Chapter 6: Partners in Learning: Parents, Families, and
the Community
How Do Parents, Families, and Communities Influence Teaching and Learning?
Changing Families Affect Parent Involvement
5.1% of all children under 18 are living in homes maintained by 2.5 million grandparents
o Reasons for living with Grandparents:
Drug abuse
Divorce
Mental and physical illness
Abandonment
Teenage pregnancy
Child abuse and neglect
Incarceration
Death of the Parents
How Does the Federal Government Influence Parent Involvement?
School – Parent Compact:
o Describes the school’s responsibilities to provide high-quality curriculum and instruction
and an effective learning environment, enabling children to meet the state’s student
academic achievement standards
o Informs parents of the ways they will be responsible for supporting their children’s
learning
Monitoring student attendance
Helping with homework completion
Monitoring television viewing
Volunteering in their children’s classrooms
Participating in decisions related to their children’s education
o Addresses the importance of communication between teachers and parents on an
ongoing basis through:
Parent – teacher conferences in elementary schools at least annually
Frequent reports to parents on their children’s progress
Reasonable access to staff and opportunities to volunteer in their children’s
classes and to observe classroom activities
NCLB requires that school personnel:
o Distribute information to parents and help them understand state academic standards
and assessments
o Inform parents of dates for distribution of materials and training for parental support
o Offer training to staff members as they work in partnerships with parents
o Coordinate programs within the building that require parent involvement, including
early childhood programs
o Provide information to parents in a form that will be understood
o Help parents understand state and local assessments of their children’s progress and
know how to monitor progress and work with educators
o Provide parents with materials and training to improve their children’s achievement
o Educate teachers, administrators, and other school staff about the value of and methods
of reaching out to parents as equal partners
o Integrate parent involvement efforts with other school and community programs
o Ensure that information about school and parent programs is in a format and language
parents can understand
Other Legislation and Laws
National Head Start Program (NHSP):
o Created in 1965
o Assists children from low-income families
o Requires that all local Head Start agencies have procedures in place to ensure that
parents are involved and that health care, nutrition services, and preschool education
are provided
What Are Family-Centered Programs?
Family-Centered Programs- Programs that focus on meeting the needs of students and their
families
Family-Centered Education
Family-Centered Education- Instruction that focuses on the needs of students through the family
unit, whatever that unit may be, and is designed to help both generations while strengthening
the family unit
Family-Centered Teaching Can:
o Help individuals in the family become better parents and family members
o Help parents gain access to affordable health care and child-care services
o Adopt a family approach to literacy that helps parents learn to read so that they can
read aloud to their children
Promotes children’s literacy
Family-Centered Approaches to Support Student Learning
Way to implement the family-centered approach:
o Provide parents with ideas that enable them to work with their children on math
homework at home
Talk about how they use math at home and at work
Involve children in tasks that require computing, measuring, estimating,
building, following directions, problem solving, and reasoning
Look for activities that require children to use their math skills
o Provide books for parents to read and supply aids for homework that link school and
home learning
o Offer in-person and online tutorials for helping children with reading and math through
daily activities
o Provide information about child rearing and how to guide and manage behavior
o Inform parents about the programs and students’ progress on a weekly basis.\
o Provide specific suggestions for how parents can assist with homework of any kind
Set regular time and place to do homework
Remove distractions (TV/cell phone)
Provide supplies and resources
Set a good example
Be interested and interesting by finding ways to talk to their children about
school
Attend school events
o Provide parents about the school curriculum
Intergenerational Programs- Programs promoting cooperation, interaction, and exchange
between two or more generations
What is Parent/Family Involvement?
NCLB Parent Involvement
o Parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning
o Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school
o Parent are full partners in their child’s education
Four Major Approaches Toward Parent Involvement:
o Parent Empowerment Approach-
Developed by Moncrief Cochran
Focuses on strengthening families by promoting the characteristics and traits of
robust families
o Cultural Competence Approach-
Developed by Luis Moll
Promotes educator training
o Social Capital Approach-
Developed by James Coleman
Definition:
An entity that has an aspect of social structure
The relationships among people within the entity that create individual
or collective action
o Functional Approach-
Developed by Joyce Epstein
Emphasizes the importance of ensuring that educators have knowledge about
the goals and benefits of family involvement as well as the barriers to it
Six Types of Family/Community Involvement
1. Parenting:
a. Assist families with parenting skills, family support, and understanding child and
adolescent development and home conditions to support learning at each age and
grade level
2. Communicating:
a. Communicating with families about school programs and student progress using school-
to-home and home-to-school communications creates two-way channels that families
can use to easily contact teachers and administrators
3. Volunteering:
a. Enlist parent involvement by improving recruitment and training and by creating
activities and schedules to involve families as volunteers
4. Learning at Home:
a. Encourage families to work with their children in academic learning activities at home
i. Homework
ii. Goal setting
5. Advocacy and Decision Making:
a. Include families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy activities
through PTA/PTO, committees, councils, and other parent organizations
6. Collaborating with the Community:
a. Coordinate the work and resources of community businesses, agencies, and cultural,
civic, and other organizations to strengthen school programs, family practices, and
student learning and development
Parent/Family Conferences
Parent/Family Conferences- Meetings between parents/families and teachers to inform parents
of students’ progress and enable them to actively participate in the educational process
Guidelines to assist as you prepare for and conduct parent/family conferences:
o Plan Ahead
o Invite the child to the conference
o Get to know the parents
o Avoid an authoritative atmosphere
o Communicate at parents’ levels
o Accentuate the positive
o Learn to listen
o Follow up
o Develop an action plan
Involving Single-Parent Families
Things to Ensure that Single-Parent Families are Involved:
o You must be willing to accommodate family schedules
o When you talk with single-parent families be aware of time constraints
o Suggest some ways that single parents can make their time with their children
meaningful
o Get to know families’ lifestyles and living conditions
o Help develop support groups for one-parent families within your school
Initiating Culturally Appropriate Family Involvement
Ways teachers can help alleviate much of the discomfort of diverse cultural backgrounds with
parents/families:
o Know what parents want for their children
o Be clear about your own educational values and goals
o Help parents learn to participate in the system of schooling
o Build relationships with parents
o Learn to be an effective cross-cultural communicator
o Clarify with parents what they think their roles are in educating children
o When interacting with parents, use a problem-solving rather than power approach
o Commit yourself to education – both your own and that of the families
Cultural Competence
Cultural Competence- The ability to interact effectively with student, families, and colleagues of
different cultures
Communicating About Homework
Discuss Following Topic with Parents About Homework Before Issues Unfold:
o The amount of time that should be spent on homework
o School and the teachers’ expectations regarding homework
o The broader purposes of homework beyond instruction
o Ways parents can provide homework feedback
What Educational Reforms Promote Grater Parent Empowerment?
Parent Empowerment- Provides parents with decision making and participation opportunities
School Choice
School Choice- Various proposals that allow parents to choose the schools their children will
attend
Vouchers- Funds allocated to parents to be used to purchase education for their children at
public or private schools in the area
How Can You Use The Community To Teach?
Actions to help reach out and make use of resources in the community:
o Know your students and their needs
o Know your community
o Ask for help and support from parents and the community
o Develop a directory of community agencies
o Compile a list of people willing to speak to or work with your students
o Join and/or network with community based social and civic organizations
Developing Community-School Partnerships
Community-School Partnerships- Working arrangements or exchanges between school districts
and/or schools and community agencies and/or businesses
Developing Social Capitol
Social Capitol- Concept from economics meaning socially valued goods and services that are
exchanges in the social transactions within a family or community
Working with Community Agencies
Community Schools- Coordinate services between schools and agencies
Development of programs and services in 5 areas from a community school:
o Quality education
o Youth development
o Family support
o Family and community engagement
o Community Development
What Parents Can Do
Tips for the role of successful parenting in student achievement:
o Set daily and weekly routines for most activities
o Manage after-school activities
o Know your children’s friends
o Monitor television and reading habits
o Become interested in school affairs
o Attend school events and activities
o Communicate with others
