Table Of Content

DOCUMENT RESUME EA 025 598 ED 366 094 Lynn, Leon AUTHOR Building Parent Involvement. TITLE Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, INSTITUTION Madison, WI. Office of Educational Research and Improvement (ED), SPONS AGENCY Washington, DC. PUB DATE 94 R117Q00005-94 CONTRACT NOTE 7p. Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, AVAILABLE FROM School of Education, Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1025 W. Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706. Serials (022) Collected Works PUB TYPE Brief to Principals; n8 Win 94 JOURNAL CIT MF01/PC01 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE Family School Relationship; High Schools; Middle DESCRIPTORS Schools; Parent Education; *Parent Participation; *Parent Role; *Parent School Relationship; Parent Teacher Cooperation; Partnerships in Education ABSTRACT This publication outlines different forms of parent involvement and provides specific examples of innovative practices. The first part summarizes what has already been learned about the difficulties of building parent involvement in schools. Some of the challenges stem from changes in the family structure, lack of family resources, opposition from educators, and larger and more compartmentalized high schools. Different types of parent-school cooperation, as identified by Epstein (1992), are highlighted in the (1) basic obligations of second section. These are categorized as: (2) basic obligations of schools; (3) involvement at families; school; (4) involvement in learning activities at home; (5) involvement in decision making, governance, and advocacy; and (6) collaboration with community organizations. The third part outlines the following strategies used by middle schools and high schools to encourage parent involvement: developing parent empowerment, creating three-way partnerships, going to school instead of work, expanding the education of parents, and bridging the cultural gaps. (LMI) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** to principals Building Parent Involvement By Leon Lynn n the summer of 1990, Daisy Cubias started walking the neighborhoods around Kosciuszko Middle School in Milwaukee, Wis., seeking out the families of children who would be entering the School as 6th-graders in the fall. As the coordinator of a new program to encourage parent involvement at the school, Cubias wanted to visit as many families as possible before the academic year began, to start the process of making them feel welcome and to ease the often-difficult transition from elementary school to middle school. The reactions she encountered told her how much work lay ahead- "A lot of times the students would say, 'Why are you here? I'm not even in the school yet. I haven't done anything wrong," she recalled recently. "Nobody from the schools had ever visited them before with good news." U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION During the past decade, educators have begun to attach new importance to Office ot Educamona/ Pesea/cm and improvement EDUCATIONAL RE SOURCES INFORMATION getting parents involved in the education of their children. Studies have shown CENTER IERICI document has peen reproduced as that students get better grades, have better attitudes toward school and have 3/tnts eCetved trorn the person 0 orpanuatiort ongonatIng .1 higher aspirations if parents are aware of what's happening in school and encour- C MtnOt cmanCles have been made to ...prone reoroduct.on manly age their children. Points of n/ew 01 oo.ntons stated /n tnts dock,- Concern over dropout rates and low student performance, particularly among ,ent do not neCeslanly cepleseni othc.al OEM posaon or pohc low-income and minority students, has driven more and more educators to reach out to parents with new vigor. But those educators often find themselves in predicaments similar to the one that Cubias encountered that summer in Milwaukee: Their new initiatives run smack into old attitudes, and other road- blocks, with deep and stubborn roots. This brief outlines different forms of parent involvement and gives specific examples of innovative practices. We hope that school principals, and other educators, might use this information to clarify alternative paths to parent involvement, and to design specific programs to implement the chosen priorities in their schools. WINTER 1994 BRIEF NO. 8 Before we examine specific examples, however, we summarize some of what has already been learned about the difficulties of building parent involvement in schools. The Scope of the Challenge 600., 1 The Scope of the Challenge tti-1 Different Types of Parent- 4; School Cooperation The social fabric of our nation continues to undergo profound changes. Today 2 only 7 percent of stu,ieiits come from the type of family that might have s)i innovative Programs 4 been considered typical a generation ago: two parents in the home and only one a wage-earner. Today nearly half the children under 18 live in a single-parent home. 'R) For Further Reading 5 Continued on page 3 CENTER ON ORGANIZATION AND RESTRUCTURING OF SCHOOLS 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE activities, as well as attending plays, sporting Different Types of Parent- events and similar functions. Schools can get School Cooperation the most out of this process by creating flexible schedules, so more parents can participate, and Epstein (1992) has identified six important by working to match the talents and interests types of cooperation between families, schools of parents to the needs of students, teachers and other community organizations. As schools and administrators. At the middle school and make decisions about how to structure parent- high school levels, the students themselves also involvement programs, it is useful to be aware of can be encouraged to volunteer. these different approaches. They represent differ- Involvemen. in Learning Activities at 4 ent goals, require different strategies and involve HomeWith the guidance and support of different costs and benefits to the school. teachers, family members can supervise and Basic Obligations of FamiliesFamilies assist their children at home with homework I. must develop strategies to provide for the assignments, as well as other activities that are health and safety of children, while maintain- coordinated with classroom work. Schools must ing a home environment that encourages learn- retain the responsibility for setting the curricu- ing and good behavior. Schools can provide lum and providing instruction, while assiting training and information to help families parents by providing information on what understand their children and the changes they requirements students must meet, plus guidance undergo through various stages of development. on how to monitor children's progress and help The challenge is to deliver this information them along. to all parents who want it, not just the few who Involvement in Decision Making, 5 can attend m:2etings or workshops at the Governance and AdvocacySchools can school. Schools might have more success get- provide family members, as well as other commu- ting the message across through local cable TV nity figures, with guidance and training in leader- broadcasts, audio and video tapes, newsletters ship and decision-making skills. At the same and other handouts, for example. time, the schools can invite family members into Basic Obligations of SchoolsSchools must the decision-making process of the school as true L reach out to families with information about contributors, not tokens, and can provide infor- school programs and student progress. This mation to families and community groups so they includes the traditional avenues of communica- can effectively address school issues. tion, such as phone calls, report cards and In order to ensure meaningful input, schools parent conferences. It also can include "innova- must work to open this process up to all seg- tive communications" that give family members ments of the community, not just those people additional information on school choice, choos- who have tl- e most time and energy to spend ing special curricula, courses, or activities, and on school affairs. making the transition from elementary. level K Collaboration with Community education to middle school and high school. li OrganizationsSchools can help families Communication on these issues must be in a gain access to support services offered by other form that families find understandable and use- agencies, such as health care, cultural events ful, and it must be two-way, with educators pay- and after-school child care programs. This helps ing a great deal of attention to the concerns and families provide a home environment that sup- needs of families. ports learning. Schools make this happen by Involvement at SchoolParents can make working with agencies, businesses, cultural 3 significant contributions to the environ- organizations and other community groups. ment and functions of a school by taking part These partnerships also can help enrich school in school-based activities. This can include vol- curricula and other student experiences. unteering timc on campus for school-sponsored 2 vision of progressive reforms within While parent involvement continued from page 1 the school. Schneider and Coleman (1993) has steadily won new Some schools do, of col rse, give report that a family's ability to get parents real power to influ.mce the involved in the education of its chil- support among educators governance processif, in 3ome cases, dren is most greatly affected by the prompted only by vigorous legislative during the past 10 years, presence or absence of family action. A prime example is the resources, especially income and the Chicago public-school system, where parents have gotten harder number of parents in the household. in 1988 the Legislature crta..?-d elect- Thus, while parent involvement has ed councils at each school. Parents to reach. steadily won new support among hold a majority on each council, educators during the past 10 years, which appoints the principal, devel- parents have gotten harder to reach. educators. This is especially true at ops and approves the school budget A parent who works a night shift, the middle school and high school and oversees the development of can't afford to miss a day's pay and levels. As students grow older, they school-improvement plans. has no power to rearrange his or her Researchers report that the shift face much more complex social pres- schedule, for example, will obviously in power has resulted in a turnover sures and begin asserting their inde- have a much harder time attending pendence from their parents. Many rate among Chicago principals school meetings scheduled at night. approaching 50 percent. But they actually discourage their parents On average, resource-based obsta- also see positive attitudes among from coming to school. cles have an even stronger impact most teachers, and some of the Secondary schools also tend to be on Airican-American and Hispanic system's lowest-performing schools larger and more compartmentalized, so familir,ts, which are far more likely to have begun to post significantly that no single person is primarily be poor than white or Asian fami- better reading achievement scores responsible for a particular student. lies. But that doesn't mean Hispanic on standardized tests. This can leave parents unsure who to and African-American families are In places where the law is less contact. Larger attendance areas at less interested in getting involved. demanding, however, parent groups the secondary level can also add to Numerous studies have shown that frequently are paid only lip service transportation problems that keep these families often want to play a by school officials. Parents, seeing some parents away. As a result of these greater role in educating their chit- that such organizations won't be and other factors, studies show that dren, but lack either the resources or very fruitful, decline to take part. parent involvement drops off sharply the experience to do so effectively. once students reach middle school, Where schools do make an effort to Kerbow and Bernhardt (in include parents in governance, equal and by the time they reach high Schneider and Coleman, 1993) school it can be difficult to see at all. access to the process can be difficult to cite data from the 1988 Natbnal Advocates of parent involvement ensure. For example, at another mid- Education Longitudinal Study also must frequently contend with dle school visited by researchers from (NELS:88), which show that opposition from the educators them- the Center, this time on the West African-American and Hispanic selves. Teachers and administrators, Coast, staff members complained that parents display significantly higher often without any formal training or a small group of white parents domi- levels of school involvement than positive experiences in dealing with nated the school's parent association. white or Asian parents with similar parents, can view increased parental Staff members feared that the associa- levels of income and education. The involvement as a threat to their pro- tion didn't really address the concerns authors suggest that African- fessional autonomy and judgment. of students who weren't white and American and Hispanic families For example, at one Midwestern reasonably affluent. place a greater emphasis on educa- middle school visited by researchers Ensuring equal access to all inter- tion as a way to get ahead. "To claim from the Center on Organization ested parents, not just those who that these parents are inadequate in and Restructuring of Schools, the already have the resources and their attention to their children's principal admitted discouraging par- experience they need to "work the education," they write, "is straight- ent "interference" in school gover- system," becomes increasingly impor- forwardly mistaken." nance, because it was feared that the tant as the number of students from But tapping that willingness to traditional expectations of parents poorer and single-parent families get involved is daunting for many would clash with the principal's continues to rise. African-American and Hispanic parents display significant- innovative Programs Here are some ways that schools ly higher levels of school involvement than white or Asian around the country have tried to encourage parent involvement. parents with similar levels of income and education. We focus here on strategies for middle schools and high schools follow-up exercises in class that let and events. Di uing the fall semester because of the greater difficulty in students share what they've learned. of 1992, 138 swdents took part in the encouraging parent involvement at Parents are sent letters about TIPS program, and 53 raised their grade- those grade levels. Other examples during the summer, are asked to attend point averages by at least half a point. can be found in Rioux and Berta orientation meetings, and receive The impact of the empowerment (1993) and Fruchter, Galletta, and additional information through program on the 700 or so parents at White (1992). newsletters and their children. Kosciuszko may not appear very great. This year, researchers are begin- Cubias freely admits that the program V Empowerment of Parents ning a formal evaluation of the TIPS "can't reach 100 percent of the par- Milwaukee's Kosciuszko Middle program's effectiveness, said Vivian $chool serves about 740 students, ents, you can't reach 50 percent." most of them Hispanic and econom- Jackson, the project's field director. But in language echoed by her ically disadvantaged. But informal evaluations have shown counterparts at many schools, she In addition to conducting the very positive responses toward the nonetheless credits the progiam with home visits to families of incoming program from parents, students and making real changes in the lives of students mentioned earlier, Daisy teachers. Many parents say they've many students and their families. Cubias established a "parent center" taken a new interest in their chil- Several parents have used skills they at the school, a room where parents dren's homework, and students report learned at the school to win better can meet, make phone calls and get that they've learned things about jobs, for example. information to help solve problems. their parents they never would have In an average week, between 5 and Three-Way Partnership known if they hadn't worked with 15 parents stop by looking for help. Two middle schools in Baltimore, them on TIPS assignments. Teachers The center is staffed by Cubias and Md., began a program in 1990 that report higher rates of return for TIPS a network of volunteers she has requires students to work with their homework than regular assignments, recruited, as well as three parents parents in order to complete home- and they say the assignments have who are paid $6 an hour for 16 hours work assignments. The Teachers helped to open avenues of communi- of work per week. Involve Parents in Schoolwork pro- cation with many parents. The center is also headquarters gram, or TIPS, was designed by Joyce for the school's volunteer program. .4 Going to School Instead of Work L. Epstein, co-director of the Center During the 1992-93 school year, vol- Manual High School in Denver, on Families, Communities, Schools unteers contributed more than 1,400 Colo., serves about 970 students. and Children's Learning at Johns hours of work to the school, serving About half are white and one-third Hopkins University. as file clerks, tutors, in-class helpers are African American. Twenty per- The two schools, Calverton Middle and in many other capacities. In an cent of the students are from low- School and West Baltimore Middle average week, 10 to 15 parents come income families. School, together serve more than to school to volunteer. Each August since 1987, parents 3,100 students, most of them African The school also hosts adult educa- of incoming 9th graders are sent Americans from low-income families. tion classes in English as a second letters by school officials, telling The program tries to create a language, computer skills and other them they will be "required" to par- three-way partnership between par- useful subjects. Attendance ranges ticipate in an orientation meeting ents, teachers and students. Teachers from 7 to 15 parents per weekly before school begins and at least receive training in how to construct class. Cubias tries to organize at one parenting workshop during the assignments that call on students to least two or three classes per year. school year. Students whose parents interview their parents, solicit their A special program for some stu- comply receive extra academic opinions on specific topics, play a dents who need extra help with credit toward graduation. game with them or work with them schoolwork calls on parents to agree, Manual also "requires" a unique in some other way. The teachers also in writing, to attend school meetings third commitment: Each parent is receive guidance on how to conduct 5 4 FOR FURTHER READING: STEPS. In classes that meet two a3ked to come to school for a full hours per day, five days per week day during the year. Working Chavkin, N.E (Ed.). (1993). Families and for three months, parents receive through the parents, school officials Schools in a Pluralistic Society. Albany, NY: training on how to obtain access to ask employers to grant each parent State University of New York Press. services offered by social service a paid day off to attend classes and agencies and other community meet with teachers. Almost all of Epstein, J.L. (in press). School and Family resources. The parents can then the employers have agreed. Partnerships: Preparing Educators and serve as "facilitators" who help About 25 percent of the 9th- Improving Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview. their neighbors, and other Robeson grade parents take part in at least Epstein, J.L. (1992). School and Family parents, get the most from these some of the "required" activities Partnerships. In M.C. Alkin (Ed.), services, said Robeson principal each year. Last year only three Encyclopedia of Educational Research (6th Jackie Simmons. The training also parents spent the day at school, ed.) (pp. 1139-1151). New York: includes instruction in word pro- though school officials are hopeful Macmillan. cessing, database management and they can boost that program's pop- Fruchter, N., Galletta, A., &. White, J. L. ularity. The school hasn't conduct- other marketable skills. (1992). New Directions in Parent ed a statistical study to gauge the Involvement. Washington, DC: Academy Bridging the Cultural Gaps program's effects, but parents have for Educational Development, Inc. Two schools in California's San reported feeling more comfortable Diego County have taken steps to about communicating with the Rioux, J. W., & Berla, N. (1993). improve communications with school, and staff members credit Innovations in Parent & Family families that don't speak English as the program for nurturing a greater Involvement. Princeton Junction, NJ: their first language. At Muir lands level of cooperation and commit- Eye on Education. Middle School in La Jolla, about ment from parents. Schneider, B., & Coleman, J.S., (Eds.). 310 Hispanic students are bused (1993). Parents, Their Children, and from San Diego as part of a deseg- Expanding the Education of Schools. Boulder, CO: Westview. Parents regation plan. The school, which At Paul Robeson High School in has a total student population of 01=01M1111 Chicago, a parent-involvement about 870, has begun translating progmm underway since 1989 seeks its parent newsletter into Spanish. to recognize parents as individuals, Brief to principals is prepqred by Leon Random telephone surveys of fam- Lynn at the Center on Organization and with needs and interests that exist ilies found strong positive feelings Restructuring of Schools. University of separately from their roles as par- about the newsletters. WisconsinMadison. This publication is ents. The school, which serves Muir lands also has selected supported by the U.S. Department of about 1,400 studentsmost from "community leaders" from its Education, Office of Educational Research low-income families and virtually minority communities. They and Improvement (Grant No. RI I7Q00005- 94), and by the Wisconsin Center tOr all African Americanputs a heavy attend leadership training classes, Education Research, School of Education, emphasis on parent education. serve as mentors for other parents University of WisconsinMadison. The Last year Robeson hosted week- and call lists of parents each opinions expressed herein are those of the ly classes in computer training and month to keep them informed of authors and do not necessarily reflect the stress reduction, each of which school events and solicit input. views of the supporting agencies. This drew about a dozen parents. The publication is free upon request. Montgomery Junior High group that received computer School in San Diego provides Director: Fred M. Newmann instruction then began writing and translation in up to five languages Associate Director: Gary Wehlage Dissemination Coordinator: Leon Lynn printing a school newsletter. at parent-teacher association meet- Administrative Assistant: Diane Randall Another class taughP parents how ings and other key events, in order Graphic Designer: Rhonda Dix to write proposals for grants, and to reach parents from Mexico, the the school received several awards Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, 1 as a result of their efforts. Vietnam and other nations. Key This year Robeson has enrolled documents, such as surveys on rnnted on mt. van/ parct me% about a dozen parents in an ambi- school climate and accountability, %Or vdable tious program called Strategy To are translated as well. Empower Patents and Students, or 6 5 CENTER MISSION T he Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools will study how organizational features of schools can be changed to increase the intel- lectual and social competence of students. The tive-year program of research focuses on restructuring in four areas: the experiences of students in school; the professional life of teachers; the governance, management and leadership of schools; and the coordination of community resources to better serve educationally disadvantaged students. Through syntheses of previous research, analyses of existing data, and new empirical studies of education reform, the Center will focus on six critical issues for elementary, middle and high schools: How can schooling nur- 0 ture authentic forms of student achievement? How can schooling enhance educational equity! How can decentralization and local empowerment be constructively developed? How can schools be transformed into communities of learning? How can change be approached through thoughtful dialague and support rather than coercion and regulation? How can the focus on student outcomes be shaped to serve these five principles? CENTER PUBLICATIONS In the WI and spring of each year, the Center publishes an issue report which offers in-depth analysis of critical issues in school restructuring, distributed free to all persons on the mailing list. In addition, three "briefs" tar- geted to special audiences will be offered yearly. Our bibliography will be updated each year and is distributed free on request. Occasional papers reporting results df Center research will be available at cost. To be placed on the mailing list and receive Issues in Restructuring Schools, please contact Leon Lynn, Dissemination Coordinator. Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, University of Wisconsin, 1025 W. Johnson Street, Madison, WI 53706. Telephone: (608) 263-7575. *s.: tti E., F ;ANIZATION AND G OF SCHOOLS ducation Research 1.Madison 7