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Active Parents
Background
While we have chosen to use the words Active Parents for this category, we know that in today's world, many homes have non-conventional structures: single-parent, multi-family, multi-generational, among others. When you see references to parent or family in the text that follows, we mean those individuals who provide care and support in the child's home setting.
Also, we have narrowed the topics we introduce in this document to those that are addressed in PEN's Civic Index Poll. This poll is based on a series of public forums and surveys conducted across the nation over a five year period. As a result of this effort, we have identified indicators or common qualities that encourage meaningful involvement in public education. As you read the information in this series of support tools, carefully consider the situation of your community.
How can you use the information and suggestions included in this material to help you build stronger civic involvement in education in your community?
PEN's Civic Index Indicators for Active Parents are:
Parents participate in school-related parent organizations. Parents stay informed about key education issues. Parents participate in school governance and decision-making. Parents participate actively in their child's education, such as volunteering in the school, getting their child to school on time, or doing homework with their child. Parents participate on school councils or decision-making panels.
Schools encourage active parent participation/contributions.
Please note when you first look at "Schools encourage active parent participation/ contributions," you might think that this statement is not about Active Parents, but instead about schools actively reaching out to parents. While it is true that high-performing schools commonly have staff that reach out to parents, parents also can take responsibility for the actions suggested by this indicator. When parents reach out to school staff regularly, the school staff is more likely to see a need to reach out to parents as well.
Using this Resource
As you explore the ideas presented in this material, you will find new ways to actively involve parents in your school community. You will have an opportunity to:
Reflect on the kinds of parent involvement common to your school community. Learn about new strategies to increase involvement that are used in the most effective programs across the nation. Plan for ways to use your new learning in your school community
Remember that by making use of this material, you have taken a first step in your beginning role as an advocate for Active Parents in your school community. However, the most important thing in exploring new materials is deciding how you can use the materials. You can choose to study them as an individual or you can review them with others who are interested in this category.
Click here to download the Active Parents worksheet to help you work through what you have learned. You can use this as a tool to record your own thoughts or as a worksheet for group processing.
Exploring and Organizing the Indicators
Though each of the indicators is separate, each also connects with all of the others. When a parent participates on school councils or decision-making panels, that parent also may be participating in how the school district runs itself and its decision-making. When a parent stays informed about key educational issues, that parent may find that volunteering at school is a good way to really find out about student needs. This is true of all of the indicators. Each indicator may stand alone, but they are interrelated parts of Active Parent involvement. For this category, rather than set aside each indicator for discussion by itself, we've combined them into the following topics:
Sharing information
Parents commonly wait for teachers to contact them. However, waiting to be contacted is not likely to generate the kind of support that will have a major effect on student performance or your Civic Index score.
To practice meaningful information sharing, parents need the ability to get the information they need to provide support to their children or the schools in their community and to share with others who can best make use of information parents have on hand.
When parents actively reach out to school staff or other education support groups for information, they are taking a first step toward creating a cooperative culture in which parents work with school staff to address the needs of all children.
Becoming involved
Though the most common example of this type of activity is the local parent-teacher organization, there are other ways to become involved in schools. In fact, while activities with these groups create a way to connect school staff and parents, the effect is limited. Moreover, when parents take part in a single kind of activity, their involvement doesn't usually have a major effect.
To have a major effect on your Civic Index score, parents need to become involved with schools in a variety of ways, including as:
When parents are able to create and support activities such as talking about math over dinner, providing a "homework" spot at home, serving as a classroom volunteer or reading buddy, becoming a field trip sponsor, serving on an improvement committee, and other types of activities, they can make a difference.
Participating in decision making
Parents often hesitate to take part in decision-making activities. Many times this is because they assume that being involved in decision-making means serving on the school board. However, there many ways parents can involve themselves in active and meaningful decision-making activities: serving on improvement teams or special committees, contacting school board members to support or comment on school policy, or other formal and informal efforts. We have learned that parents are a very important part of any school's success.
We also have learned that through efforts such as these, parents become advocates for their children's education. Though their advocacy may take many forms, parent advocates use their words and actions to encourage decision-makers to use the resources, experiences, knowledge, and skills available at the school and in the larger community to meet the needs of every child.
As advocates, parents not only speak up for their own children, they actively get involved in activities to learn new ways to support their children and participate and encourage activities that lead to improved education in their community.
These advocacy efforts often result in a growing number of leaders who can help support school improvement and student needs through more formal positions such as the school board or an improvement committee, as well as informal actions such as organizing parents for a field trip or school bond get-out-the-vote efforts.
Overview of Research and Best Practices in this Field
Though 20 years of research on school improvement has identified family involvement as one of five qualities that are common to high performing schools, schools often neglect to draw on this very important resource to support student performance. (Henderson and Mapp 2002) summarize the power of such efforts:
The evidence is consistent, positive, and convincing: families have a major influence on their children's achievement in school and through life. When schools, families, and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and like school more (p. 7).
When parents involve themselves in actions that directly affect student achievement through improved instruction, building relationships, setting shared goals, or increased communication, their efforts can affect the success of their children. Also, they will find that their actions help other children as well as the wider community. Well-designed efforts can result in networks that increase availability of resources to support student needs and lead to:
New school- and district-level policies that promote family and community connections with schools. New methods, formal and informal, of communication among all stakeholder groups. New resources to support the needs of the whole child, families, and schools. New awareness and efforts to address barriers that block participation. New structures that build an environment that encourages families to play a role in supporting the education of children.
As you work to increase parental involvement in your community, remember that each community is unique. Because each school community has its own situation, there are no one-size-fits-all methods to put these programs into action. However, when those involved:
explore the advantages of parental involvement and how parents can play an active role in addressing the educational needs of not only their children, but all the children in the community help families and school staff to see the value and advantage of working with each other to provide additional support to classroom efforts; and develop long-lasting relationships that build increased involvement and meaningful interactions to support student learning
These programs are better able to support students' educational needs.
A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement
This review of the research examines the growing evidence that family and community connections with schools make a difference in student success.
Key Issues
The information in this section is designed to provide an understanding of key issues related to efforts to encourage Active Parents. As stated in the first section, we have limited the key issues to those related to the indicators.
Key Issue 1: "Reciprocal" Approach-What Do We Mean by Becoming Involved?
In traditional forms of school-family involvement, school staff will request that parents do a specific task. For example, a teacher might ask parents set up a specific reading area in their homes. However, we have learned that the most effective parental involvement programs offer families a variety of roles. For example, the school might sponsor a series of workshops where parents and teachers work together to develop activities parents can use at home to encourage reading development. Programs such as this one are described as having a Reciprocal Approach because everyone involved benefits. Parents learn effective support strategies. Teachers gain additional instructional support. Students get the help they need. Even those parents with limited English can support a child's reading if they know how to do so. The strength of this approach is the way it gives power to parents by giving them the knowledge and skills they need to be full partners in their children's education.
Basically, when parents partner with teachers to support learning rather than just react to requests, these efforts have greater value in meeting students' needs. While we commonly assume that the responsibility for creating this kind of approach lies in the hands of teachers, in reality, parents can act to create these partnerships. Parents who actively reach out to school staff can raise awareness of new ways parents can provide support to students.
There are many ways for parents to be involved in their children's education. The following list provides understanding into the ways families can get involved with schools:
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Eight Types of Family Involvement with Schools
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From the School Viewpoint |
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From the Family Viewpoint |
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Building Supportive Home Environments |
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Helping families with parenting skills and helping to create home conditions to support student academic achievement |
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Seeking out and participating in activities to increase parenting skills and creating home conditions that will support academic achievement |
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Promoting Shared Decision-Making |
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Including family members as partners in school decisions |
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Learning about and seeking to be involved in decision-making groups |
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Expanding Family-School Communication |
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Promoting effective two-way communications between school staff and individuals or groups of family members |
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Taking advantage of, and encouraging new ways for communication with the school staff, local support groups, and other family members |
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Putting Together Resources and Services |
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Uniting efforts and programs to provide services for families |
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Participating and learning about services, programs, and activities that can improve the family's lifestyle |
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Building Volunteer Support |
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Organizing and supporting family members in their efforts to support the school and its students |
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Learning about and participating in programs that support the school and its students |
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Supporting Youth Development |
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Providing services for students, such as health and physical development, creative expression, and leadership development |
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Seeking out and making sure that all family members 'adult and child' take advantage of opportunities to address health and physical issues, learn about areas of interest, and develop leadership skills |
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Supporting Learning Outside of School |
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Involving families and partner organizations to support learning in a variety of settings other than the classroom |
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Learning about and taking advantage of opportunities to support children's efforts to learn or study outside of the classroom |
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Expanding Community Development |
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Involving the school in planning and decision-making as a community institution, as well as creating opportunities for community support groups to use the school's resources to help meet the needs of students and their families |
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Participating in and supporting efforts to ensure that community planning and decision-making groups consider educational issues in their work as well as helping the wider community learn about and draw on school resources that can help support students and their families |
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This chart is adapted from materials created by the National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools, Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (2006). |
In each school community, parents, along with school staff should agree on the most appropriate types of involvement. There is no set number or arrangement that is most effective. However, efforts should clearly focus on meeting students' learning needs.
Key Issue 2: Increased Communication-How Do I Become an Active Parent?
No matter the ethnic background or economic status, parents want their children to be successful, and they want to be actively involved with, and supportive of, their children's education. However, before they can support learning in meaningful ways, they need a clear understanding of key school and classroom issues, such as the school's and teachers' expectations for students, grading procedures, help tools, and other issues related to their children's education (Henderson & Mapp, 2002). This knowledge comes through well-established formal and informal communication processes that are created through partnerships with parents and school staff. These partnerships are commonly called collaborative efforts by school staff.
Though these efforts may use a wide range of communication strategies, we suggest that you include:
Discussion time or networking among all who have an interest and need for more information on how to support education in their community. Suggestions for actions parents can take to apply the new information they have learned. Descriptions, worksheets, lists, guides, tools, processes, or actions that provide specific information on what parents can do to support student learning. Discussion and processes that help to address any issues that might hold back involvement because of language or culture.
Key Issue 3: Building Leadership-How Do I Become an Active Parent?
As these efforts begin to expand, family members will take on new roles to support student needs. Mapp (2003) describes this as a "joining" process - all stakeholders, including parents, willingly take on a variety of roles and use many strategies to meet student needs. In the process of "joining," parents become leaders.
Though school leaders are very important to these efforts, parent leaders who emerge also are important. Parents offer new viewpoints as well as new understanding and skills that are often missing from traditional processes. Moreover, when parents take on leadership roles, school staff are able to redirect their focus and time to other efforts to support student learning.
Key Issue 4: Framing Effective Efforts to Support School-Family Involvement-What Makes Effective Programs Effective?
Schools that have effective family and school efforts commonly promote three characteristics in their work with family members:
Relationships between family members and school staff that build trust and partnerships or cooperation - In successful programs, school staff and families take part in specific activities that build trust and respect through careful interactions that take place over an extended period of time. These activities build relationships and a culture that encourages everyone in the community to actively get involved in meeting the needs of all students. Recognition for families' needs and class and cultural differences that encourage greater understanding and respect among all involved - When those involved are able to accept differing viewpoints and build stronger programs, rather than allow differences to become a barrier, the result is a stronger support system for children. It is through the open recognition of differences and similarities that everyone involved can find common ground on which to build structures that will support the learning of all students. Though we assume that parents are the ones who feel uncomfortable about working with school staff, in reality, school staff often don't have much experience in partnering or working in cooperation with parents. When parents actively reach out to school staff, they help them recognize the contributions parents can make to their children's education. Involvement of all stakeholders in shared partnerships and shared responsibility for student learning - When everyone - parents, school staff, students, and community members - actively take part in efforts to create shared partnerships for decision- making and taking action, they create a framework of shared responsibility for meeting student needs. When parents take the lead in directing or building new opportunities for involvement, they are helping to build the relationships needed to partner with school staff. They are actively involved in their children's education.
However, these characteristics do not develop by accident. Schools and families have to use their partnerships to develop the cooperative interactions that lead to their taking the following actions:
Prepare staff and families to do the work - too often, we assume that all participants in a project understand their role and the planners' expectations without preparation. If we want these efforts to be successful, participants, no matter their role, need to be given the opportunity to learn about what they are expected to do and how they are expected to reach the desired outcomes. When school staff and family members prepare for their roles by actively taking part in activities to define the work and build relationships, they can create new resources to support increased student performance.
Focus the work on meaningful results and purposes that relate directly to what students are expected to learn - everyone involved needs to focus on supporting learning for all students. Leaders, school staff, and parents need to clearly define the results they want and then develop activities specifically linked to those results. When schools and families work together to develop strategies to address specific learning outcomes, they become active participants in improving the education of their children. Advocate a culture that is inviting to all who desire to support education - Successful programs use strategies that expand traditional understandings of family-school connections and advocate a culture that welcomes and encourages active participation for everyone. Many times, efforts are less than they could be as a result of who is represented in planning, putting plans into action, and evaluation. Successful programs use teams that have a membership that includes parents, school, staff, students, and community members. When involvement includes strategies that work toward a more inclusive and broader understanding of family involvement with schools, students gain additional support for learning (Ferguson, 2006).
These common characteristics and actions support schools, families, and students as they build meaningful relationships, recognize effects on the situation, and involve all stakeholders in shared decision-making. As you build structures to support family involvement, include activities that allow participants to build these characteristics.
Once you've completed the Civic Index Poll in your community, find out how you can improve your score in this category by visiting the Tips and Strategies section.
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