Project Appleseed: Research On Effective Parental Involvement

Hello-

How do schools increase parental involvement? The most recent research on effective parental involvement shows that numerous barriers to involvement exist for both schools and families. Some barriers are created by limited resources, while others originate from the beliefs, perceptions and attitudes of families and school staff (Liontos, 1992).

The most common barriers to family involvement include (Jones, 2001; Baker, 2000; Caplan, 2000; American Association of School Administrators, 1998; Liontos, 1992). :

Lack of teacher time.
Teachers' misperceptions of parents' abilities.
Lack of understanding of parents' communication styles.
Limited family resources, such as transportation and child care.
Parents' lack of comfort at the school.
Tension in relationships between parents and teachers.
Mobility.
Lack of vested interest.
Difficulties of involvement in the upper grades.

Additionally, family involvement programs are often not fully implemented for the following reasons (Drake 2000):

School staff had not been trained to work with families.
Administrators and teachers worried that increased family involvement would add to their already busy schedules.
Educators were concerned that closer relationships with families would mean giving up power and decision-making.
Families were not sure how far they could go in making suggestions or asking questions; they worried that children would be punished for their parents' actions by a teacher or principal who was annoyed or threatened by the parent.

Highlights of some effective practices and successful strategies to increase parent involvement programs - (Blazer 2005), drawing from research by Funkhouse and Gonzalez):

Engage in two-way, regular communication with families.
Start with a needs assessment like our Parental Involvement Checklist for schools and the Parental Involvement Report Card for parents.
Tailor programs to schools' specific needs.
Clarify how parents can be involved in their children's education by asking parents to take the Parental Involvement Pledge.
Foster a climate of mutual respect and trust.
Be respectful of diversity.
Welcome families into the school.

The research identifies certain types of parental involvement and specific strategies as effective in supporting student learning. Increasing the number of contacts between the school and the parent does appear to stimulate parent volunteerism (Feuerstein 2000). He also noted that parent communication with school and parent participation in a PTO/PTA can be influenced by schools. A study (Bourdieu 1990) found that increased school-initiated contact resulted in reciprocal parent contacts. Thus, enhanced school contacts with parents should increase the parents' contacts with school. Creating opportunities to engage parents to a greater degree in school can increase their involvement in the school's organizational structure.

Numerous studies support the idea of engaging families to improve student education and performance (Collins & Whitmore 1995; Henderson & Mapp 2002; and Epstein & Voorhis 2001). Teacher outreach to parents relates significantly to strong and consistent gains in student performance in both reading and mathematics.

It is also well established that high-performing schools that engage family and community share key practices, such as:

Building trusting, collaborative relationships among teachers, families and community members
Respecting family needs as well as ethnic and cultural differences
And embracing a philosophy of partnership in which all stakeholders share power and responsibility.

Traditional parental involvement concerns were spaghetti dinners, bake sales, dances and other small fund-raising activities. Increasingly, the agenda now includes such items as:

Upgrading school facilities with multimillion dollar capital campaigns aimed at high school alumni.
Improving school leadership and staffing
Demanding more challenging courses
Improving curriculum and instructional resources
And controlling (to a degree) and monitoring the spending of school funds.

No Child Left Behind requires every school it serves to form a learning compact like the Parental Involvement Pledge. Research demonstrates that compacts have a greater impact on student learning than other types of home-school interactions (Prospects Study 1993). Principals of schools with compacts and pledges report greater family involvement in homework and more parents reading with children at home. Best of all, schools with the greatest needs seem to benefit the most.

This is a challenging time for our nation's schools. It is important that we tell America's parents that the school improvement wagon train will not make it to the frontier if we leave uninvolved parents behind by the side of the trail. We must constantly reach out to extend and enlarge the family of involved parents. Lifting them up into the wagon train along the way - leaving no parent behind.

Please contact me directly should you have questions about organizing parental involvement in your school.

Very truly yours,
Kevin S. Walker
President & National Director
kevinwalker@projectappleseed.org

P.S. Don't forget that 1% of all Title I funds must be used to organize parental involvement in our schools. Schools reordering the Parental Involvement Toolbox are eligible for discounts of up to 50% off.
Join the Parental Involvement Movement In America.
Get the Parental Involvement Toolbox for Your Schools!
The Parental Involvement Toolbox is Project Appleseed's award winning tool to recruit parent volunteers in public schools.

Parent Volunteer Recruitment Tools

Participate in National Parental Involvement Day and Public School Volunteer Week.
Master copies of the Parental Involvement Pledge for distribution to every student.
The Inventory of Volunteer Interests covering three dozen volunteer activities.
The Parental Involvement Report Card a self diagnostic tool for parents.
Your school's very own Parental Involvement Pledge Online for your school's web site. Bookmark it for every school and home computer!
A Certificate of Parental Involvement for parents and schools.

Staff Support Tools

Suggestions on How To Run A Successful Pledge Campaign.
Twenty-Six Ways to Reach Out to Parents.
Project Appleseed's Newsletter Appleseed Today.
A Certificate of Recognition.
Title I, Parental Involvement Certification
Regular e-mail updates on Project Appleseed and parental involvement best practices.
Sample letters for parent recruitment.

Web-Based Parent Organizing Software
A complete data base for all Pledged volunteers-- parents, grandparents, families and community members!
Monitor Pledge fulfillment activity of each volunteer
Keep detailed information on unique volunteer preferences and abilities...and more!

References

Achieve, Inc. The Expectations Gap: A 50-State Review of High School Graduation Requirements, Washington, D.C., 2004.

Amorosi, S., Binns, K., & Steinberg, A.. (1998). Metropolitan Life Survey of the American Teacher: Building family and school partnerships-- --Views of teachers and students. New York: Louis Harris and Associates.

Baker, A. J. (2000). Parent involvement for the middle level years: Recommendations for schools. Schools in the Middle, 9 (9), 26-30.

Blazer, Christie. (2005). Literature Review on Family Involvement: The Home-School Partnership.

Bowie , L. U.S. Education Chief Urges Making High School Courses More Rigorous, Baltimore Sun, March 15, 2005.

Bourdieu, P. (1990). In other words: Essays towards a reflexive sociology (M. Adamson, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Caplan, J.G. (200). Building Strong Family-School Partnerships to Support High Student Achievement. The Informed Educator Series. Arlington, VA: Educational Research Service.

Chavkin, N. F. (1993). Families and schools in a pluralistic society. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Collins, A., Cooper, J.L., & Whitmore, E. (1995, August 31). Enhancing local involvement in education through quality leadership. Total Quality Leadership for Learning Project. (Cross Case Analysis, p.3). [Report and Recommendations].

Desimone, L. (1999). Linking parent involvement with student achievement: Do race and income matter? Journal of Educational Research, 93 (1), 11-30.

Devaney, B. L., Ellwood, M. R., & Love, J. M. (1997). Programs that mitigate the effects of poverty on children. The Future of Children, 43, 23-31.

Drake, D.D. (2000). Parents and Families as Partners in the Education Process: Collaboration for the Success of Students in Public Schools [Electric version]. ERS Spectrum, 18 (2), 34-39.

Epstein, J. L. (1990). School and family connection: Theory, research, and implication for integrating sociology of education and family. Marriage & Family Review, 12, 99-126.

Esptein, J., & Lee, S. (1995). National patterns of school and family connections in the middle grades. In B. Ryan, T. Adams, R. Gullotta, G. Weissberg, & R. Hampton (Eds.), The family-school connection: Theory, research and practice (pp. 108-154). Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage.

Epstein, J.L., Simon, B.S., and Salinas, K.C. (1997) Involving Parents in homework in the middle grades. Research Bulletin No. 18 http:// www.pdkintl.org/edres/ resbul18.htm.)

Epstein, J. L., & Van Voorhis, F. L. (2001). More than minutes: Teacher's roles in designing homework. Educational Psychologist, 36(3), 181-193.

Funkhouse, J.E., and Gonzalez, M. R. (1007). Family Involvement in Children's Education An Idea Book. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Guillory, John, 91995) Cultural Capital The University of Chicago Press Chicago 60637.

Helco, H. H. 91997). Values underpinning poverty programs for children. The Future of Children, 7, 141-148.

Henderson, A. T. (1987). The Evidence Continues To Grow: Parent Involvement Improves Students. Columbia, MD: National Committee for Citizens Education.

Henderson, A. T., Berla, N. (1995). The family is critical to student achievement. Washington, DC: Center for Law and Education.

Henderson , T.A. and Mapp, Karen L. (2002). A New Wave of Evidence The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, southwest Educational Laboratory.

Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Bassler, O. C., & Burow, R. (1995). Parents' reported involvement in students' homework: Strategies and practices. Elementary School Journal, 95, 435-450.

Hoover-Dempsey, K. V., Battiato, A. C., Walker, J. M. T., Reed, R. P., DeJong, J. M., & Jones, K. P. (2001). Parental involvement in homework. Educational Psychologist, 36, 195-210

McCaleb, S. P. (1994). Building communities of learners: collaboration among teachers, students, families & communities. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Riggins-Newby, C. G. (2004). Developing successful Partnership Programs. Principal, 83, 10-15.

Romanik, Dale (2005) Need for Secondary School Reform Information Capsole, Research Services. M-DCPS

Sui-Chu, E. H., & Willms, J. D. (1996). Effects of parent involvement on eighth-grade achievement. Sociology of Education, 69 (2), 125-141.