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PARTNERS

A newsletter for the Smaller Learning Communities Project

of the

Kentucky Educational Development Corporation May 2006

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I. Is Your School Communicating Openly and Frequently with Parents and Families?

Schools often feel they have fulfilled their responsibility when families have been told what educators feel they need to know to ensure that the school's agenda runs smoothly. All too often, parents are treated like students—communication consists mainly of instructions and it is decidedly one way. If parents are to be fully engaged partners in their children's education, they need to understand how the school works and how to become more active in the life of the school. Their views and opinions need to be heard. Remember, in many cases, parents hear from school only when there is bad news.

Tips for Creating an Atmosphere for Communication

· Designate a staff person or parent whose primary responsibility is to communicate with families and coordinate school/family activities.

· Send frequent and friendly written communications home (for example, copies of the school mission, welcoming message from the principal and staff, copies of the school song and profiles of school traditions). Have students design graphics for use in the newsletters and fliers, and credit the art work.

· Invite comments and suggestions for making the school a better place for kids (place a suggestion box in the front office, a community center, and nearby religious organizations). Make sure the comments are collected regularly and turned over to someone whose responsibility it is to respond.

· Send reprints of articles (tip: enlarge for easy reading) that may be of special interest to families (for example: community profiles, people doing outstanding work for the community, or special achievements of young people).

· Encourage parents and students to contribute regularly to the school newsletter (a parent's column, for instance).

· Train clerical staff to be more helpful and knowledgeable in assisting parents who call the school for information.

· Design the school handbook to address parent concerns specifically. The handbook should include:

- A policy statement on parent involvement

- Information about the structure of the school, staff positions and organizational charts

- Information about parents' and students' rights

- Suggestions for ways parents can be more involved in the school

- A glossary of educational terms

- A directory of helpful numbers to call for special assistance.

Ways to Improve Written Communication

· Avoid stilted, formal language (e.g., It is hoped that all parents will be benefited by our endeavors to...”) and translate education jargon into plain language.

· Remember that poor-quality copies are difficult to read.

· Choose graphics that convey positive cultural images

· Use drawings and photographs of people that depict the ethnic diversity of the school's community.

· Provide a telephone number parents can call for further information. Make sure it is answered by someone who is knowledgeable about the school's daily operations, special projects and events.

What Parents Can Do to Improve Communication between Home and School

· Read all correspondence from the school—if you find the information vague or incomplete, ask for clarification.

· Provide feedback on the quality of written communications you receive from the school. Let the school know if copies are difficult to read, language is confusing or too technical, or if instructions are unclear.

· Don't hesitate to suggest ways to make information from the school more usable for you. For example, if you are visually impaired, ask for an alternative way for information to be shared with you such as audiocassettes, phone calls, or home visits.

· Volunteer to work on the school newsletter: contribute articles, information about community events, recipes and tips of interest to parents.

Provide a resource center for parents including information about community resources, support groups, babysitting, day care, counseling, and recreation.

Be sensitive about scheduling school events that are traditionally geared to "Moms only" or "Dads only.”

Suggestions to Encourage Involvement of Divorced, Separated, or Non-custodial Parent

Hold separate conferences for both parents, if requested.

Send report cards to both parents, whether or not they are living with the child.

Make sure curriculum units on the family reflect single-parent families, extended families and other family structures.

What Parents Can Do to Become More Involved

Make a point of informing the child's teacher that even though you work during schoo1 hours), you are interested in your child's education and will make every effort to be involved.

Inform your child's teacher of your work schedule so that conferences can be planned for a mutually convenient time. Arrange to talk by phone when face-to-face contact is not feasible.

The teacher, principal, and PTA/PTO officials should be informed that you will attend school events whenever possible. Single or working parents can offer to do volunteer activities occasionally, especially those that can be done in the evening or on weekends.

Form a parent support group for single and working parents, to discuss parenting issues and common school problems.

Speak to the principal if you encounter negative attitudes in some school personnel toward "broken" homes and divorced parents.

III. Does The School Reach Out to Parents Who Are Less Involved?

Low family turnout to school-sponsored events is a common problem. Many parents feel that attending meetings is not the best use of their limited energy, and time. Parents may also be put off by the formality of meetings or feel they do not offer a forum for parents to address the issues most important to them. Sometimes the school is not convenient to reach without special transportation. Furthermore, coming to the school may awaken unpleasant memories of problems involving their children or their own school experiences. Keep in mind, meeting attendance is not the only way to measure success.

Tips for Increasing Parent Attendance at School-Sponsored Events

§ Hold meetings and events in churches or the facilities of organizations that are active and involved in the community. Invite clergy, community leaders, and politicians.

§ Provide a low-cost or pot-luck meal so that families don't have to eat first, and to make people feel welcome.

§ Provide activities for younger children so that families don't have to find sitters.

§ Recruit parents through other organizations with which families interact regularly, such as day care centers, recreational facilities, and community centers.

§ Enlist students to recruit parents and have students perform at meetings.

§ Plan and co-sponsor meetings that address community issues—family survival, community-building, environmental conditions. This sends the message that the school is committed to improving the quality of life for its students and families.

IV. How Schools May Help Strengthen Parent-to-Parent Outreach

Parents make excellent partners in reaching out to other parents who find it difficult to participate in school activities. Parent recruiters are key to forming partnerships with families in ways that do not necessarily rely on a head count at an event to prove success.

Word of mouth can be the most effective public relations tool for a school. If a few parents attend school-sponsored family events and find them interesting and useful, word will spread. Gradually other parents will take a chance and come out to future events.

§ Set up a system such as a telephone tree that allows parents to contact each other in an organized and consistent way.

§ Establish a parent visitor program, where parent aides are trained to make regular home visits to students' families.

§ Offer incentives for parents to bring other parents and family members to school-sponsored events (e.g. stipends for outreach planning and activity, lunch for parent outreach volunteers, and appreciation events and certificates).

§ Build family outreach into the volunteer program. Provide training and support for parents working to recruit more families.

§ Involve the community in supporting and encouraging parent-to-parent outreach activities.

§ Consult parents about the best ways to increase the level of parent participation in school; convene groups of parents to design a plan and to help plan parent activities.

What Parents Can Do to Reach Other Parents

§ Request a meeting with the principal and the parent/teacher organization leadership to explore ways to recruit more parents. Conduct a drive to contact personally each family in the school.

§ Place information about school-related gatherings and recruitment efforts in the bulletins of your religious organizations or other affiliations, and post them in places where you shop, do laundry or attend other community functions.

§ Host small groups of parents in your home to discuss school matters and explore ways to reach out effectively to other parents. Rotate meeting sites with other parents.

§ Get to know the parents of your children's playmates and friends and talk with them about school. Ask them for help to plan the school's parent involvement activities.

§ Establish a parent-to-parent newsletter, written by and for parents, to keep all families fully informed and involved in the life of the school.

V. Special Efforts to Involve Fathers and Other Males

Fathers are assuming a greater care taking role and would like to be more active in their children's daily school life. In their attempt to make meetings and other gatherings more attractive to parents, schools often tend to plan events that appeal primarily to women, such as fashion shows and bake sales. Perceptions that involvement in education is "women's work” may actually be reinforced by the schools.

Fathers and other male family members might be more likely to be involved if they could participate in activities with other men on active tasks, rather than social events or meetings.

Suggestions for Activities for Fathers and Other Males

§ Invite men to participate in projects scheduled for evenings or weekends, where they can use special skills, such as building playground equipment, overseeing sports events, or painting a classroom.

§ Sponsor a Family Breakfast which fathers are encouraged to attend with their children before going to work.

§ Invite fathers to their child's classroom to talk about their job.

§ Hold a special "men's" event for fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and mentors, to encourage male participation in the school.

§ Invite fathers to explore traditionally female roles—classroom aide, tutor, chaperone, PTA/PTO officer. Use men to recruit other men.

What Schools Can Do to Encourage Fathers to Participate

§ Encourage male teachers to take a more active role in parent volunteer recruitment and PTA/PTO activities.

§ Offer heartier foods, not just "tea party” snacks.

§ Provide a place on the student emergency card for the name of the non-custodial parent and other significant males in a child's life.

§ Display photographs and art depicting fathers in the school setting.

§ Have a “Fathers" column in the school newsletter. Ask fathers to share ways to become more influential in their children's school.

§ Schedule “family conferences" for the teacher, both parents, and the child.

VI. Does Your School Welcome Parents and Family Members into the Building?

Because parent visits to school so often involve a problem, many parents tend to view a trip to the school as a negative experience. Warning signs posted to discourage trespassers can reinforce feelings of being out of place, as can a school secretary who is visibly annoyed by the "interruption” of a visiting parent. When a parent enters a building that is bright, affirming and welcoming, many of the initial apprehensions will fade.

Tips for Schools to Make the Building More Attractive and Friendly

§ A message of welcome, and one of thanks, should accompany notices instructing parents to report to the office.

§ Directions to the office should be clear, highly visible and in the language(s) spoken by the school community.

§ Ask students to make signs and decorations for the reception area.

§ Reserve a special section of the parking lot for parents (not the spot behind the dumpster).

§ Sponsor a school-wide "facelift" (tidy up, display plants and posters); invite parents to come and have a look around.

§ Ask parents frequently if they enjoy visiting the school; provide a suggestion box for ways to improve the school climate.

§ Walls filled with posters carrying prohibitive messages about drugs, alcohol, and sex make the school seems like a place beset with problems. Colorful displays of student accomplishments and positive messages inspire and assure families that the school believes in its students and has high expectations for them.

What Schools Can Do to Involve Parents in Making the School a Safe Place

§ Parents will feel more comfortable if the school is a safe, pleasant place to be. Involving parents in school safety will increase parent participation in the daily life of the school.

§ Recruit parents, especially fathers, to spend time in the school's lunchroom, halls and grounds.

§ Hold safety workshops for families; invite law enforcement officers to provide practical tips for keeping kids safe.

§ Encourage parents to call the school (anonymously if they wish) to report unsafe situations they notice in and around the school.

What Parents Can Do to Make the School More Inviting

§ Volunteer time to be in the building, monitor halls, or chaperone special events. Your presence makes an important difference.

§ Donate crafts, artwork, plants, etc. to beautify the school. Create a parent sponsored school beautification drive.

§ Voice your concerns about the physical condition of the school and the way parents are treated when they visit the building. Create a wish list for needed improvements, and present it to the principal with signatures.

§ Form a parent/student safety committee. Ask students about their safety concerns and take your findings to the principal.

Establish a Parent Center

Parent centers, which are becoming prevalent in schools at all levels, provide a place in the school where family members can be comfortable. How parent centers function differs from school to school. Most important is that parents have a role in designing the center, deciding what resources will be available and what activities will take place. In some cases, parent centers take on the atmosphere of a lounge, where parents come and relax, or meet and chat with each other. Other parent centers may be more focused on education, with a resource library and structured activities to help parents assist their children's development, and adult education classes for parents.

Parent centers let parents know they are welcome in the school and give them a sense of belonging and ownership. A parent center can also be a resource to help parents improve their children's academic achievement. However the school staff feels about the purpose of such a center, the final decisions should lie with parents. After all, how they feel about the center's usefulness to them personally will determine how frequently it is used.

Reasons for A Parent Center

· Allows informal person-to-person contact between parents and teachers.

· Gives parents an opportunity to meet other parents..

· May offer adult education, literacy courses, GED or ESI, classes for parents.

· Serves as a referral center for social services, housing and health agencies.

How To Establish a Parent Center

· Select, if possible, a room that is close to the main reception area of the school, or that at least is not in a remote part of the building.

· The room should be well lit, with good climate control. Make sure it is clean and well maintained. It must be kept locked, make sure keys are easily available.

· Parents should select furniture and decorations. Solicit donations of “adult” furniture that is comfortable and attractive.

· Provide a refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker. If possible, add a sewing machine and a typewriter or word processor. (Local businesses often make such donations).

· Make school audio equipment available to parents (for example, a VCR, movie projector, etc.).

· Do not allow staff to borrow parent room furniture and equipment or use the room without the consent of parents.

What Parents Can Do to Establish a Parent Center

· If there is not a parent center in your school, encourage the principal to designate a room and resources.

· Form a parent center committee to monitor the use and maintenance of the room, select materials, and plan events.

· Volunteer to organize events in the parent room (videos, speakers, tax assistance, baby clothing exchange etc.).

· Clip interesting articles, recipes, tips of interest to other parents for the bulletin board. Suggest ways to make the parent center a place parents use.

· Use the parent room frequently. Drop in whenever you come to the school. Make it clear to school staff that you consider the parent room a valuable resource.

VII. Are the School and Its Staff Available to Parents?

If parents are to become partners in their children's education, the school must be welcoming and friendly. The staff must communicate that the school views parents as partners and values their presence and their contributions.

Parents have a right to know what is happening during a typical class session at their school districts committed to increasing parent involvement are not threatened by parent requests to observe in the classroom and other parts of the school. They recognize that parents both need and have the right to follow their child's progress in school.

Barriers to School and Staff Availability

· Parents may feel unwelcome at school, if they can visit the classroom only for short periods at certain, restricted times of the year.

· Teachers may feel threatened by parent visitors, or fear that the presence of parents in the

classroom might be disruptive.

· Teachers and administrators may appear to favor certain parents over others.

· Principals are concerned about the security problems associated with allowing strangers easy access to the school.

· Teachers feel overworked and their schedules are too busy to allow time for phone calls to or from parents.

· Families do not have telephones or transportation.

What May Be Done to Be More Open to Parents

· Form a committee to welcome new families to the school.

· Inform parents frequently that they are welcome to visit the classroom, library, cafeteria, playground. Inform staff as well, so that they are open and accepting of frequent visits.

· Establish a simple procedure for parents to schedule visits to the school or classroom. Suggest times when visits would be most convenient. Encourage parents to join their children for lunch.

· Establish a time each month when parents of particular grades can meet with the principal or with the teachers (a breakfast hour or late afternoon coffee break, for example).

· Inform parents of the most convenient time to call to talk with teachers, administrators, or guidance counselors.

· Encourage regular personal phone calls from teachers and/or administrative staff to parents, for positive as well as negative reasons.

· Train the school receptionist to answer parent calls in a friendly, positive manner and to be of assistance whenever possible.

· Install 24-hour telephone answering machine message recorders so parents can leave messages for teachers any time. Establish a policy stating that teachers will return phone calls within 48 hours.

· Encourage teachers to make home visits at the beginning of the year to families who do not have telephones. If the primary language of the home is not English, the teacher might take along a community leader or parent who is a member of the family's ethnic group and can serve as a translator.

· Encourage the use of the school building for after-school activities that involve local children and parents.

What Parents Can Do to Become Better Acquainted with the School

· Make an appointment with your child's teacher to visit the classroom at least once during the year—more often if necessary.

· Take every opportunity to let school personnel know when they are doing a good job.

· Encourage the principal to inform all parents that they am welcome to visit the school.

· Maintain a positive relationship with the teacher by calling, writing notes, or stopping in at the school on the way to work.

· Propose that the school board adopt a policy confirming the right of parents to visit the school building and their child's classroom.

VIII. Does the School Encourage Volunteer Participation from Families?

The contributions parents can make to the learning experiences of their children are endless. They are doctors, engineers, musicians, painters, philosophers, carpenters, plumbers, news reporters, farmers, and attorneys, each with special knowledge and skills that can be shared with young people. Parents can assist in the library and classroom, investigate field trip possibilities, serve as interpreters, and raise funds.

A volunteer program offers the chance for parents and citizens to become familiar with the school while providing meaningful support to children and staff. Volunteers can also do much to raise the level of student achievement in schools.

Barriers to Volunteer Efforts in the Schools

· Some teachers and administrators may think that parent volunteers take too much time to train and therefore are a hindrance in the classroom rather than a help.

· Teachers may feel that parents with limited English or with less educational background cannot be effective as volunteers.

· Some teachers are uncomfortable with parent volunteers, because of concerns that they'll be judged, analyzed, and monitored by visitors in the classroom.