Family, Community Involvement Key to School Success

By Editor Ken Harvey

Parent, family and community involvement in a school can make a huge difference in student achievement, say Mardale Dunsworth and Dawn Billings, partners in School Synergy.

Research is showing how quickly school achievement can turn around once a sense of trust, mutual respect and cooperation is achieved. Billings and Dunsworth summarized recent research during a workshop session at the Summer Institute in Vancouver – one of three Summer Institutes sponsored by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

Martin Blank, Atelia Melaville and Amy Berg of the Coalition for Community Schools have compiled evidence that supports taking the concept of involvement to the max.

The “community schools” they describe are open before and after school, in the evenings, on weekends and year-round -- offering family activities and programs.

As one small example, Dunsworth notes how a Phoenix school partnered with private businesses to achieve several important goals. A computer lab was created, to which parents also were provided access. The partners also helped create a parent library.

Such schools create partnerships with numerous other private, non-profit and government agencies to accomplish this goal. As a result, it is clear the school belongs to the community.

A scientific poll in Ohio found extensive public support for such ideas:

✦ 91% favor comprehensive after-school programs.

✦ 84% favor community member use of school facilities after school hours.

✦ 62% favor locating community social services for children on school grounds.

✦ 65% favor locating community programs for adults on school grounds.

The result of such family and community involvement in schools has been seen throughout the country. In their report, “Making a Difference: Research and Practice in Community Schools,” Blank and his co-authors document the following results from normal schools becoming “community schools”:

At Woodmere Elementary School (Portland, Ore.), scores on state benchmark tests in third and fifth grade math and reading increased an average of 29 percentage points in just two years.

At Francis Scott Key Elementary School #103 (Indianapolis), the percentage of third-graders passing the state assessment tests increased from 29% to 73% in just three years.

At East Elementary School (Kings Mountain, N.C.), 92% of students test at grade level now, as opposed to 45-50% before it became a community school 10 years earlier.

At Howe Elementary School (Green Bay, Wisc.), third-graders performing at proficient or advanced levels in state reading tests increased from 40% to 61% in five years.

At Marquette Elementary School (Chicago), the student mobility rate dropped from 41% to 22% despite a student poverty rate of 96%, and reading improvement exceeded the citywide average.

At East Hartford High School (East Hartford, Conn.), the dropout rate decreased from 22% to 2% annually in six years, and 80% of all students now go on to two- or four-year colleges.

At James Otis Elementary School (Boston), parents in an adult literacy program at the school began taking leadership roles. Soon thereafter, the school led all other Boston schools in improvement on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment Systems test.

At St. Paul High School (St. Paul, Va.), 94% percent of students now graduate, nearly 90% meet state reading and writing requirements in core areas, and more than 90% pass state exams in biology and geometry.

There are a lot of factors as to why these schools improved so much, according to Billings. One is a sense of trust.

 “Schools with high amounts of trust and positive relationships between school staff and parents are much more likely to see higher student achievement than are schools with poor relationships,” summarizes Billings.

“Students are more likely to both bond with and learn from their teachers when they see frequent, positive interactions between their family members and school staff,” Billings adds.

“If you get parents involved in school, there are some inescapable truths,” she says. And one key truth is that parent and community involvement really works.

Another review of research noted by Billings (Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp, “A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement”) concludes that “many studies found that students with involved parents, no matter what their income or background, were more likely to earn higher grades and test scores, and enroll in higher-level programs; be promoted, pass their classes, and earn credits; attend school regularly; have better social skills, show improved behavior, and adapt well to school; and graduate and go on to postsecondary education.

And a review of research by Learning First Alliance (“Every Child Learning: Safe and Supportive Schools”) also concludes that when students feel a sense of community, they enjoy school more, are less likely to do drugs and more likely to do well in school.

“One step educators can take is to increase the frequency of communications with parents by focusing, whenever possible, on students’ strengths and not just on weaknesses,” Billings summarizes.

She suggests frequently calling or emailing parents to welcome them to the school and to tell them about significant school events – again trying to keep it positive.

Mardale tells of a teacher who sent email to parents asking them to write and tell her more about their child in her class.

“I got these great letters from my parents, and I really know my student better now,” the teacher told Mardale, who then interviewed some of the parents. The parents were also excited about the activity. One parent told her that it was the most powerful interaction they had ever experienced with a teacher.

Billings and Mardale do a lot of interviewing as part of their consulting work to help schools improve. The interviews and observations are not to rate them. “We want to come out of a school with a roadmap, not a score card,” Billings says.

Building relationships with Latino parents can be more difficult for Anglo educators. Researchers Yolanda Martinez and Jose Velazquez conclude that migrant parents and Anglo schoolteachers don’t always have the same view of parent involvement. Teachers don’t always understand the migrant families’ monetary and work circumstances, their living conditions, their limited educational background, their culture, and other differences.

But if the barriers can be overcome, “migrant parents provide a wealth of emotional resources to their children,” Billings says.

“Often this grounding rests on a very strong work ethic that transfers to other realms of life,” she says.

“Parent contributions are also significant in areas that teachers might not readily recognize – for instance, encouraging their children to be responsible citizens who not only earn self-respect but who are ready to grant respect to others,” Billings says.

More information is available at the School Synergy web site at http://schoolsynergy.net.

OMBUDSMAN OFFICE HELPS ENHANCE FAMILY INVOLVEMENT

Heidi Henderson-Lewis of the Office of the Education Ombudsman also presented a workshop session on parent involvement at the Summer Institute.

OEO is a new office established directly within the Office of the Governor.

According to Lewis, the traditional concept of parent involvement was to volunteer in the classroom, bake cookies, chaperone field trips and assist with school fundraisers. But researchers have shown that enhanced parent involvement can greatly improve student achievement.

Greater student success, Lewis says, comes from families serving as active partners in education, advocating for their children, supporting their schools, and providing home conditions that are most conducive to student learning.

Lewis previously served as a parent-involvement specialist at Rainier High School.

“It wasn’t that the families didn’t want to be involved,” she says. “But parents asked, ‘Involved in what?’ When they did come in, the teachers would say, ‘I don’t really have anything for you to do right now.’

“It’s a partnership, and if both aren’t involved, nothing will happen,” Lewis says.

Her school had very little money budgeted for outreach, so Lewis began calling parents on the phone and emailing them. She began recruiting teachers and staff to help make more phone calls. At first they were just casual calls.

“The families were flabbergasted. They said, ‘We never got a call from someone at the school to just say hello.”

Lewis also created postcards, put stamps on them and gave them to the teachers to write a few sentences and send to parents whenever they “caught” a student doing something good.

“It kind of shifted the paradigm,” Lewis says. Teachers began looking for the good in their students instead of the bad.

While Lewis feels schools should budget more for parent involvement activities, funding is not the most important thing, she says.

“I’ve worked where there wasn’t any money, so that’s not an excuse. You have to think out of the box,” Lewis says. “It’s about relationships, relationships, relationships.”

Once relationships were established, asking for parents’ help was more effective.

They began encouraging parents to make sure there was one spot where their child could do his homework, and then make sure he spent time doing homework each day.

“Just that one thing had a big effect,” Lewis says. “Homework completion and scores went up. The kids began to realize their parents thought education was important.”

Once a parent-teacher relationship exists, parents will also more likely respond to a personal invitation to a school function, according to Lewis.

“The teacher can say, ‘I’ll be looking for you. Come talk to me.’ And the parent will feel obligated to come,” she says.

Students can also help educators figure out how to build relationships with their parents. The teacher can ask her students to write or tell three things that the students’ parents do really well.

Using this approach, one teacher found out that the father of an at-risk student was a good landscaper, so she had a school administrator asked if the father could volunteer to do some landscaping work around the school.

“The parent felt really important, and it became ‘his’ school. He became very involved and began tutoring at the school,” says Lewis.

The same approach can be taken with other parents, she says. “Think about what they can contribute. When people are able to contribute in some way, it increases their self-worth. Look at assets, not deficits. Look at what they can do, not what they can’t do, because that is what’s going to make a difference.”

Lewis also encourages educators to recruit community partners. One administrator began working with 21 churches in the vicinity of his school. The churches began adopting math nights, reading nights, hosting family dinners and helped in other ways. And parents seemed more willing to attend a function at a church than they were at the school.

 “There are a lot of reasons why parents don’t come to school, so why not go to the community center?” asks Lewis.

“Community organizations want to be involved,” she says. “They just don’t know what they can do. There are a lot of creative ways you can make a difference. It’s stepping back and working smarter instead of harder.”

The Office of the Education Ombudsman produces a number of quality brochures to be shared with parents. One is titled, “Participate in Your Child’s Education.” It makes a number of suggestions, based on the six types of parent involvement suggested by Dr. Joyce Epstein of John Hopkins University (http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm):

MAKE HOME A LEARNING CENTER

• Read with your child every day, in English or your native language. Use books, billboards, food packages or whatever is around you. If you don’t feel comfortable reading, discuss picture books or photos, or have your child read to you.

• Make a regular time and space for homework every day. Turn the TV off.
• Know what your child is studying. Learn new things yourself.
• Make sure your child gets enough sleep each night and a good breakfast before school starts.
• Involve your family in community activities that expand on school learning.
• Let your child know you expect good work in school.

COMMUNICATE WITH SCHOOL

• Inform the school of your child’s needs and any changes in family circumstances.

• Establish a communication system with your child’s teacher and use it frequently.
• Check your child’s homework, attendance and academic progress often.
• Respond to all messages from school.
• Attend school meetings, events, and parent-teacher conferences.

HELP THE SCHOOL

• If you have time, help the teacher in the classroom.

• If you can’t volunteer at school during class time, ask the school for ways to help at home or on weekends.
• Recruit and train other families to form a volunteer group.
• Help set up and manage a classroom phone tree or e-mail list.
• Work with teachers to find educational materials, enrichment programs for students, and funding.

BECOME A LEADER

• Learn how the school system works and how to advocate for all children.

• Be part of decision-making committees at school.
• Organize a parent group in your school or be active in your school’s parent organization.
• Take classes to develop your leadership skills.
• Be a public supporter of education. Get informed

HELP BRING THE COMMUNITY INTO THE SCHOOL

• Encourage your school to provide all families with information about community services and resources.

• If your school is diverse, find out which community organizations serve diverse cultural groups and help the school connect with them to provide services for families.
• Arrange educational and cultural experiences for your child. Share these opportunities with other families and your child’s school.
• Help the school recruit and train community volunteers and mentors from diverse groups.
• Thank local merchants and business people who support education and schools.

 This publication and other information can be found in multiple languages at http://www.governor.wa.gov/oeo/.

Jamilyn Penn of OSPI presented a workshop on the parent involvement requirement for any local education agency receiving Title I, Part A funding.  The funding requires recipient schools to “involve parents in the planning, review, and improvement of the school parental involvement policy.”

Recipient school districts need to set an appropriate policy, according to Penn. Schools need to create action plans.

Many of the requirements for Title 1 Part A are also requirements for Title 1 Part C migrant funds.