Parent Involvement Plan

Smithville Independent School District
Parent Involvement Plan - 2001
(Revised December 2005)

WHAT RESEARCH SAYS ABOUT PARENT INVOLVEMENT

Parent Involment (as defined by the National PTA) is the participation of parents in every facet of the education and development of children from birth to adulthood, recognizing that parents are the primary influence in their children’s lives. Parent involvement takes many forms, including parents’ shared responsibilities in decisions about their children’s education, health and well-being, as well as parent’s participation in organizations that reflect the community’s collaborative aspirations for all children.

Parents help their children have success in school by daily…encouraging, listening, monitoring, praising, reacting and discussing, not necessarily "teaching" school subjects.

Involvement should not be limited to volunteering or attending school-sponsored events. The broad view of involvement affirms the parent’s role as the child’s primary teacher and the home as the child’s first classroom (Barbour, 1966).

Involving every family in a child’s education is an important piece of improving that child’s learning, according to research by Joyce Epstein, director of the Center for School, Family, and Community Partnerships at John Hopkins University in Baltimore.

The framework of parental involvement includes the following:

Parenting—help all families establish home environments to support children as students;

Communicating—design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communications about school programs and children’s progress;

Volunteering—recruit and organize parent help and support;

Learning at home—provide information and ideas to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning;

Decision making—include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives;

Collaborating with community—identify and integrate resources and services from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices, and student learning and development.

What families do to help their children learn is even more important to their academic success than how well-off the family is (Walberg, 1994).

When families are involved in their children’s education in positive ways, children achieve higher grades and test scores, have better attendance at school, complete more homework, demonstrate more positive attitudes and behavior, graduate at higher rates, and have greater enrollment in higher education (Becher 1984, Ballen and Moles 1966).

Every research study on parent involvement conducted in the past 20 years has shown the same result: parent involvement increases student achievement and self-esteem. Research has shown this to be true in large and small communities; from preschool through high school; in poor and affluent areas; and in urban, rural and suburban communities. (TEA Manual-the Parent Involvement and Community Empowerment Initiative)

CONCERNS AT THE UPPER GRADES:

Research shows that there is an inadequate level of Parent Involvement, especially in the upper grades (Binns, Steinburg, and Amorosi 1998).

In the upper grades, teachers report that (1) there is a greater number of uninvolved parents and (2) a lack of parental support especially in doing schoolwork at home.

In the middle grades, teachers report that (1) parents do not devote enough time to their children’s education; (2) parents attend only one or two meeting at school after the school year begins; (3) parents do not visit their children’s classes; (4) parents do not contact their child’s school about their academic progress; and (5) parents do not talk to school officials about academic programs at the different grade levels.

BARRIERS: (What keeps parents from participating in their child’s education?)

Many parents, especially those employed outside the home, do not have enough time.

Many parents feel ill-informed about how and why academic decisions are made about their children.

Some parents feel that educators do not care about their opinions or concerns.

Teachers do not have enough time to maintain communication with parents and involve them in school activities.

Teachers receive little training in how to effectively involve parents (American Association for the Advancement of Science 1996; National Center for Education Statistics 1998).

In some schools that have high proportions of poor or minority students, a barrier may be lack of parent education to help with schoolwork.

Cultural/socio-economic and language differences between parents and staff.

Parent and staff attitudes.

Perceived lack of safety in the school area after school hours.

PRINCIPLES FOR BUILDING EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES FOR PARENT INVOLVEMENT PROGRAMS:

The school must operate from principles that respect the unique role of the parent in a child’s home-school relationship.

All parents have strengths and should know they are valued.

All parents can make a contribution to their child’s education and to the school program.

All parents have the capacity to learn developmental and educational techniques to help their children.

All parents have a perspective on their children that can be important and useful to teachers.

Parent-child relationships are different from teacher-child relationships.

Parents should be consulted in all decisions about parental involvement.

All parents really do care about their children (Becher 1984).

Parent involvement is most effective when it is comprehensive, well-planned, and long lasting, and when it takes a positive approach, rather than focusing on remedial intervention. Parents do not have to be well-educated in order to help; in fact, children from low-income and minority families have the most to gain when schools involve parents.

WHAT ARE WE CURRENTLY DOING?

Listed below are the activities as they relate to the six areas in the framework of parental involvement.

P-Parenting CM-Communicating V-Volunteering
L-Learning at Home D-Decision Making C-Collaborating

DISTRICT LEVEL

(CM/C) Parent information including student activities, accountability reports, district and campus improvement plans are updated on Smithville ISD website on a regular basis through the Superintendent’s office.
(CM) The Superintendent’s office furnishes a "Weekly Activities Bulletin" to all campuses and the information is placed on Times 10 television station.
(CM/L) Educator’s Notebook on Family Involvement is sent to all campuses and is used as a resource for additional support for student success.

PARENT INVOLVEMENT IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Action Activities for consideration when updating the Parent Involvement Plan:

1. Survey the campus faculty and staff to see what the data will tell us about where we are on our understanding of parental involvement.

2. Survey the parents to see what the data will tell us about where we are on what parents feel about parental involvement.

3. Survey the community to see what the data will tell us about where they see their role in supporting student academic achievement and successes.

4. Establish a flexible Parent Ad Hoc panel at the district level. The Director of Special Programs will meet with parents on a six weeks basis to discuss concerns/issues and to gain input on what the needs of the parents are in relation to their student/s.

5. Provide training to campus staff on how to more effectively build partnerships with parents.

6. Add a link to the district web site that explains involvement responsibilities of families and schools and provides additional resource information.

7. On a weekly basis, post "Ways Parents Can Help Students Achieve", on the school district television channel.

8. Spotlight teachers that have successful parent involvement and identify what works for them.

9. Quarterly recognize excellence of "Parents as Partners in Education".

PHILOSOPHICAL SHIFT

The definition of Parent Involvement in Smithville ISD will experience a philosophical shift. The objective of parent involvement should not be to create more meetings or more activities for parents. Instead the school will see parents as true partners and recruit them to solve real problems that have a significant impact upon students. The objective of this shift is to establish projects or goals that mean something to parents and then coop parents to accomplish the projects or goals.

Once parents feel that they are wanted and needed and see the benefit of the focus groups, their involvement will likely increase. We must show them that their input and skills are valuable and needed to ensure the success of the school. The following flow chart illustrates the philosophical process. There is an explanation of each part of the process follows the flow chart diagram.

Page Last Updated: December 2, 2005

Smithville Independent School District Parent Involvement Plan - 2001 (Revised December 2005)

Smithville Independent School District
Parent Involvement Plan - 2001
(Revised December 2005)