• New York
• Rhode Island, and
• Vermont

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Goals of Our TA Services

• To build the organizational capacity of
  OSEP-funded Parent Centers (PTIs CPRCs) through
  direct technical assistance and sharing
  peer-to-peer activities
• To avoid duplication of efforts energies, in
  order to maximize effectiveness of parent center
  services to families
• To connect parent Centers to the research and
  products of the broader TA D Networks.

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Our Services to Centers

• Include the following
• On-site technical assistance,
• Technical assistance via telephone and e-mail
• Regular conference calls and bulletin boards for
  effective communication between parent centers
• Annual regional conference
• Financial support for center-driven capacity
  building activities and
• A regional database of training materials in
  multiple languages and accessible formats (as
  part of a national database).

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The Alliance for Parent Centers

• Six (6) Regional Technical Assistance Centers
• Region 1 SPAN, NJ - Northeast
• Region 2 ECAC, NC - Mid-South
• Region 3 ECAC, NC Southeast, PR VI
• Region 4 OCEDC, OH - North Central
• Region 5 PEAK, CO - Mountain
• Region 6 Matrix, CA Western, Guam AS
• One (1) National Technical Assistance Center

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OSEP Funded Parent Centers

• Serve families with children with disabilities
  (or at-risk of classification for special
  education services)
• At least one (1) in every state, Puerto Rico,
  Virgin Islands, Guam American Somoa
• Independent non-profit 501(c)3 organizations

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Partnership for Access, Equity Outcomes

• Presented
• by
• Debra Jennings, Statewide Parent Advocacy Network
• Peggy Thorpe OReilly, NJ Department of
  Education-OSEP

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SEA and Parent Center Collaborations in New Jersey

• Based on
• State priorities identified in State Improvement
  Planning process
• Transition
• Inclusion
• Parent Involvement

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Literacy Strategies for Families

• Goal increase family knowledge of and
  involvement in early literacy practices
• Districts involved
• Literacy activities
• Team planning
• Examples of implementation
• Future plans

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Parent Educator Collaboration in the IEP Process

• Goal improve parent-educator communication and
  collaboration
• Evolution of this initiative
• Products - tools
• Future plans

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Inclusion Transition Awareness Activities

• Goal increase parent knowledge about the
  importance of inclusion in general education
  settings and transition planning in order to
  further implementation of these practices within
  districts

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Inclusion and Transition Activities

• Regional mini-conferences on Inclusion
• New Jerseys vision for inclusion
• Panel presentations students, families, and
  educators
• Teleconferences on transition and inclusion
• Presentation
• Q A

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Parent Support Group Initiative

• Goal increase parent involvement in improving
  services for students with disabilities
• Activities - expand and create parent support
  groups at the local level
• Outcomes

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Collaboration Challenges Strategies

• Challenge Time and competing priorities
• Email
• Phone
• Face to Face
• Make a commitment to participate

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Collaboration Challenges and Strategies

• Challenge Differing perspectives
• Relationship building
• Organization to organization
• People within the organization
• Transparency, honesty and trust
• Learning process

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Pay-offs

• T.E.A.M.
• Resources-Funds of Knowledge
• About our children
• About parents we work with
• About the communities we live and work in
• About "realities''
• Rich perspectives for program implementation
  improvement

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Family Collaboration a Dance of Intimacy
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PartnershipsThe pulse of the community!
Supporters Collaborators Mentors Confidents
Think Politically Raise the Temperature Look from the Balcony Hold Steady
Inspire Others Who is Receptive to Change Change Generates Resistance Reflect
Evaluate move forward Dreams Journey Sacred Contracts
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U.S Dept Ed OSEP M-DCPS Cooperative Agreement

• Six Parent Liaisons
• ESE Coffee Talks
• Educational conferences
• Facilitate informal mediation with school,
  district Access Center personnel/Attend
  Resolution meetings.
• Review IEP (Individual Education Plan)

• Transition meeting from the Early Intervention
  Programs
• Transition to the community
• Parent Conferences
• ESOL Presentations
• Parents as Faculty/The parent perspective

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Systems Change Feedback

• Parent Liaison Meeting Observation
• Report at local councils and task forces
• Share evaluation results with community leaders
• Advocate for additional funding supports for
  children with disabilities and their families

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Encourage the Heart

• A leadership practice that is essential for all
  partnerships

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Examples of Parent Involvement from other States
37
IN School, Family, Community Partnerships

• Indiana formed a collaborative at the State level
  to
• Promote parent involvement at all levels of
  decision making
• Develop policies to increase respect for
  diversity
• Create family friendly environment
• Result in improved student success
• Brett E. Bollinger, Ed.D. bebollin_at_indiana.edu

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GA Parent Mentors

• Parent out reach and assistance in navigating the
  special education maze, and serves on school
  strategic planning committees.
• In 60 School systems (30 of districts)
• The SIG extends this by providing a bi-lingual
  out reach person in a targeted area with a higher
  population of Hispanic students.
• Patricia Murray Solomon, psolomon_at_doe.k12.ga.us
  404-657-7328

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LA Family Facilitator

• Family member of a student with a disability
• Serves as Goodwill Ambassador for school
  districts
• Family Leadership Academies trainer
• Ensure meaningful family participation on every
  School Improvement Team
• Kay Marcel kamarcel_at_bellsouth.net

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AL Simple Steps to Improving Reading

• SIG staff trained the PTI on how to train parents
  to help their children learn to read.
• Provided Literacy Boxes which contained ideas
  for games and activities to reinforce reading
  skills
• 1000 parents participated
• Julie Colley Lowery jlowery_at_alsde.edu

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KA Family-School-Community Partnership (FSCP)
Curriculum.

• Designed by the Kansas State Department of
  Education and the Kansas Parent Training
  Information Center, Families Together.
• Based upon the national PTA standards
• Presented at public schools and universities
• Jane Groff jgroff_at_ksde.org

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FL Family as Faculty

• Family members of students with disabilities
  address pre-service students on the importance of
  family involvement.
• Part of the training program at nine universities
  in Florida.
• Lori Massey lmmassey_at_stpt.usf.edu

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ID School, Family and Community Partnerships

• Trained 700 school personnel on the six keys to
  parent involvement.
• PTI training for parents to support learning to
  read
• Development of a parent discussion board to share
  ideas and perspectives.
• Russ Hammond rmhammond_at_sde.idaho.gov

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Contact Information

• Isabel Garcia igarcia_at_ptopmiami.org
• Debra Jennings debra.jennings_at_spannj.org
• Peggy Thorpe peggy.thorpe_at_doe.state.nj.us
• Donna Fluke donna.fluke_at_ed.gov
• To Find the Parent Center(s) in your State
• www.taalliance.org