Programs Aiming to Support Families’ Involvement Susan A. Dumais, Susan.Dumais@lehman.cuny.edu Lehman College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA 4 July 2018

Lecture Overview Barriers to involvement Suggestions for increasing involvement Research on effectiveness of programs Questions and discussion

Obstacles to Parent Involvement – from Hornby and Lafaele (2011)

Barriers: Individual Parent and Family Factors Parents’ beliefs About what parental involvement should be (lower SES parents tend to see the teachers as the experts and leaders) About their own ability to help their children succeed (problematic if they have had trouble in school themselves) About children’s ability (fixed mindset versus growth mindset) Parents’ perceptions of invitations for involvement Do the schools and teachers seem welcoming to parents and their contributions?

Barriers: Individual Parent and Family Factors, continued Parents’ current life events Education level Single-parent family Work schedules (or unemployment and poverty) Psychological and physical health Class, race, and gender Schools tend to have a middle-class white ideology Different cultures have different values “Parent involvement” is really “mothers’ involvement”

Barriers: Child Factors Age Parents may assume older kids don’t want them to be involved Learning difficulties and disabilities Parents may disagree with teachers about the child’s capabilities or the correct approach to take, making them less likely to be involved Gifts and talents Behavioral problems Parents may want to avoid bad news

Barriers: Parent-Teacher Factors Goals and agendas Teachers and parents may have differing expectations and vested interests Attitudes Teachers may view parents as less able or non-compliant Language What is being said and what is actually meant. Are parents really seen as “partners” by teachers?

Barriers: Societal Factors Historical and demographic factors “Many schools still bear the hallmarks of the formality, inflexibility and timetabling that characterised schooling historically, and which are counterproductive to forming parent–school relationships that require flexibility.” Parents are busier and more stressed out than ever before Political factors Inconsistency within different sections of education legislation and differences between government policy and action regarding parental involvement Teacher training practices Economic factors Parental involvement may not be a priority for budgeting given other constraints

Increasing Involvement: Families, Schools, and Communities as Overlapping Spheres of Influence Joyce Epstein: Sociologist at Johns Hopkins University, expert on parental involvement who has written extensively about School-Family-Community partnerships Epstein’s suggestions for six types of involvement Parenting Communicating Volunteering Learning at home Decision making Collaborating with community

Type 1: Parenting Goal: Help all families establish home environments to support children as students. Sample practices: Suggestions for home conditions that support learning at each grade level. Workshops, videotapes, computerized phone messages on parenting and child rearing at each age and grade level. Parent education and other courses or training for parents (e.g., GED, college credit, family literacy.) Family support programs to assist families with health, nutrition, and other services. Home visits at transition points to pre-school, elementary, middle, and high school. Neighborhood meetings to help families understand schools and to help schools understand families. Expected results for students, parents, and teachers? Potential challenges?

Type 2: Communicating Goal: Design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programs and children's progress Sample practices: Conferences with every parent at least once a year, with follow-ups as needed. Language translators to assist families as needed. Weekly or monthly folders of student work sent home for review and comments. Parent/student pickup of report card, with conferences on improving grades. Regular schedule of useful notices, memos, phone calls, newsletters, and other communications. Clear information on choosing schools or courses, programs, and activities within schools. Clear information on all school policies, programs, reforms, and transitions. Expected results for students, parents, and teachers? Potential challenges?

Type 3: Volunteering Goal: Recruit and organize parent help and support. Sample practices: School and classroom volunteer program to help teachers, administrators, students, and other parents. Parent room or family center for volunteer work, meetings, resources for families. Annual postcard survey to identify all available talents, times, and locations of volunteers. Class parent, telephone tree, or other structures to provide all families with needed information. Parent patrols or other activities to aid safety and operation of school programs. Expected results for students, parents, and teachers? Potential challenges?

Type 4: Learning at Home Goal: Provide information and ideas to families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning. Sample practices: Information for families on skills required for students in all subjects at each grade. Information on homework policies and how to monitor and discuss schoolwork at home. Information on how to assist students to improve skills on various class and school assessments. Regular schedule of homework that requires students to discuss and interact with families on what they are learning in class. Calendars with activities for parents and students at home. Family math, science, and reading activities at school. Summer learning packets or activities. Family participation in setting student goals each year and in planning for college or work. Expected results for students, parents, and teachers? Potential challenges?

Type 5: Decision Making Goal: Include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives. Sample practices: Active PTA/PTO or other parent organizations, advisory councils, or committees (e.g., curriculum, safety, personnel) for parent leadership and participation. Independent advocacy groups to lobby and work for school reform and improvements. District-level councils and committees for family and community involvement. Information on school or local elections for school representatives. Networks to link all families with parent representatives. Expected results for students, parents, and teachers? Potential challenges?

Type 6: Collaborating with Community Goal: Identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices, and student learning and development. Sample practices: Information for students and families on community health, cultural, recreational, social support, and other programs or services Information on community activities that link to learning skills and talents, including summer programs for students. Service integration through partnerships involving school; civic, counseling, cultural, health, recreation, and other agencies and organizations; and businesses. Service to the community by students, families, and schools (e.g., recycling, art, music, drama, and other activities for seniors or others). Participation of alumni in school programs for students. Expected results for students, parents, and teachers? Potential challenges?

Do Involvement Programs help students succeed? Study by Gorard and See (2013) that reviewed research on interventions They searched databases and found 756 reports about parental involvement interventions published between 1990 and 2012 and available in English They included studies that had a robust research design, which limited the number to 68 out of 756 Of the 68 studies that met the inclusion criteria for review, none were of sufficient quality to provide a reliable evaluation of the impact of parental involvement interventions on attainment.

Do Involvement Programs help students succeed Do Involvement Programs help students succeed? Findings from the Gorard and See (2013) report 1. There is no good-quality evidence that parental involvement interventions result in improved educational outcomes, in most age groups and for most approaches. 2. The 68 studies present a mixed and far from encouraging picture for the success of parental involvement interventions. Of the seven studies rated medium quality, four evaluated the same two interventions and suggested positive effects on attainment. One study concluded the programme in question had no effect on attainment, and two evaluations found that the relevant parental involvement programmes may have had a negative effect on the children’s attainment. 3. The most promising phase for parental intervention is pre-school and preparation for primary school. 4. Some specific kinds of intervention have so little evidence of promise that they can be abandoned safely (if the concern is chiefly with academic outcomes).

Do Involvement Programs help students succeed Do Involvement Programs help students succeed? Findings from the Gorard and See (2013) report The intervention with the most promising findings was the Chicago Child-Parent Center (CPC) Program The CPC preschool program is 3 hours daily, for 5 days a week. Centers are located in or close to an elementary school and follow the 9-month school year calendar, with the addition of a summer program. The classroom teacher runs all classes and family services. Most of the family services are focused on increasing involvement in the child’s education at home and in school. Throughout the program, three central features are emphasized: 1) the provision of comprehensive services, 2) parental involvement in school to enhance parent– child interactions and attachment to school, and 3) a child-centered, basic reading and math skills concentration characterized by small class sizes and a high number of adult supervisors to promote individualized attention. 

Chicago Child-Parent Center Program Parental involvement is an underpinning of the program; each parent is required to spend at least a ½-day per week in the center during preschool and kindergarten. Parental involvement can be in the form of acting as a classroom aide, accompanying field trips, using the parent-resource room, participating in reading groups with other parents, or taking trips to the library with teachers or children. The parent program also includes parenting training, home visits, health and nutrition services, and sponsors continuing education courses for parents.  CPC improves cognitive skills, socio-emotional development, kindergarten readiness, and reading and math skills, while reducing grade retention and special education usage among participants (Reynolds 2016). CPC increases parental engagement during and after program completion (Reynolds 2016, Hayakawa 2016), which has been linked to increased student motivation and school achievement (Hayakawa 2013). CPC costs about $5600 per child per year for the preschool component, and $2000 per year for the supplementary school age component.

Questions and Discussion Discussion 1: What kind of interventions and research studies should be developed to truly assess parental involvement? Discussion 2: How can diverse schools encourage involvement while being sensitive to the needs of parents and remaining cost-effective?