A 10 Step Family Engagement Plan for Schools

Put Your Parental Involvement Pledge Into Action
The most important and most effective way to get the word out about the Parental Involvement Pledge is to use it in all parts of your school program. Make the Parental Involvement Pledge an integral point of reference for all that you do at your school. In this way, all partners will understand how their commitments and their actions contribute to improved student learning and high achievement for all students. Here are some ways you can make your Parental Involvement Pledge count.

Use the Pledge to:

• Discuss student progress during parent-teacher conferences.
• Explain the school's high academic standards and high expectations for all students.
• Help launch programs for family involvement.
• Support training for teachers and other staff to work effectively with families.
• Complement school improvement plans.
• Help partners discuss their responsibilities in meeting the goals of the school.

Engagement Starts With You

One of the biggest challenges will be keeping people's attention on the Parental Involvement Pledge once you launch it. Your Parental Involvement Pledge partners will need constant reminders of how their daily activities -- whether helping a student with homework or attending a meeting at school -- fulfill the commitments in the Parental Involvement Pledge.

Successful school-family partnerships require the sustained mutual collaboration, support, and participation of school staffs and families at home and at school in activities that can directly affect the success of children's learning. If families are to work with schools as full partners in the education of their children, schools must provide them with the opportunities and support they need for success.

• About 8 out of 10 principals in high-poverty Title I schools rated compacts as helpful, as did a majority of principals in low-poverty schools.

• Across all schools, about 30 percent of the principals considered compacts “very helpful”.
  

• Principals perceived compacts as having the greatest impact on homework completion, school climate, student discipline, and reading at home—factors that are amenable to intervention by school-family partnership activities.

Recruit Parent Volunteers Utilizing The Pledge

Almost every day, citizens are urged to lend a hand at schools. Educators welcome volunteers, but we all know that good volunteer programs don't happen by accident. Schools that are most successful in engaging parents and other family members in support of their children's learning look beyond traditional definitions of parent involvement-participating in a parent teacher organization or signing quarterly report cards-to a broader conception of parents as full partners in the education of their children.

Rather than simply asking and expecting parents to volunteer in schools, use the Parental Involvement Pledge to canvass the entire school-community during the school year and into the next. Below are some action steps that can be used to make your Parental involvement Pledge effort a big success. Some steps may not apply to your school or district.

1. Parent/Teacher Conferences

The process can begin with the distribution of the Parental Involvement Pledge -- with a cover letter (download sample cover letter) -- at parent/teacher conferences. (Required by Title I, Section 1118, Elementary and Secondary Education Act, No Child Left Behind. Pledge rate of return more than 35%).

2.a. Mail Distribution Along With.....

Parental Involvement Pledge are sent to parents by U.S. Mail with with a self-addressed return envelope. Now only if someone would call these parents to remind them to return the Pledge!

2.b. ....Recorded Phone Calls

While Parental Involvement Pledges are distributed by U.S. Mail, the school/district telephone auto-dialer, normally used for attendance calls, could be used to call parents to remind them to volunteer by completing the mailed Parental Involvement Pledge and returning them to school. Recorded message should be from the principal or superintendent. If the school has no auto-dailer, let your fingers do the walking! Call the parents using live people! (Pledge rate of return is expected to exceed 20%)

3. Data Base Engagement

Input all parents who take the Pledge into Project Appleseed's Parent Organizing Database 1.0.1 software runs on any Windows computer, and is easy enough for everyone to learn. Features List.

4. Student Backpack Distribution

Pledges can be sent home with the students. Compliance by students will be weak so incentives should be considered for the teacher or staff member who returns the highest number of Pledges (Rate of return is not expected to exceed 10%)

5. Reprint the Pledge In Newsletters

A full-page or half-page reprint of the Parental Involvement Pledge in the schools newsletter will raise awareness about your school's Parental Involvement Pledge drive (Rate of return is expected to be 1% to 2%).

6. Live Phone Calls

Live phone calls should be made to parents asking them to volunteer by taking the Pledge over the phone (Positive response rate exceeding 30%).

7. Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parental Involvement Pledges are again distributed at the next parent/teacher conferences.

8. Home Visits/Door-to-Door Canvassing

Weekend door-to-door canvassing will also be a valuable technique in recruiting parent volunteers for hard to reach parents.

9. Computer Open House

At school open houses parents can take the Pledge on-line through any school computers connected to the Internet.

 

10. Repeat Action Steps Again

Did you get the number volunteers that you wanted? Repeat this process over and over until it becomes a regular part of your school's culture.

 
Get the Word Out
Today, everyone is overwhelmed with information, and many people have trouble listening to any message closely. Experts say that it often takes eight reminders or notices for someone to say finally, "I've heard of that." When spreading the word about the Parental Involvement Pledge and encouraging people to support it, be patient: you can count on having to remind people many times. Identify and seek out those in the school community who need to endorse the Parental Involvement Pledge to make it work: teachers, school staff, parents, students, professionals and business people, the superintendent, the school board, the mayor, and others. Keep track of how many times you disseminate information about the Parental Involvement Pledge and how you do it, so that you can pinpoint the most successful means of communicating the message of shared responsibility. Remind your partners that the Parental Involvement Pledge is more than a piece of paper, that it is an action plan for student success and school improvement.

Here are some ways to publicize the Parental Involvement Pledge

• Include the Parental Involvement Pledge in the school newsletter.
• Send home copies with students.
• Attach it to the weekly lunch menu.
• Send home flyers telling parents about your school's Parental Involvement Pledge On-line. Link it to your school's Web site where people can share what they are doing to support a partnership for learning.
• Send e-mail messages to parents, employers, and other community organizations about how they can get involved.
• Start a listserv for Parental Involvement Pledge partners.
• Add information about the Parental Involvement Pledge partnership to the schools voice-mail system.
• Send out a mailing to the community.
• Print the Parental Involvement Pledge in the local newspaper.
• Get the community involved through neighborhood get-together.
• Do a speaking tour of local groups and community organizations.
• Host a special event on the Parental Involvement Pledge in conjunction with parent-teacher conferences.

Your Parental Involvement Pledge can be as far-reaching as you would like. Whatever you choose to do, link the Parental Involvement Pledge to action so that families, school staff, and the community see how the Parental Involvement Pledge can work to make things happen in your school.

Press release writing tips that get your Parental Involvement Pledge news noticed.

Whether your group is an individual school or an entire school district, effective use of the Parental Involvement Pledge includes community outreach. Consider sending a one-page press release to the newspapers, television and local radio stations announcing the distribution of the Parental Involvement Pledge. Invite all interested parents to take the Parental Involvement Pledge and to contact your school(s). Discover what's newsworthy about parental involvement in your school so you draw the proper attention to your release. And learn how to get your releases into the hands of the right editors.

rovide the Necessary Support

Your Parental Involvement Pledge is an evolving plan. It is important to decide each year how to support it. One way to ensure that the Parental Involvement Pledge is used is to make it part of your school's annual plan -- supported by financial resources. Allocating resources makes a strong statement about a school's priorities and its commitment to family involvement.

What do you need to make the Parental Involvement Pledge work?

• Training for teachers and school staff, including release time.
• Resources for parents: workshops, mailings, a newsletter, a parent library, a parent coordinator.
• Communications technology: a homework help line, an interactive voice mail system, an informational phone tree, a Web site.

*All school districts are now required to reserve "not less" than 2 percent of the Title I funds received (unless this amount is $50,000 or less) to support these activities, including family literacy and parenting classes. In addition, school districts, at their own discretion or at the request of constituents, may provide more than the minimum funds for these activities.