Like all seven correlates of Effective Schools Research (Lezotte
& Snyder, 2011), the positive home-school relations correlate is
deceptively simple to describe, but unusually complex to execute across the
diverse student groups that comprise the typical school. For example, when it comes to discipline,
parents usually expect the school’s staff to treat their children as the
parents would treat them at home. In
practice, the variability in parenting styles makes it nearly impossible for educators
to know the types of action that individual parents prefer. What is a teacher to do?
Reflecting
upon the home-school correlate, Lezotte
and Snyder (2011) believe the parent involvement is filled with
paradox. First, when the school has an
open house, parents’ night or parent-teacher conferences, the parents whose
children need such partnerships the least are usually among the first to
come. On the other hand, the parents
whose children would benefit the most from a stronger home-school partnership
often do not come at all. Similarly,
stay-at-home moms and dads can readily visit their children’s classroom during
school hours, whereas parents who work outside the home are limited in their
ability to visit school at such times.
These situations illustrate challenges educators encounter when seeking
to build strong home-school relations, a necessary element in an effective
school.
Leaders
of effective schools use a variety of strategies and provide many opportunities
for parents and caregivers to be involved with their children’s schooling in
order to create a strong partnership that makes student success more
likely. These leaders also recognize
that the absence of desired parental support can not be used as an excuse to
give up on those students. Recognizing
the importance of parent involvement in schooling, early Title I federal
legislation in the United States established provisions for involving
parents in their children’s learning. No Child Left Behind took
parent involvement a step further and specifically defined it as “the
participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication
involving student academic learning and other school activities” (U.S. DoE,
2004). Under this law, schools receiving
Title I funding were required to adopt specific strategies for involving
parents in their children’s schooling, including parents who traditionally had
not participated with the schools due to cultural, language, socioeconomic, or
other barriers.
For
example, schools and districts with large numbers of English language
learners have been required to offer written school policies in the
students’ home languages. NCLB has made
it clear that building the capacity of parents to be involved in their
children’s education was a priority by requiring schools and districts to spend
a significant portion of their Title I dollars on doing just that. Such a school-parent compact exemplifies the
importance attached to parent involvement in schools.
While
generalizations are always tricky, it is generally true that levels of parental
support are stronger with elementary students (Sheldon
& Van Voorhis, 2004). As
students’ progress to middle or high school, parental partnership in pursuit of
the school mission is more difficult to achieve and maintain. Schools with high concentrations of minority
or low-income students, as well as those with a significant number of English language
learners, also have lower levels of parental involvement, as well as lower
educational expectations of their children (Lee
& Bowen, 2006). Many reasons
account for the lack of parent involvement among these groups Such parents may feel unwelcome because of
their own educational experiences, feel culturally out of touch with the school
staff, or have work schedules that prohibit active participation in school
activities . (Sanders,
Allen-Jones, & Abel, 2002). Because
these parents struggle with their own educational deficits or difficulties with
English, it is essential for schools to teach such parents about what to do to optimize
the available help to promote their children’s learning.
To Cite:
Anderson,
C.J. (November 7, 2013) Improving
parental partnership to optimize student learning. [Web log post]
Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
Retrieved from http://www.ucan-cja.blogspot.com/
Reference:
children.
American Educational Research Journal,
43, 193-218
Lezotte, L. W. (1991) Correlates
of Effective Schools: The First and Second Generation.
Lezotte,
L. W., & Snyder, K. M. (2011). What effective schools do:
Re-envisioning the correlates. Bloomington,
IN:
Solution
Tree Press.
Sanders, M. G., Allen-Jones, G. L. And Abel, Y. (2002),
Involving Families and Communities in the Education of
Children and Youth Placed At Risk. Yearbook of the National Society for the
Study of Education, 101: 171–188.
doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7984.2002.tb00081.x
Sheldon, S.B., & Epstein,
J.L. (2006) Getting students to school: using family and community involvement
to reduce
chronic
absenteeism. The School Community Journal
Retrieved from:
