Parental Engagement- Teachers and Administrators

This page includes a number of resources for teachers interested in understanding and expanding on each other's roles in an education environment.

Resources For Teachers:

Websites:

Important Things to Remember

http://www.ncpie.org/Resources/ParentsFamilies.cfm

This is a resource website for parents and families, and is made up of different resources offered by various education and parent organizations. Included among the resources are books, pamphlets and information brochures, videos, and other multimedia materials. The groups include resources ranging from working with exceptional children to discipline tips to improving a child’s literacy and/or other content areas in school to helping children with social-emotional issues. While some of the resources must be purchased, there are a number of them that are free. Not only would this be a great website to share with parents and guardians, but it is a wonderful site for teachers as well, as they could possibly take the initiative and order some of these resources to have available in their classrooms for parents. There is a wealth of information on this site, but it is worth giving it a thorough look.

Parent's Blog

This is a blog website, where parents can post questions, articles, or just topics of discussion and voice their opinions while also being able to access and read other parents’ postings. The subject of the blog is Parents’ Role in Education, and it offers topics such as homework help, teacher conferences, and finding outside resources to educate your children, to name just a few. Parents relating to parents find they have a lot in common in their children’s education, and can make comments on other parents’ posts. A wonderful resource to stay in communication with parents across the nation in the world of education. Teachers and administrators should recommend this or something similar to their students’ parents as a resource.

http://www.sandiegodialogue.org/pdfs/Parental%20Involvement%20doc.pdf

This website demonstrates how to improve school-parent and school-community relationships. It discusses in-depth the six types of involvement that are necessary for success (communication, volunteering, parenting, learning at home, decision-making, and learning support roles) as well as great ideas to help your school get started on the road to success with these types of involvement.

Articles:
Note: If you cannot access these through the Miami University server, you can sign up for a free trial at www.ebsco.com.

Getting Parents Involved: Ideas for School. Reading Today, Apr/May98, Vol. 15 Issue 5, p8.

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This article stresses the fact that to in order to be successful with parent involvement, the teacher must see the parent as a full partner in the education of children. Communication, flexibility, diversity, and understanding that there is no “one size fits all” approach to partnerships with parents are crucial. To accomplish this, training and staff development is an essential investment, and the article details how this can be achieved. In addition, assessment of the partnership must be done in order to measure the effects of involvement.

Parental Involvement in Education Among Low-Income Families: A Case Study

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      This article, by Jane Graves Smith, is available through the Miami University Libraries Education Research Complete database. This case study has great information for educators, and also includes recommendations for involving parents in low-income school settings. Following is an abstract of the article, written by the author:
      “In order to explore parental involvement among low-income families, a case study was conducted at a public elementary school in the Pacific Northwest. In 2002, a new school replaced an outdated structure. During the planning stage for the new school, community members and agency professionals, along with educators, developed and implemented programs to both support families and engage them in their children's education. Utilizing qualitative research methods, interviews, observations, and document reviews were conducted with the intention of investigating the impact of efforts undertaken to involve parents at the new school. The study found that the development and implementation of intentional parental involvement strategies positively influenced the level of parental involvement. In addition, participants perceived numerous benefits to students and families resulting from strategies implemented and the related involvement. Parental involvement strategies also influenced educator's perceptions of acceptable parental involvement behaviors, with interviewees recognizing a broad array of behaviors as involvement in education.,” (Smith 2006).

Bailey, Lora. Interactive Homework: A Tool for Fostering Parent-Child Interactions and Improving Learning Outcomes for At-risk Young Children. Early Childhood Education Journal, Oct2006, Vol. 34 Issue 2, p155-167.

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      This article discusses the importance of parent training in order to increase parent-child interactions, and how these interactions can immensely aid in a child’s academic success. Schools should provide workshops and information for parents to help them work most effectively with their child, and this article will help teachers and schools get this crucial program started.

Cooperman, Saul. Good Families Make Good Schools. Education Week, 1/24/2007, Vol. 26 Issue 20, p38-39.

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This article, written by Saul Cooperman, discusses the importance of parent and family involvement in the schools. It can be found through the Miami University Libraries Education Research Complete database. Following is an abstract of the article, written by the author:
“The article reports that spending large amounts of money on schools and education does not ensure academic achievement, as proven by New Jersey's experience. The author acknowledges that existing goals, such as careful supervision, accountability, and good practices, are important, but states that ultimately it is parent and community involvement that will make a difference in U.S. schools. The author cites work by John Ogbu and Leonard Pitts to support his argument,” (Cooperman 2007).

Flood, James; Lapp, Diane. “I Never Knew I Was Needed Until You Called!”: Promoting Parent Involvement in Schools. Reading Teacher, Apr95, Vol. 48 Issue 7, p614.

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This article explains the different reasons that parents don’t get involved. These are very important views to take into consideration when developing ways to improve parental involvement. Parents assist and support instruction in three ways: as teaching partners, resources, and at-home teachers. Flood and Lapp go on to specify ways to reach out to parents and get them involved in the classroom, doing things such as sharing integrated language experiences for ESL families, tutoring, sharing ideas, events, journals and memories.

Machen, Sandra M.; Wilson, Janell D.; Notar, Charles E. Parental Involvement in the Classroom. Journal of Instructional Psychology, Mar2005, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p13-16.

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Parental involvement is crucial to students’ success. This article provides details of an actual research study on parental involvement that found that when barriers to involvement were removed, then parents became much more interactive with their children and the school. Ways that barriers can be removed include providing transportation and childcare services, home visits, and adult education classes.

Padgett, Raven; Padgett, Raven. Best Ways to Involve Parents. Education Digest, Nov2006, Vol. 72 Issue 3, p44-45.

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This article, written by Raven Padgett, includes suggestions for ways to involve parents in their child’s education. Among these recommendations are the use of technology, which can be supplemented by the websites listed above. This article can be found through the Miami University Libraries Education Research Complete database. Following is an abstract of the article, written by the author:
“The article focuses on the importance of parent participation in schools, and suggests ways to involve parents. The benefits of parent participation, including improved attendance and positive behavior, are cited. The author suggests setting goals, identifying potential communication or transportation issues, and including the parent in the learning process. Technology also plays a role in linking parents and teachers and administrators: websites and blogs are also cited as methods by which parents became involved. Other examples are provided by school administrators and the National School Public Relations Association,” (Padgett 2006).

Vandegrift, Judith A.; Greene, Andrea L. Rethinking Parent Involvement. Educational Leadership, Sep92, Vol. 50 Issue 1, p57.

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Vandegrift and Greene provide information about an actual program set up by a school called the Arizona At-Risk Pilot Project, which suggests the importance of “meeting parents where they are.” This project consists of evaluating parent involvement programs in 55 school districts throughout Arizona. One program of this project had older students in a drama group write and perform vignettes in which they acted out their feelings and reflected the consequences of negative parental behavior. Their performances are then part of an “Awards Night” program sponsored by the school. Many parents changed their behaviors as a result of seeing kids’ feelings acted out on stage. In addition to this program, schools can also hire parent advocates and offer ESL classes for parents. These are just a few of the ideas offered in this article.

Ohio Department of Education

"Learning and Growing Together includes a series of fun and practical online resources for families, including information about your child's development, guides on preparing for school, ways to enhance early learning and more."

Research on Family Involvement

Research findings on parental involvement in the areas of raising test scores, low socioeconomic families, literacy, and father and mother engagement, and teachers.
Parental Engagement in a Foreign Language Classroom

Parental involvement in school activities such as reading and math is relatively easy to achieve, since adults have had some exposure to these disciplines. Reinforcing the learning that occurs during the Foreign Language lesson, however, will be problematic if no one in the family speaks those languages. This link tells why studying a Foreign Language is important, its benefits, how to help at home even if parents do not know the language, and online resources that parents and students can use at home.This page includes a number of resources for teachers interested in understanding and expanding on each other's roles in an educational environment.

Home & School Connection is a great resource to bridge the gap between home and school.