+ Collective, Reciprocal, & Relational: From Parent Involvement to Equitable Collaboration Dr. Ann M. Ishimaru Assistant Professor Principal Investigator, Equitable Parent-School Collaboration Research Project 1 January 2015 ELTEP Gathering College of Education University of Washington with Dawn Williams & Nathanie Lee, EPSC Research Team Veronica Abraham & Teresa Linders, Kent-UW Design Team

+ “Best” Practices in Involvement s Website Flyers in the backpacks School newsletter Family Nights (e.g., Math Night, College Access Night, etc.) PTO/PTA meetings Principal Coffee “Open door” policies 2 Elementary schools with strong parent-community ties were “ten times more likely to improve in math and four times more likely to improve in reading than schools weak on this measure.” (Bryk et al., 2010)

+ In your experience & setting... Who reads these notices and attends these events? Who sets the agenda? What is the underlying goal of these activities?

+ Well-documented Barriers to Participation Language barriers Cultural issues Time/resource issues (work schedules, childcare, transportation, family routines, etc.) Bureaucratic nature of schools Perceived lack of respect from school staff, unwelcoming climates Inauthentic opportunities for participation Minimal opportunities to influence decisions 4

+ Missing the mark? Many well-intentioned partnerships built on a traditional model of parent involvement: Imply that low achievement by struggling students originates in their parents (parents as the problem). Focus exclusively on addressing barriers to engagement through efforts to change marginalized parents and communities to conform to existing educator expectations and school practices. Assume schools are neutral spaces that treat all parents and communities equally – downplaying issues of power, race, class, culture, and language. 5

+ “Next” Practices? Best practices in education will only get us so far.... we need to identify and enact “next” practices – innovations that represent new ways of approaching old problems (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). 6

+ Reframing our approach Parent Involvement: “Hard-to-reach” parents 7 Equitable Collaboration: “Challenging-to-access” schools/school systems

+ Research on Next Practices 8 Community organizing for education reform “Collective impact” efforts strategies to move towards more equitable collaborations...

+ PARENT INVOLVEMENTEQUITABLE COLLABORATION GOALS: Individualistic interventions to impart information GOALS: Systemic change in a culture of collective responsibility ROLES: Nondominant parents as passive clients or beneficiaries ROLES: Nondominant parents as educational leaders who help shape the agenda STRATEGIES: Create structures and programs STRATEGIES: Build capacity and relationships CONTEXT: Focus on schools in isolation. CONTEXT: Address broader community issues. From “Best” to “Next”… 9

+ Pyramid of Strategies

+ Involvement  Collaboration Individualistic  COLLECTIVE 15 min. parent-teacher conference vs. Spaces where parents can share common experiences and learn together about improving the school. Unidirectional  RECIPROCAL Newsletters/flyers/robocalls to TELL parents information vs. Home visits or meetings to learn from parents to improve teaching Unilateral (power)  RELATIONAL Teacher sets the agenda & parents support it vs. Parents come together with teachers & act to improve the school 11

+ UW-Kent School District Parent Curriculum Design Team

+ Lesson Topics Effective Communications, Part I Effective Communications, Part II Ensuring Academic Success Addressing Bullying Developing Children’s Positive Racial & Cultural Identities Parent Advocacy and Leadership

Examples of Practices on the Continuum Involvement Collaboration Best PracticesNext Practices Share information about teaching and learning in the school or district newsletter in multiple languages Ask parents to share information about their children to inform and improve instruction Provide English language classes, computer training, or better parenting workshops for parents Engage parent and community resources, develop parent/community capacity to facilitate culturally- appropriate workshops for other parents Design programs and interventions to address individual student/family needs and issues Build relationships between parents and capacity to address systemic inequities that underlie collective needs/issues. Invite parents to participate in onsite meetings and convey decisions made with written memos in multiple languages. Engage parents in setting the agenda and leading parts of meetings in their own language, with translation for educators and others.