|
(Component Six: continued)
Developing a Plan
How does a school begin the work of developing a comprehensive parent involvement program? Who will help create such a plan? Based on research conducted with schools interested in developing home, school, and community partnerships, Epstein recommends five steps in the development of a plan. First, she suggests forming an action team to guide the development of a program that is well integrated into the overall goals of the school. The team should include not only teachers, administrators, students, parents, and community leaders but other school staff, such as lunchroom personnel and bus drivers.
Next, schools might investigate the availability of funds to guide and support the work of the team. Funding sources may include federal, state, or local programs that support family involvement, such as Title I, Title II, or Goals 2000. These funds may be used to pay district coordinators or facilitators who assist the team; however, funds also may be used to support staff development activities or to set up demonstration programs. In addition to these state or federal funding programs, schools may conduct separate fund-raising efforts or engage school/business partnerships to help support the work of the team through stipends or needed materials. The key is to provide the action team with sufficient time and support to do its job.
The third step a school must undertake is identifying starting points. To do this, Epstein suggests conducting a needs assessment that takes into account the school's current practices, as well as the view of various stakeholders (students, parents, school staff, and administrators). To collect this information, the action team might use different formats, including questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and extant data sources.
Regardless of how the data is collected, Epstein suggests that some information be gathered from each of the following areas.
- Present strengths: Which current practices are working well for the schools as a whole? For individual grades? For which types of involvement?
- Needed changes: Which current practices should change, and which should continue? What new practices are needed to support each type of involvement?
- Expectations: What do teachers expect of parents? What do families expect of teachers and other school personnel?
- Sense of community: Which families are we currently reaching, and which do we continually miss? Who are those "hard-to-reach" families? Are current practices designed to include all families in the school community?
- Links to goals: How are students performing on indicators related to academic achievement, such as attendance, retention, and dropout rates?
From the information gathered during the needs assessment, Epstein suggests developing a three-year plan. This plan should outline specific steps that will help the school progress to the desired level in each type of involvement within this three-year period. In addition to the three-year outline, schools should develop a detailed one-year plan, which includes specific activities to be implemented, a timeline for implementation, identification of the individuals who will assist with the implementation, and indicators of how success will be measured. The three-year outline and one-year, detailed plan should be shared with all stakeholders"teachers, parents, students, school improvement teams, and parent organizations.
Finally, Epstein recommends that an action team identify some strategies for maintaining momentum and continuing the work. For example, she suggests that each year the action team update the school's three-year outline and develop a one-year detailed plan for the upcoming school year. In addition, Epstein suggests holding an annual presentation and celebration of progress at the school so that all are aware of the work that has been done to promote involvement and strengthen partnerships.
Building a Successful Program:
Advice from Two Regional Educational Laboratories
As schools have implemented partnership programs, their experiences have helped to identify some important properties of successful programs. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory examined programs from 1986 to 1989 and identified characteristics of "promising parent involvement programs." According to their findings, successful parent involvement programs have seven elements in common:
- Written policies
- Administrative support
- Training
- Partnership approach
- Two-way communication
- Networking
- Evaluation (Williams and Chavkin 18-20).
Written policies. A family involvement policy generally reflects the school's commitment to parent involvement and to ongoing communication between families and schools. A family involvement policy can help establish guidelines for the type and level of involvement the school will support (Williams and Chavkin 18-20). Some home-school-community partnerships also develop a "learning compact",
a written commitment outlining the goals, expectations, and responsibilities of those involved. A learning compact helps ensure that all partners share in the responsibility of children's education (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory).
The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education (NCPIE), an organization dedicated to the development and enhancement of family/school partnerships, recommends that all policies include the following concepts:
- Opportunities for all families
- Participation of families
- Regular information for families
- Professional development for teachers
- Linkages with social services agencies
- Involvement of families (National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education, "What a Policy Should Include")
Administrative support. For a parent involvement program to be successful, it must have the support of school administrators. Their willingness to recruit parents and community members for school tasks, to listen to others' viewpoints, and to engage families and community members in a collaborative process is essential to a successful program. Williams and Chavkin suggest that administrative support can be provided in at least three ways: funding that is made available from the district office budget; materials, space, and equipment designated for use in promoting family and community involvement; and people designated to carry out programs.
Training. All staff need to develop the skills essential for working effectively with parents and families. Typically, schools offer very little formal training on collaborating with parents or in understanding the complexities of modern family life.
Partnership approach.
All stakeholders have an opportunity to participate in the development of a plan—needs assessment, goal setting, action planning—allowing all sides to develop a sense of ownership.
Two-way communication. Establish two-way and ongoing communication between home and school. Contact should be frequent and designed to share good news as well as bad. All methods of communication should be clear, easily understood, and in the child's home language. Such communication might include weekly notes, parent-teacher compacts, telephone communication, classroom newsletters, or a welcome packet.
Networking. Promising programs can be networked with other programs to share information and resources.
Evaluation. Successful parent involvement programs make provisions for monitoring activities throughout the year. Teachers and administrators carefully evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies and activities they implemented, as well as ask for parent feedback. As a result, activities can be changed or improved, as needed (Williams and Chavkin 18-20).
More recently, the school-family-partnership project at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a collaborative site of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Laboratory for Student Success at Temple University, identified a similar set of
12 elements considered essential to partnership building (Patrikakou and Weissberg 1). These elements follow:
Fostering Open, Ongoing Communication between Teachers and Parents
The foundation for good parent-teacher relationships is frequent, open communication. Both teachers and parents share the responsibility for creating a strong foundation ("How Can Parent-Teacher Differences Be Prevented or Resolved?")
Partnership as a priority. Both parents and teachers have many demands on their time. As a result, each school must define for itself the types of partnerships that are most important and then set priorities for establishing or maintaining those partnerships.
Planned effort.
Effective school-family partnerships are carefully planned and implemented. Assessing at the beginning of the year parents' needs, perceptions, and patterns of school involvement is an essential first step. This helps accomplish two goals: it helps the school plan parent-outreach efforts while at the same time conveying to parents the importance of their input.
The role of parents in the education of their children cannot be overestimated. By becoming involved in their local school community, parents can provide the essential leadership that will lead to improvements in educational opportunities for their children. Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (U.S. Department of Education, 13.)
Proactive and persistent communication. Maintaining regular, continual communication with parents will involve them in the educational process in meaningful ways. Using a variety of approaches and follow-up communications can increase the number of parents educators can reach (Patrikakou and Weissberg, 2).
Positive. Research indicates that teachers are more likely to communicate with parents when their children misbehave. But, it is equally important to let parents know when their children are performing successfully. Providing positive feedback can be an indication to the parent that the teacher sees the whole child, not just his or her areas of weakness. This, in turn, may make it easier for parents to hear other concerns the teacher may need to share with them (Patrikakou and Weissberg, 2-3).
Personalized. Providing school newsletters and general classroom notes serves an important function of keeping parents informed about school activities and events; however, these general types of communication do not constitute a sufficient home-school communications program. What draws parents' attention is specific information about their children. For example, keeping a home-school journal allows parents and teachers to jot down quick personalized notes.
Practical suggestions. Effective school-family partnership programming extends the learning environment from the classroom to the home and beyond. Teachers can ease the process by offering parents practical, specific suggestions on how they can assist their children at home. Simple suggestions, such as counting the plates and forks while setting the dinner table or sorting the laundry into various colors, allows parents to reinforce what their child has learned at school (Patrikakou and Weissberg,3).
Program monitoring. Evaluation activities should be included at key stages in the process, as well as at the conclusion of a phase (Patrikakou and Weissberg, 4). The development of a partnership is a process, not a single event. Not all activities or strategies will succeed with all families. However, with good planning, careful implementation, well-designed activities, and thoughtful improvements, more and more families and teachers can learn to work with one another on behalf of the children whose interests they share.
Additional parent/community involvement resources
Additional family and community involvement links
References
Anderson, R. C., et al. (1994). Becoming a nation of readers: The report of the Commission on Reading. In Strong families, strong schools: Building community partnerships for learning. Washington, DC: National Academy of Education.
Bickel, A. (1995). Family involvement: Strategies for comprehensive alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use prevention programs. Portland, OR: NWREL.
Comer, J. P. &. Haynes, N. M. (1992). Summary of School Development Program effects. New Haven, CT: Yale Child Study Center.
Critical issue: Constructing school partnerships with family and community groups. (1999). Retrieved from www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/famncomm/pa400.htm.
Epstein, J. L. Effects on student achievement of teacher practices: Advances in reading/language research. In S. Silvern (Ed.), Literacy through family, community, and school interaction. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Hand in hand: Parents, schools, communities united for kids: National parent survey results. (1999). Retrieved from www.handinhand.org/parentsurvey.html.
Henderson, A. T. &. Berla, N. (1994). A new generation of evidence: The family is critical to student achievement. (N. C. Education, Ed.). Columbia, MD: National Committee for Citizens in Education.
Henderson, A. T. (1987). The evidence continues to grow: Parent involvement improves student achievement. Columbia, MD: National Committee for Citizens in Education.
Onikama,
D. L., Hammand, O.W. & Koki, S. (1998). Family involvement
in education: A synthesis of research for Pacific educators.
Honolulu, HI: Pacific Resources for Education and Learning.
Patrikakou, E. N. &. Weissberg, R. P. (1999). The Seven Ps of Family-School Partnerships. Retrieved from www.edweek.org/ew/1999/21weiss.h18
Strong families, strong schools: Building community partnerships for learning. (1994). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Thompson, S. Building on a Foundation of Respect for Families and Children: A Roundtable Discussion. Equity and Choice, 8(3), 37.
White-Clark, R. &. Decker, L. E. (1996). The "hard-to-reach" parent: Old challenges, new insights. Boca Raton, FL: National Community Education.
Williams, D. L., & Chavkin, N. F. (1989). Essential elements of strong parent involvement programs. Educational Leadership, 47(2), 18-20.
|
