Parental Involvement Improvement Plan - Research Paper Example

Plan for Improving Parental Involvement INTRODUCTION Parent involvement at schools is a relatively recent phenomenon, especially in the last few decades increased recognition of the merits of this practice has led to extensive application of the study in practical life. Researchers have substantiated that parent involvement at schools results in growth in the child’s academic achievements (Hong and Ho, 2005). This is the core reason why most schools have extended their reach to encompass parents in their horizon, this idea has been accepted by law enactors in USA and other nations in order to improve the standard of child achievement, such as the ‘No Child Left Behind Act of 2009’ has instigated school administration to include parent involvement in their teaching programs (Huntsinger and Jose, 2009). RESEARCH ON THE BENEFITS OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT Obvious benefits from Parent Participation Since the concept of parent participation in the schools has dramatically increased, it has also led to the disposal of time and effort in the research study of this area, and therefore numerous authors agree on a common notion that parents are an essential component of the home/school partnership, and are a tool to improving the school programs and overall culture of educational institutions, they are the strings which connect the families of the students together and create a conducive and healthy learning atmosphere along with the instructors, ties towards the common aim of enabling the young generation to succeed in attaining success in current and later life (Cobbold, 2005, 1). Involvement in schools exposes the parents to the life of literacy and education; they have the opportunity to attain knowledge and skills and hence utilize these valuable human capital forms in rearing their children, improving their income and economic conditions, and providing a better lifestyle to their offspring. More involvement at school leads to the development of frequent communication between the parents and the teachers, inducing the feeling of trust and the drive to thrive towards a common objective, this eventually translates into support for the teachers and acceptance to adapt to curriculum changes as well as proposed long term plans (Cobbold, 2005, 1). Student Outcomes and Achievements History is a witness to the gigantic amount of time and money that has been expended to research on the link between parent’s involvement in schools and the achievements of the children. Studies have indicated that parent participation and student progress are generally positively connected, regardless of the background of the child, the economic conditions and prevailing circumstances of the child’s family, and the parent’s association with the teachers and school staff (Cobbold, 2005, 1). A review by Henderson and Berla was conducted in 1994, this encompassed a total of 66 studies on parent involvement, inclusive of literature reviews, and led to the conclusion that income, educational background and culture/ethnicity of the family of a child are not a hindrance in the contribution to the child’s progress, and thus all families can add some part to their child’s ultimate success, such as even the expectations of parents and the encouragement to achieve a progressive future are a tool to initiate motivation to proceed towards the goal, and thus when students feel that they have the inherent capability to attain honorable status in their lives by devotion and hard work, then it would force them to perform well in school (Henderson and Berla, 1994, 30). They also state that parents assume a key role in the home and school both in order to develop the power to compete, achieve and succeed on the basis of their intellectual capacity, which is also nourished and facilitated by the parents. When referring to parent involvement in a general context, then they can be rightly regarded as being associated with the development of language and mathematical abilities of their children, they are also responsible for enrolling their children into more extensively challenging and intellect enhancing programs, which require and also develop persistence and better behavior, along with the capacity to adapt to varying social networks. Parents are also responsible for reducing student absenteeism rate and encourage child participation in school (Henderson and Mapp, 2002, 24). Another critical contributor to the students’ achievements on part of the parents is the utilization of learning based educational activities that would enhance the intellectual capacity of the child, and develop necessary skills to cope up with school work; it would also provide extra knowledge and self-esteem to the child. Furthermore, the increased participation of parents in literacy learning has the potential to positively affect the student’s achievements (Cobbold, 2005, 3). CURRENT LEVEL OF PARENT INVOLVEMENT Studies have revealed the tendency of parent’s participation towards children in elementary schools rather than secondary schools, despite the recognized connection between better performances at high school and parent involvement. This behavior is usually attributed to the teenager’s attitude of discouraging parents from visiting schools and having excessive interaction with the instructors, even if the purpose of the parent- teacher meetings would ultimately benefit the child. Such parents are usually unable to figure out a way to help their children in matters of education and schooling, and to make matters worse, the high schools have also extricated themselves from the responsibility of prioritizing parent participation at secondary school level, and thus this level usually remains overlooked (NCREL, 2004). According to research conducted by Engle, the children of those parents who keep themselves involved in the high school matters of their children are likely to move up to completing college. Statistics revealed that such students have three times greater likeliness to complete their bachelor’s degree as compared to their counterparts whose parents stayed aloof from their high school life. Parent participation at this level is referred to as regular communication with the school instructors, their encouragement and involvement in their child’s plans for college and higher degrees, and their frequent check over their school work. Out of the 11,200 student sample of the survey, 27% students whose parents were involved in their high school life virtually achieved bachelor’s degree, while only 8% of students whose parents separated them from their child’s education at secondary level managed to complete bachelors (Engle, 1989). INCREASING PARENT PARTICIPATION AT SCHOOLS As mentioned earlier, the major problem associated with the level of parent participation in schools is that it reduces gradually as the child grows older, hence indicating the need to develop a plan which could overcome this dilemma. The major obstacle is non-availability of easy communication with the school staff, and in order to overcome this problem, the support from the principle is required, who has the final authority to make strategic changes (LaBahn, 1995). When better communication is developed, then the following plan should be implemented: Staff training and support Once research has been carried out by the school pertaining to the benefits of parents’ involvement and its benefits for the child and the society at large, then these should not be kept within the confinement of the school but must be extended to the parents in order to increase awareness and enhance the level of support they provide by being involved in the school matters of their children. In addition, those individuals of the school staff who have achieved success in amassing support from the parents should be encouraged to share their experiences with the remaining staff (SPAC, 2006). Helping Parents to understand their Importance Monthly newsletters should be developed which print stories regarding the increase in student’s achievements due to parent’s involvement in their school matters, in addition to this, they should be guided via articles in the newsletters about how to develop certain characteristics in their behavior which the children are likely to replicate, and thus the child’s overall behavior and tend them towards success and growth, and also give them opportunities to feel that they are a part of their child’s education, such as asking for ideas in planning and development phase, and keeping them updated with information (PTO ideas, 2008). Carry out parent surveys In order to increase the involvement level, the school has to take the initiative, hence they should carry out surveys targeted at the parents, an inquire about their areas of interest in their child’s education, such as budget and finances, curriculum, career advising, future opportunities and planning etc., this would allow the school to gain first-hand informative data about the top concerns of the parents (SPAC, 2006). Design Parent support programs in collaboration with the Parents Once the survey results are complete, then these should be used to develop parent training programs which would support them to increase their involvement in their child’s school, this would enable the school to cover top concern issues, train parents to help their children, create awareness of pertaining to the skills required, and this co-facilitation would help them to develop interest in this area (NCPIE, 2010). Classroom Parent Clubs This is the most interactive way of maintaining an adequate level of parent involvement in high school matters, in order to ensure the effectiveness of this idea, the teachers should be provided with sufficient resources to hold regular classroom parent club meetings. These clubs function in many educational institutions and proper record is maintained of the meeting minutes for usage in planning and development (West Portal Parents Club, 2010). These clubs would provide the parents with information regarding the next grade level and the requirements, and the ways in which they can help their children cope up with the transition to a higher grade. Furthermore, they can discuss the efforts they are currently putting into their child’s education, and attain new and fresh ideas to upgrade contribution level (SPAC, 2006). School leadership teams should include parents In order to increase the interests of the parents in their child’s education, they should be recruited in the leadership teams developed at school to develop leadership skills in the children, this would increase interaction between the parents and the instructors and also make the parents a model to follow for the children, this would develop trust and confidence in the students, and increase parent involvement directly. In addition, the parents would remain updated with the school plans, and should be allowed to contribute ideas to the implementation, assessment and analysis of school plans (NYC Department of Education, 2010). EVALUATING THE PARTICIPATION PLAN The process of increasing parent involvement does not end with the implementation, like and strategic planning and management process, it must be monitored and controlled, and if there are any glitches in the plan, then they must be rectified immediately. Monthly progress reports should be analyzed to compare the performance of the students before and after the plan implementation, these reports should be made available to the parents with suggestions to improve in the areas lagging attention. The success of the newsletters could be measured through the surveys, which must be utilized immediately and not delayed, since the data becomes obsolete. Attendance of parents on parent teacher meetings could be made mandatory to ensure parent participation, and then the questions of the survey could be repeated to remove any discrepancies in gathered data. Furthermore, parents should be held responsible for the generation of ideas in the school leadership teams, and their progress could be measured by carrying out regular competitions between the groups of different monitors (parents), this would also motivate the parents and the teachers to put in more effort. In order to keep a check of the progress of the classroom parent club meetings, a staff member should make proper minutes of the meeting, and then forward them to the principle for inspection, this would make the members of the club more efficient since they would be aware that they are being monitored, their effectiveness could also be increased if they are paid allowance for their contribution, this would be a monetary motivator for them to work sincerely, and also be an opportunity for part-time job searching parents. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the school to involve parents in the educational tenure of the children through proper incentives and by creating awareness, and thus the responsibility of monitor and control also falls upon them. Development of ideas to increase parent involvement in schools is a widely researched topic, and this research must continue to evolve and adapt to the changing era (LaBahn, 1995). References Cobbold. T (2005) The Benefits of Parent Participation in Schooling. ACT P&C Council. Retrieved July 9th 2010 from http://www.schoolparents.canberra.net.au/Benefits%20of%20PP%20in%20Schooling.pdf Engle. E (1989) Socioeconomic status, family structure, and parental involvement: The correlates of achievement. San Francisco. American Educational Research Association Henderson. A T and Berla. N (1994) A new generation of evidence: The family is critical to student achievement. St. Louis, MO. Danforth Foundation and Flint, Mott (C. S.) Foundation. Henderson. A T and Mapp. K L (2002) A new wave of evidence: The impact of school, family, and community connections on students achievement. Austin, Texas. National Center of Family & Community Connections with Schools. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. Hong. S and Ho. H Z (2005) Direct and indirect longitudinal effects of parental involvement on student achievement: Second-order growth modeling across ethnic groups. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 32 – 42. Huntsinger. C S and Jose. P E (2009) Parental involvement in children’s schooling: Different meanings in different cultures. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 24, 398–410 LaBahn. J (1995) Education and parental involvement in secondary schools: Problems, solutions, and effects. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta State University. Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://chiron.valdosta.edu/whuitt/files/parinvol.html NCPIE (2010) Developing Partnerships. National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education. Retrieved July 9th 2010 from http://www.ncpie.org/DevelopingPartnerships/index.cfm NCREL (2004) Parent Involvement at the Secondary School Level. Retrieved July 9th 2010 from http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/dev453740.pdf NYC Department of Education (2010) School Leadership Team. Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://schools.nyc.gov/Offices/OFEA/BecomingaParentLeader/SchoolLeadershipTeam/default.htm PTO ideas (2008) Increase & Maintain PTO Participation. Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://www.ptoideas.com/category/65/Increase_Participation SPAC (2006) Improving Parent Involvement: Ideas for School Leaders and Staff. Pennsylvania’s State Parent Advisory Council. Retrieved July 9th 2010 from http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YJCy8HLHBbwJ:www.spac.k12.pa.us/spactext07/Improving%2520Parent%2520Invovlement%2520Ideas.doc+improving+parent+involvement+in+schools&cd=7&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=pk West Portal Parents Club (2010) Parent's Club Meeting Minutes. Retrieved July 9, 2010 from http://www.westportalparentsclub.org/parents-club-meeting-minutes/blog Read More