A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n
Parent and Community Support and Involvement
Thirty years of research make it clear: parents and families are pivotal to children's learning. And no refrain is heard more often, in communities headed toward the National Education Goals, than the African proverb, "It takes an entire village to raise one child."
Your community and schools will want to ask: How can we continuously strengthen our partnerships with parents? How can we build and continuously improve our "whole village" partnership for learning to high standards?
To answer this question, your community and schools may want to examine:
- Early Childhood. Are we focusing public and private resources on helping parents prevent their young children's health problems and intervening early, when necessary? Are we ensuring that day care in our community is developmentally appropriate and supportive of parents? Is every child in our community being read to every day? Is every child being taken to the library, museums, plays, concerts, and other performances and cultural events? Does our community make various efforts to support parents and families of young children, so that every child will enter school ready to learn?
The first three years of life are even more important than we had previously thought, according to an April 1994 report by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The report, Starting Points, reveals that a child's brain development in the first few years is "much more vulnerable to environmental influence than we ever suspected," and this influence is "long lasting." The report also suggests ways your community can promote responsible parenthood, guarantee the availability of quality child care options, ensure good health and safety, and more. For a copy, send a $10.00 check or money order, made out to "Carnegie Corporation of New York," to Carnegie Corporation of New York, P.O. Box 753, Waldorf, MD 20604. For information on bulk rates, call (212) 371-3200.
- Learning at Home. Do families in our community use TV wisely? Do they establish daily routines -- a time for chores, eating meals together, and firm bedtimes? Do parents set a regular time for children to do homework each day, in a well-lit place, free of distractions such as the telephone, radio, and TV? Do families talk regularly with children about what they're learning in school, and about current events, family history, and other topics? Do families take advantage of libraries, museums, and other educational resources in the community?
- Communication Between Home and School. How often do our teachers and parents talk together about how well individual children are doing in school -- good news as well as bad -- and about how improvements can be made? How can parents and teachers better communicate to help children learn more?
- Involvement at Home and at School. What are the barriers to getting more parents to help out at school, and how can we overcome these barriers? What are schools doing to make all parents feel welcome at school? What can the schools and various groups in the community do to help keep parents better informed so that families are creating an environment at home that is conducive to learning? What can we do to help all families do things at home to help their children do well in school? Are families looking at report cards and actual student work? Are parents making sure that children always complete homework on time? Do families encourage children to put their best effort into homework? Do parents talk to children regularly -- about schoolwork, books the child is reading, world events, and whatever the youngster wants to talk about? Do parents monitor children's TV-watching? How many parents volunteer at school?
- Technology. Are we using voicemail or other technologies to facilitate communication between parents and teachers? Are we using technology to let parents know immediately when students are absent, to offer tips on how to help with homework, and to provide other information? Are computers in schools linked to computers at home, or to parents' job sites?
- Families Facing Special Challenges. What are we doing to help children -- and the families of children -- who have limited English proficiency, disabilities, and other special needs, so that these students reach high levels of academic learning?
- Grandparents and Senior Citizens. Are grandparents, retired teachers, and other senior citizens tutoring, guest lecturing, working with small groups of students, or helping in other ways in or outside the classroom?
- Employers. What are businesses doing to encourage their employees who are parents to get more involved in their children's education? What leave policies and flex-time arrangements are available to encourage parent participation in the schools? What parent support efforts or programs do employers offer their employees?
- Adult Literacy. What are libraries, employers, community colleges, churches, volunteer organizations, and others doing to ensure that all parents and adults become literate?
- Prevention of Violence and Drug Abuse. To what extent are violence, alcohol, and drug abuse problems in our schools and community? Are unauthorized weapons present in our schools? How safe are our schools? What do students and teachers say? What are we now doing to reduce these problems? What are the media, religious groups, student groups, county organizations, parents, law enforcement, and other groups doing to help? What else do we need to do?
- Community Service. What community service opportunities are available to youngsters and other members of our community? Can students earn credit or postsecondary financial assistance for helping solve community problems? Are we participating in AmeriCorps -- President Clinton's national service program -- or using college work-study students as volunteers in the schools?
- Basic Health and Human Services. What are we doing to make readily available basic health and human services -- such as immunizations, eyeglasses and hearing tests -- for low-income families in our community? Do we have governance mechanisms that encourage coordination and communication among housing, employment, welfare, and other services? Do these service providers get adequate training and opportunities to share information and ideas? Do we collect information on the performance of these services? Is this information reported publicly? Are we holding service providers accountable for results?
- Family and Public Support and Engagement. Are we listening to and involving parents? Are we responding to what we hear? Are we working together to analyze our problems and develop solutions? Are we developing a clear and consistent set of messages? Are we delivering these messages regularly and through multiple media and various forums? Do we report regularly on the performance of students and schools, and on plans to improve performance? Do we inspire willingness to come up with the necessary resources? Do we determine the kinds of involvement needed from individuals, organizations, or groups in the community for particular kinds of efforts (including governance, curriculum development, administrative services, apprenticeship programs, and more)? Are we developing strategies for enlisting that support?
What can parents do at home to help children learn? What can schools do to strengthen partnerships with families? How can businesses and others support family-school partnerships? Secretary Riley has launched a Family Involvement Partnership to encourage families, schools, and communities to develop their own answers. To receive a copy of our report, Strong Families, Strong Schools, call 1-800-USA-LEARN.
[More information from National Parents Information Network]
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