ERIC ED522167: Building Local Leadership for Change: A National Scan of Parent Leadership Training Programs. Education Policy for Action Series

2010·0.18 MB·English

by  ERIC

ED UCATION POLI CY FOR ACTION SERIES
E D U C A T I O N C H A L L E N G E S F A C I N G N E W Y O R K C I T Y
Building Local Leadership
for Change:
A National Scan of
Parent Leadership
Training Programs
Anne T. Henderson
in collaboration with
Annenberg Institute research staff

ED UC ATI ON POLICY FOR ACTION SERIES
E D U C A T I O N C H A L L E N G E S F A C I N G N E W Y O R K C I T Y
Building Local Leadership
for Change:
A National Scan of
Parent Leadership
Training Programs
Anne T. Henderson
in collaboration with
Annenberg Institute research staff
About the Annenberg Institute for School Reform
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform is a national
policy-research and reform-support organization, affiliated
with Brown University, that focuses on improving condi-
tions and outcomes for all students in urban public
schools, especially those serving disadvantaged children.
The Institute’s vision is the transformation of traditional
school systems into “smart education systems” that develop
and integrate high-quality learning opportunities in all
areas of students’ lives – at school, at home, and in the
community.
The Institute conducts research; works with a variety of
partners committed to educational improvement to build
capacity in school districts and communities; and shares
its work through print and Web publications. Rather than
providing a specific reform design or model to be imple-
mented, the Institute’s approach is to offer an array of
tools and strategies to help districts and communities
strengthen their local capacity to provide and sustain
high-quality education for all students.
A goal of the Institute is to stimulate debate in the field on
matters of important consequence for national education
policy. This report provides one such perspective but it
does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Annenberg
Institute for School Reform.
Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University
Box 1985
Providence, Rhode Island 02912
233Broadway, Suite 720
New York, New York 10279
www.annenberginstitute.org
© 2010Brown University
CONTENTS
About the Author v
About the Series v
Acknowledgments vi
Introduction..............................................................................................................................1
1. The Parent Training Center Law....................................................................................3
2. Methods and overarching themes of the national scan of
exemplary programs........................................................................................................4
Selection Criteria 4
Program Types 4
3. Descriptions of program examples...............................................................................6
4. Key practices related to program success................................................................13
Successful programs seek parent and community input into their program structure,
content, design, and delivery. 13
Successful programs devise innovative strategies for outreach and recruitment to
capture their target audience. 14
Successful programs use motivational strategies to build and sustain parents’
engagement. 15
Successful programs employ flexible modes of delivery that build relationships and
are respectful of families’ backgrounds and circumstances. 16
Successful programs build the influence of the program and power of their
graduates. 16
Successful programs develop and leverage connections with government officials
to give the program legitimacy and access. 17
Recommendations................................................................................................................18
Develop the authority and credibility of the Training Center to offer programs that
will command respect from city and state public officials, the NYCDOE, public
school parents, and the city’s parent activist and advocacy community. 18
Relate the Training Center to the New York City education context; build on and
enhance the parent training work already under way. 18
Set clear priorities for the limited current funding and develop an expanded
fundraising strategy. 20
Follow sound design guidelines that have been used by effective programs. 21
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................22
References.............................................................................................................................23

About the Author Press in 2007. Her publications also include
the Evidenceseries, which reviews the research
Anne T. Hendersonis a senior consultant for on parent involvement and student achieve-
the Community Organizing and Engagement ment. The latest edition, A New Wave of Evi-
program at the Annenberg Institute for School dence: The Impact of School, Family and Com-
Reform. Recently, she has worked with the munity Connections on Student Achievement,
Institute to develop a series of tools to help written with Karen Mapp, was published by
local communities prepare more students for the Southwest Educational Development Lab-
college and a career. Putting Kids on the Path- oratory in 2002.
way to Collegeis based on a study of New York
City high schools that are “beating the odds”
in bringing low-performing ninth-graders to
timely graduation and college entrance. The
tools include a framework of effective strategies
for improving college access, a rubric for evalu-
ating current practices, and survey and focus
group toolsfor gathering data from students
and families. They are designed for a wide
audience, including school districts, commu-
nity and parent organizations, researchers, and
policy-makers.
Henderson also recently worked with the insti-
tute to create a series of research-based work-
shops that focus on community organizing
strategies in four communities. These “jigsaw”
reading-and-discussion activities help partici-
pants understand the organizing efforts of one
community, explore the implications those
efforts may have on their own community,
and identify next steps they want to take. The
workshops are based on an Annenberg study
of the impact of community organizing on stu-
dent, school, and district outcomes entitled
Organized Communities, Smaller Schools.
Henderson’s research interests focus on the
relationship between families and schools. Her
most recent book, Beyond the Bake Sale: The
Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships
(written with Karen Mapp, Don Davies, and
Vivian Johnson), was published by The New
Annenberg Institute for School Reformv
About the Series Acknowledgments
Education Policy for Action: Education I would like to thank the research team:
Challenges Facing New York Cityis a series Deinya Phenix, Tara Bahl, Ivonne Garcia,
of research and policy analyses by scholars in Christina Mokhtar, and Courtney Hardwick.
fields such as education, economics, public I would also like to thank all the people who
policy, and child welfare in collaboration with came to the policy conversation on December
staff from the Annenberg Institute for School 14, 2009, in New York City, as well as
Reform and members of a broadly defined the other panelists, Zakiyah Ansari and Kim
education community. Papers in this series Sweet, and the directors of the four example
are the product of research based on the Insti- programs who provided such complete and
tute’s large library of local and national public detailed information – Beverly Raimondo of
education databases; work with the Institute’s the Prichard Committee for Academic Excel-
data analysis team; and questions raised and lence; David Valladolid and Patti Mayer of the
conclusions drawn during a public presenta- Parent Institute for Quality Education; Andrew
tion and conversation with university and Lachman of the Connecticut Commission on
public school students, teachers, foundation Children; and Anne Thompson of the Parent
representatives, policy advocates, education Academy.
reporters, news analysts, parents, youth, and
community leaders.
Among the issues that the series addresses are
several pressing topics that have emerged from
the Institute’s research and organizing efforts.
Some of the topics covered in the series are:
• Confronting the impending graduation crisis
• The small schools experiment in New York
City
• Positive behavior and student social and
emotional support
• Modes of new teacher and principal induc-
tion and evaluation
Many thanks to the Robert Sterling Clark
Foundation for its support of the public con-
versations from which this report and the other
publications in the series grew.
For a downloadable version of this report and
more information about the series, please visit
<www.annenberginstitute.org/WeDo/NYC_
Conversations.php>.
vi Building Local Leadership for Change: A National Scan of Parent Leadership Training Programs
Introduction New research also finds that parent and com-
munity organizing efforts are improving
The New York State Senate has given New schools. This type of engagement, led by par-
York City an unprecedented opportunity – to ents and community members, is growing
create a Parent Training Center that will build nationwide. Aimed mainly at low-performing
cadres of parent leaders across all five bor- schools, strategies of community organizing are
oughs. The legislation, which places the focused on building low-income families’
responsibility for the Center at the City Uni- power and political skills. Unlike traditional
versity of New York (CUNY), mandates that parent involvement, parent and community
the program train and support parents to organizing intends to create mutual accounta-
increase their capacity to participate in school bility for school performance.
governance and to support their children’s suc-
Recent studies have found that community
cess in school.
organizing has contributed to the following
The purpose of this report is to identify parent changes in schools (Mediratta, Shah & McAlis-
leadership training programs around the coun- ter 2009):
try; examine their structure, curriculum, and • upgraded school facilities;
evaluation results; and discern lessons for New • improved school leadership and staffing;
York City in implementing its own Parent
• higher-quality learning programs for stu-
Training Center.
dents;
Investing in families is both sound public pol- • new resources and programs to improve
icy and a productive investment. Thirty years teaching and curriculum;
of research demonstrates that engaging families • increased funding for after-school programs
in their children’s learning at home and at and family supports.
school, connecting families to community
The authors of the recent book on Chicago
resources, and organizing parents to hold their
school improvement Organizing Schools for
schools accountable has a lasting, positive
Improvementidentify strategies that engage par-
impact on student outcomes. Recent reviews of
ents as essential to school improvement. The
the research have found that students whose
Chicago book argues that in schools that are
families are engaged in these ways are more
successful in raising student achievement,
likely to:
school leadership focuses on “encouraging new
• earn higher grades and test scores and enroll
relations with parents and local communities
in higher-level programs;
to repair the longstanding disconnect between
• be promoted, pass their classes, and earn
urban schools and the children and families
credits;
they are intended to serve” (Bryk et al. 2009,
• attend school regularly; p. 46). Preparing parents to engage with
• have better social skills, show improved schools in these new ways should be the mis-
behavior, and adapt well to school; sion of the Parent Training Center.
• graduate and go on to post-secondary educa-
tion (Henderson & Mapp 2002).
Evaluations of the parent leader- Evaluations of This report is organized into the following sec-
the parent tions:
ship and training programs found leadership and 1. The mandates in the New York Senate law
training pro- 2. Results of the scan of related programs
positive effects on participants’
grams profiled
3. Brief descriptions of leading national exam-
in this report
ples of parent leadership training programs
attitudes, expectations, and
found positive
and their relationship to the New York Sen-
effects on par-
behaviors that are linked to ate law
ticipants’ atti-
4. Key practices of these programs that are
tudes, expecta-
improved student achievement. associated with their success
tions, and
5. Recommendations for the design and imple-
behaviors that
mentation of the Center
are linked to improved student achievement.
In addition, studies of the Parent Institute for
Quality Education in California found that
participants’ children had significantly higher
grades and fewer absences, as well as higher
enrollment in college prep courses and higher
graduation rates, than students in the compari-
son group.
The potential of parent leadership training for
improving schools and student outcomes
makes it imperative that the new Parent Train-
ing Center be designed and implemented
thoughtfully, carefully, and with close collabo-
ration between CUNY and the New York City
Department of Education (NYCDOE). The
recommendations presented at the conclusion
of this report are grounded in the research on
successful programs and in parent and advo-
cate input at a policy forum convened by the
Annenberg Institute for School Reform.1
1On December 14, 2009, the Annenberg Institute for School
Reform convened a Policy Conversation at the CUNY Professional
Staff Congress about the Parent Training Center. The two pan-
elists, Zakiyah Ansari and Kim Sweet, as well as many partici-
pants, offered several excellent ideas about how the Parent Train-
ing Center should be developed. These ideas are incorporated
into this publication, particularly the recommendations section.
2 Building Local Leadership for Change: A National Scan of Parent Leadership Training Programs