Conclusions on parent involvement

Parent involvement is correlated with student achievement. When parents are involved, students have higher grades and test scores and better long-term academic achievement

Conclusions...

Parent involvement affects non-cognitive behavior: student attendance, attitudes about school, maturation, self-concept, and behavior improve when parents are involved

Conclusions…..

There are benefits for parents, teachers, community, and schools when parents are involved. In general, there are more successful educational programs and effective schools

Conclusions…….

All forms of parent involvement seem to be useful: however, those that are well-planned, comprehensive, and long lasting offer more options for parents to be involved and appear to be more effective

Conclusions……...

Achievement gains are most significant and long lasting when parent involvement is begun at an early age. Several researchers point to important of parent involvement in early childhood programs

The curriculum of the home-Walberg

Parents directly or indirectly influence eight determinants of cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning: student ability, student motivation, quality of instruction, amount of instruction, psychological climate of the classroom, academic stimulation in the home, peer group, and television

Walberg argues

The curriculum of the home predicts academic learning twice as well as the socioeconomic status of families

Important that parents talk with children about everyday events, encourage and discuss reading, monitor and discuss television, express affection and interest, help children focus on long-term goals

Don Davies

Parents frequently report having little or no communication with school personnel. When they hear from educators, parents report that the communication is primarily negative and concerns problems at school. The major function of many contacts is to share negative information about behavior, attendance, and children's progress

Litwak and Meyer

Differences between families and schools are structural

Family structure is diffuse, non instrumental, face-to-face contact, and relatively permanent relations

School structure is bureaucratic (hierarchy of authority): impersonal relations, fixed definitions of policy, rules used to guide behavior

Theoretical underpinnings of a partnership approach

In today's society, schools cannot meet all children's needs. The sheer number of at-risk children, problem situations, and changing demographics of American society dictate a collaborative approach

Underpinnings, continued

Children learn, grow, and develop both at home and school. There is no clear-cut boundary between home and school experiences for children and youth; rather there is s mutually influencing quality among home and school experiences. Time in school is not purely school time; time at home is not purely family time

Underpinnings, continued

A learning environment is educative when it enables the individual to learn and develop specialized skills; it is miseducative when it fails to encourage positive development. An educative community is produced when learning environments of the home, school, and community are linked and coordinated to serve the developmental needs of students

Terminology

Parent involvement focuses on the parents' role in becoming involved in their children's education

Home-school collaboration focuses on the relationship between home and school and how parents and educators work together to promote social and academic development of children

James S. Coleman

Schools must bear a major part of the responsibility for parent passivity

Parents will not gravitate automatically to school activities

Addressing specific needs is important

Parent education can be a draw

Technology can be used to break down barriers

Michael G. Fullan

Teacher attitudes are direct predictors of parent involvement practices--the more positive, the more frequent and successful the collaboration

Parents have specific expectations of teachers regarding parental input

Parent expectations

Teacher must understand parent work schedules

Parents want teachers to advise them about how to help the child at home

Parents want teachers to do a better job of providing information on classroom expectations and goals for children's learning

More expectations

When parents are guided by teachers on how to help the child at home, they do so more often than do other parents without teacher guidance

The school's practices to inform and involve parents are more important than other factors in encouraging involvement at school and guiding them to help at home

Governance

Parent groups are very effective in influencing decisions and improving schools, provided they are assisted in three major areas of skills: the capacity to gather accurate information about the system, mastery of techniques for intervention, and capacity to insure that their group functions effectively as a group

Fullan's advice

Make parent involvement a fundamental part of school activities, from planning to implementation to evaluation

Set up parent involvement activities that each teacher can implement

When new activities or programs are created, involve parents in every phase of the planning process

Designate an in-school person as part-time coordinator of home-school relations

Develop district-wide policies and programs to recognize and build on all forms of involvement