Parent Involvement

The Future of School Psychology Task Force on Family-School Partnership Margaret Beebe-Frankenberger University of Montana Gloria Miller University of Denver Lisa Persinger Tucson Unified School District (AZ)

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Parent Involvement – PI Module Overview

Parent Involvement – PI Definitions and Rationale  PI Relative to the Family School Partnerships  Characteristics of PI  Our Module definition  Three Evidence-based PI interventions   Parent Tutoring (PT)  Parents Encourage Pupils (PEP)  Reciprocal Peer Tutor and Parent Involvement (RPT-PI) Enhancing PI & tying to a 3-tier delivery model  Further Resources

Family School Partnerships - FSP

 A FSP is a relationship involving close cooperation between parties having joint rights and responsibilities.  Effective FSPs enhance success for students and improve children’s academic, social, emotional and behavioral experiences and outcomes.

(Christenson & Sheridan, 2001)

Review of the Characteristics for Effective Family-School Partnerships

        Parents are viewed as empowered partners .

Interactions among partners are directional.

collaborative and bi Relationships are cooperative, interdependent , and balanced .

Maintenance of a positive relationship is a priority.

Services provided are flexible, responsive , and proactive .

Differences in perspectives are seen as strengths.

There is a commitment to cultural competence .

There is an emphasis on outcomes and goal attainment.

(Sheridan, 2004)

Review of the Characteristics for Effective Family-School Partnerships

 STOP here and Review:  the “M & M’s of Parenting and Partnering”, see Slide 8 and Activity 1 of the Family-School Partnerships Overview.

 “Developing Pathways to Partnerships”, see Slide 32 and Handout #11 of the Family-School Partnerships Overview.

Review of Effective Methods for a Multicultural Approach to Partnerships  STOP and Review the Creating Partnerships with Culturally Diverse Families in Module 1  Specific to PI interventions, please use techniques and methods shown on:  Slide 10: Building trusting relationships  Slide 11: Address diversity directly  Slide 12: Implement a family-centered approach  Slide 13: Enhance Communication  Slide 14: Enhance Communication (cont’d)

Parent Involvement Definitions

 The participation of significant caretakers in the educational process of their children in order to promote academic and social well-being (Wolfendale, 1983).  A school-initiated and directed engagement of the parent that, under optimal conditions, evolves into a home-school partnership working towards a mutually agreed upon goal with shared responsibilities that results in positive student/child outcomes (Christenson, 1995).  The active engagement in home, school, and community activities initiated and maintained by the parent that supports the healthy development of their child(ren) (Epstein, 1986, 1995).

Epstein’s 6 PI Categories

(1987; 1995)      

Parenting

– parents provide for basic needs: food, shelter, emotional support Communicating – stay in contact methods that help parents and schools

Learning at Home

interact, monitor, or assist children in educationally related activities - home practices in which parents

Volunteering and/or Attending

- parents coming into the school setting to either help or support

Decision Making

- parents participating in parent-teacher organizations and school advisory or governance

Community Connections

- parents collaborating with community and other agencies to facilitate students’ education

Evolving Definitions

 Over time PI has changed from exclusive focus on one type of specific activity to a wide range of parent activities that support learning and achievement.

 Now considered a multidimensional concept that can include parent behavioral, personal/emotional, and cognitive/intellectual overt actions and affective experiences in support of a child’s schooling (Grolnick & Slowiaczek, 1994).

Bottom-line

Effective Parent Involvement is designed to extend the education mission of the school to help students be successful by informing and engaging parents in the education of their own child and in school improvement efforts.

Mandates for Parent Involvement

 STOP and Review Family-School Partnerships Overview; history and current federal mandates for PI:  Slide 19: 1975, PL 94-142  Slide 20:  Slide 21: 1986, P.L. 99-457 and IDEA 1997 2002, The No Child Left Behind Act 2004 IDEA Part B and Part C

Characteristics of Effective PI

 Empowers parents as advocates and active participants in the education process.

 Fosters teacher-parent collaborative relationships with a common goal of student success.

 Provides additional support for teachers and students in the classroom.  Facilitates positive parent-child relationships implicitly related to educational success

A Rationale for PI

“No matter how skilled professionals are, or how loving parents are, each cannot achieve alone what the two parties, working hand-in-hand, can accomplish together” .

(Peterson & Cooper, 1989; pp. 229, 208).

Another Rationale for PI

“Specific things families do facilitate a child’s learning & educational success more than specific descriptions of who families are.” (Kellaghan et al., 1993)

Support for PI Child Outcomes

 There is empirical evidence supports the relationship between PI and improvements in school achievement and students’ educational success.  Parent Involvement was found to be the strongest moderator of literacy performance in fifth grade students across both low and high income families (Dearing, Kreider, Simpkins & Weiss, 2006)

Support for PI Parent Outcomes

 Parents indicate more involvement in learning activities at home and more positive attitudes and behavior towards and understanding of the work of schools (Epstein, 1986, 1995).  Contact and communication with educators increases and parents indicate a desire for more involvement (Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997).

 Parents report improved communication with their children, parent-child relationships, and develop effective parenting skills (Becher, 1984);

Support for PI Teacher Outcomes

 PI also improves teacher and staff morale and satisfaction (Becher, 1984).

 PI increases classroom prosocial conduct  PI increases academic achievement in other academic areas. (Heller & Fantuzzo, 1991)

How Parent Involvement Relates to Multi-tiered Family School Partnerships

Tier 3: Intensive, Individual PI Interventions Parents as collaborative partners for individualized intervention for child with poor response to the first two tiers. Examples: parents as academic tutors at home for reading fluency (Parents Encourage Pupils) Tier 2: Targeted Group PI Interventions PI interventions for targeted groups of students identified as “at risk” for specific academic difficulties (ie. Reading, math). Example: Parents assist in reading or math intervention (Parent Tutoring; Reciprocal Peer Tutoring with Parent Involvement)

Tier 3

1-7%

Tier 2

5-15% Tier 1: Universal PI Intervention Engaging parents as collaborative partners by involvement in their child’s education process. Examples: Homework expectations and “stations”; interactive conversations about progress; home rewards

Tier 1

80-90%

Three Evidence-Based Parent Involvement Programs

Fishel & Ramirez, 2005

1.

Parent Tutoring (PT)

 Duvall, Delquadri, Elliott & Hall (1992)  Hook & DuPaul (1999) 2.

Parents Encourage Pupils (PEP)

 Shuck, Ulsh, & Platt (1983) 3.

Reciprocal Peer Tutoring and Parent Involvement (RPT-PI)

 Heller & Fantuzzo, 1991

Evidenced-based Selection Criteria

(Kratochwill & Stoiber, 2002)  Strong empirical/theoretical foundation, design, and statistical qualities.  Demonstrated effectiveness on school-based outcomes OR conducted in a school setting.

 Demonstrated efficacy under the conditions of implementation and practice.

 Evidence of external validity and utility.

 Also see Fishel & Ramirez, 2005

Similarities Across PI Programs

 Utilize collaborative parent-teacher instructional involvement efforts to improve students’ academic success.  Parents learn to directly assist in their child’s education at school and/or at home through academic tutoring approaches.

 Employ parent reinforcement of positive academic behavior through praise, earning points for home/school rewards, and one-on-one parent-child attention.

 Parent-teacher partnerships are primarily directed by teachers and focus on a single specific home-based activity.

Enhancing PI

 Foster bi-directional communication  Enhance problem solving across home and school  Encourage shared decision making  Reinforce congruent home-school support  Consider flex time to accommodate flexible scheduling  Provide workshops and in-service training for teachers  Conduct scheduled home visits  Establish parent centers within schools  Conduct activities/social events to increase parents opportunities to communicate with educators

Enhancing PI

    Establish Universal climate Strategic and intensive – parent involvement is more targeted PI in intervention – increased involvement with risk…produces culturally appropriate and more effective interventions and outcomes Add here…..best practice…next is definition of PI specific to this training module for strategic and intensive interventions

Additional Resources

 The Harvard Family Research Project has compiled and categorized a large body of resources on parent involvement to make it easier to access and use.  This resource guide contains web links to research, information, programs, and tools from over 100 national organizations. It provides information about parenting practices to support children's learning and development, home-school relationships, parent leadership development, and collective engagement for school improvement and reform.  Available online at http://www.gse.harvard.edu/hfrp/projects/fine/resources/guide/guide.ht

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