Doing what matters most Presentation National Parents Council Primary Dublin

 Independent, charitable  Works to ensure public education can realize its promise  Uses research and evidence to “connects the dots” – between strong education and prosperous and fair society  Works to engage parents, teachers, school boards, universities, government, media in broad public dialogue about public education  Funded by foundations, government, donors WHO IS PEOPLE FOR EDUCATION?

ONTARIO

 Overall 28% of Ontarians are foreign-born  2 million students from Kindergarten to Grade 12  5000 schools in a geographic region about 15X the size of Ireland – bigger than France and Spain combined  95% of Ontario’s students attend publicly funded schools – public, Catholic and French  Ontario students consistently in the top 10 on PISA The Ontario Context

ONTARIO’S EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURE Provincial government controls funding, curriculum, policy 72 school boards, with elected trustees, elected/appointed Parent Involvement Committees 72 school boards, with elected trustees, elected/appointed Parent Involvement Committees 5000 schools each with a school council – majority parents

Parents: doing what matters most 1. Have high expectations  Consistently communicate belief in potential  Consistently communicate expectation of academic success  Not about marks – about expectation to work hard

Parents: doing what matters most 2. Talk about school  Home discussions impact: o more than monitoring homework or restricting TV o more than volunteering o more than limiting time kids can go out during the week

Parents: doing what matters most 3. Build positive attitudes and strong work habits  Help your child to build his/her own capacity to: o Persist o Ask for help o Plan ahead o Deal with difficulty and conflict o Handle distractions o Negotiate crises of confidence

Parents: doing what matters most 4. Read together (in any language)  Don’t teach children to read, instead: o Read for fun o Read to them even when they already know how o Read every night o Start when they’re babies and keep doing it until they leave home

Click this link to see a video clip entitled ‘Helping your kids succeed in school’this link

School councils What the policy mandates:  “the purpose of the school council is, through the active participation of parents, to improve student achievement and enhance accountability of education system to parents”  Each school council receives $500 per year What parents say about their role (survey of 900 councils)  47% ranked communication as most important role  13% ranked improving student achievement

School councils Where school councils spend most of their time:  fundraising What school councils say are biggest challenges:  Getting parents to come to meetings  Capacity to do the work expected, and inexperience  Disconnect between most important role and what they spend the most time on People for Education’s recommendation:  Shift policy mandate of school councils to communication

Parent Involvement Committees What the policy mandates:  “The purpose of a parent involvement committee is to support, encourage and enhance parent engagement at the board level in order to improve student achievement and well-being.”  Each Parent Involvement Committee receives $5000 per year plus $0.17 per student. For some boards this can total as much as $50,000 per year. (€36,500)

Parent Involvement Committees Greatest successes:  Provides a “parent voice” at the school board level  Allows pooling of resources and information  Ability to provide things such as: o Parent engagement symposiums o School council appreciation dinners o Parent conferences, workshops and webinars

Parent Involvement Committees Greatest challenges:  Recruiting and maintaining members  lack of effective system to communicate with school councils  Lack of diversity of members  Too much school board control

Parent Reaching Out Grants Grants provided by the province to:  encourage parent engagement at the local, regional and provincial levels, by identifying barriers and finding solutions to involve more parents in support of student achievement and well-being. o Up to $1,000 (€750) per school council o Up to $30,000 (€22,500) per regional group or Parent Involvement Committee

Parent Reaching Out Grants Most common initiatives: 1. Supporting well-being: o nutrition, physical fitness, bullying and safety, mental health and resiliency, and safe use of technology. o reducing obstacles parents face to ensuring that their children used technology, such as social media, safely at home o parenting skills for supporting students’ mental health

Parent Reaching Out Grants Most common initiatives: 2. Skills for Home Learning o information and training to parents on general skills for learning at home o supporting students in math o supporting student literacy 3. Enhancing access to resources and services o translating school websites and newsletters o hiring interpreters.

Parent Reaching Out Grants Most common initiatives: 4. Parenting Education and Transition Support o parenting training and education for both child and adolescent development, such as parent-child interactions and home discipline o building parents’ capacity to support students at transitional points, including transitions from home to kindergarten, middle to high school, and high school to a post-secondary destination

Parent Reaching Out Grants Most common initiatives: 4. Parenting Education and Transition Support o parenting training and education for both child and adolescent development, such as parent-child interactions and home discipline o building parents’ capacity to support students at transitional points, including transitions from home to kindergarten, middle to high school, and high school to a post-secondary destination

What’s next? Measuring What Matters  Develop broader goals and measures of success in education: o Creativity o Citizenship o Health – mental and physical o Social-emotional development o Quality learning environments

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