The Role of Activation of Home-school Partnership in Education - Research Proposal Example

The Role of Activation of Home-school Partnership in Education of Mentally Retorted The Role of Activation of Home-school Partnership in Education of Mentally Retorted Home-school partnership are programs involving parents and teachers sharing a common aim of achieving academic excellence of students, especially students in need of close attention as the physically and mentally retorted (Beveridge, 2005). It is noteworthy that the collaboration between teachers and parents also include the pooling of resources to help students in need of close attention achieve their educational goals. The cooperation achieved from the arrangement involves interdependence in the roles of parents and teachers, acting as partners, in ensuring students with mental challenge have the right materials needed to support their education. Parents’ roles, in the partnership, mainly relates to home-based assistance. Teachers’ roles, however, are related to the school setup in which they assist the parent on the various strategies to employ while providing educational assistance to students. The partnership emanates from the need to rectify the traditional detachment of parents from educational activities of their children. In the traditional set up, parents granted all the roles of educating the students to teachers. With the advancement and reforms in education, there emerged the need to engage parents in achieving quality education. Students with particular needs draw a number of concerns given the high demand for serious and close attention in assessing their educational progress. There are extensive benefits of activating home-school partnerships in enhancing the education of mentally challenged students. The partnerships help in promoting collaboration between parents and teachers. Education and teaching as a process notably involves the integration of activities involving a number of settings. With the integration of partnerships between parents and students, the various settings set in the education system become easy to coordinate and integrate. Since students with challenges as physical and mental need dedication aimed at rectifying their behavioral and educational development, collaboration between students and parents is essential. Mentally retorted students, for instance may develop a negative attitude or dislike for education activities and programs. Home-school partnerships, therefore, work to improve the attitude of such students towards the programs because of support by parents and teachers, as well. It also helps in the rectification of any unethical behavior that mentally retorted students may have. Improved performance, inside the classroom is a notable importance of home-school partnerships. The provision of equal educational opportunities to every student is a provision stated in a number of legislations. The IDEA is among the legislation that advocates for equality, in the education sector. It also provides the inclusion of parents in the education system including. Mentally retorted students, under the law, have the right to equal opportunity in education. The No Child Left Behind is another legislation that provides for the education of students including the mentally retorted students. The law also provides for communication and coordination between teachers and parent in boosting the level of education. Information provision to parents on the progress of education is a key provision of law. This includes the communication of the progress of mentally retorted students to the parents. Activation of home-school partnerships, therefore, is a provision of under such legislative contexts. Home-school partnerships are vital in realizing effective learning among mentally retorted. The achievement of the role of Home-school partnerships in the education depends on its level of activation. This necessitates the realization of features prerequisite for an effective Home-school partnerships program. For the full realization of the role of Home-school partnerships, it should involve full collaboration among various partners. The establishment of a positive relationship between parents and teachers is of key importance to the realization of the success of Home-school partnerships (Sheldon, & Epstein, 2005). Teachers should need to realize the central role of parents in contributing towards the program. By establishing the required partnership between teachers and parents, parents feel the appreciation of their roles. Since they have a sense of appreciation for their roles in the program, parents develop a positive attitude towards fulfilling their roles in the program. This promotes as well as encourages them to continue with their involvement in the education of their children (Harvard, 2007). The realization of effective education of mentally retorted students, therefore, is dependent on parents and teachers collaboration. The collaboration is beneficial in gaining mutual respect. Schools administration should aid the engagement of parents, as a strategy to improve the effectiveness of home-school partnership in the education of mentally retorted students. Home-school partnerships should be multi-dimensional. The program should also be responsive to the objectives of the learners to realize a comprehensive provision of knowledge. Schools should adopt strategies to facilitate the engagement of parents as a means of development of the multi-dimensional home-school partnerships. School administration should get complaints from parents to aid the improvement of the partnership. Through attending to the concerns of parents, schools conform to the needs of the community, as well. Where necessary, schools should adjust their programs to address and comply with various needs of parents. Listening to feedback from parents is critical among the strategies to boost a workable and effective home-school partnership in the education of mentally retorted students (Venn & Jahn, 2004). Parents should contribute towards the determination of various activities that should be included in the leaning process supported by the program. School administration should also listen to feedback, from parents, on the effectiveness of activities that are new in the learning programs of the mentally retorted. Provision of data students, performance and progress to parents should be regular and prompt to realize timely adjustments, where necessary. Data on the academic progress of mentally retorted students should be available to parents, anytime upon request. The adoption of an inclusive school development plan is necessary in the activation of home-school partnerships. The effective operation and extent of coordination of home-school partnership are dependent on the establishment of school development plans. Plans should be inclusive and accommodative of the various learning strategies set in school development plans and those that support the activities. Funding of home-school partnerships should be among the key provisions of school development plans. School administrations should ensure that adequate funding is available for home-school partnerships. Regular reviews of such development plans are essential in ensuring that they accommodate any emerging developments that concern the implementation of home-school partnerships. The success of home-school partnerships, therefore, depends on their inclusion in school development plans. The involvement of partners in formulating school development plans constitutes one of the factors that promote the successful implementation of home-school partnerships in the education of mentally retorted students. There is the need to formulate a goal-oriented home-school partnership that has its focus in achieving its objectives. The core objectives of the partnerships should be to focus on the provision of necessary skills to the mentally retorted students. Parents and teachers share the same objective while constituting and forming the partnership. Through shared objectives, parents and teachers would realize dedication towards their roles. Parents shall gain the opportunity to get their roles clear in realizing the set goals. Goal setting is essential in the achievement of the program. High dedication to achieve effective engagement of the parents at home is essential in realizing a successful home-school partnership as a strategy to educate mentally retorted students. This, however, may be prone to challenges as insufficient resources available for parents to effect learning of mentally retorted students, at home. In such cases, schools should undertake the initiative to support parents, where necessary, with resources required for the implementation of the learning of the students. In a number of cases where parents have learning materials as hints on how to engage the mentally retorted in the learning process, home-school partnerships are a success. Engaging the parents to consider the need to share learning goals with teachers is a prerequisite to ensure successful learning of mentally retorted students while at home. Communication plays a central role in achieving the objectives of home-school partnerships. Timely and clear communication between parents and students leads to the proper implementation of home-school partnerships. Besides receiving information on the learners’ progress, parents should receive regular updates on any changes in school programs. Teachers should have the awareness on the extent to which they, as well, can learn from the parents. Teachers should set strategies to ensure the implementation of various recommendations from parents. Another key factor that is noteworthy in the implementation of home-school partnerships in boosting the learning of mentally retorted students is commitment. It is noteworthy that the effectiveness of the various strategies to improve on the effectiveness of the program vary according to the level of dedication of parents as well as teachers. School administration, in ensuring full commitment towards the program, should allocate the duty of the partnership’s coordination upon a specific group/ part of the staff. This would ensure that concerns raised get the required attention, promptly, to ensure a flawless operation of the partnership. The ease of coordination increases, notably, with time spent in ensuring the implementation of the partnership. Home-school partnerships face a number of challenges. Such challenge act hindrances and deterrence to the successful development of partnerships. In realizing the goals of the partnership, parents and teachers should address the various challenges, adequately. The attitude that teachers hold towards the program is a key determinant of the success of home-school partnerships. In cases where teachers view the partnership as a bother and hindrance to their work, the partnership is most likely, to fail achieve its objectives. As an enabler of the program, teachers should view the partnership as essential and key in their overall in the teaching exercise. Through this, they shall offer the partnership the most attention required for its successful operation (Rose, 2010). It, at times, poses a serious challenge to secure the commitment of parents in the partnership. Gaining their collaboration and prompt response to the developments in the school is most likely to create a challenge to achieving the goals of the partnership. Teachers can use children to promote the dedication of parents towards the realization of set objectives. A large population that results from a high number of students poses a challenge since the coordination is complex. It turns to be easy to maintain a flourishing partnership in schools where the population is small. The coordination is easy and requires low level of commitment as well financing. The level of commitment that communities attach to the importance of the partnership is a determinant of its success. In cases where parents maintain closeness with teachers, coordination of the partnership is easy. Teachers, as well as parents, would also have a feeling of belonging towards the success of the partnership. There are cases where teachers and parents speak different languages. In such a case, initiating home-school partnership is a common challenge. In an attempt to realize a successful strategy, there is the need for people to support outreach programs. They play the role of intermediaries. Those mandated to mobilize the community members should have a comprehensive knowledge of the community in say. Achieving the collaboration of students is vital for the realization of the objectives of the partnership. Dealing with students who are at their old age is poses a challenge, as well, to the activation of such partnerships. The effectiveness of the program receives a boost when the students involved in the partnership are at their young age (Pattni-Shah, 2008). Dealing with mentally retorted students at their young age is essential to achieving collaboration. The activation of home-school partnerships is dependent on the initiating party. The school administration should take the initiative to inform the parents on the need to adopt a home-school partnership. Through this, parents understand the need to collaborate with teachers in activating the partnership. The sole responsibility of activating the partnership should be the responsibility of the school. Schools can employ the use of technology in reaching parents and mobilizing them to activate the program (Zieger & Tan, 2012). In cases where there are unique contexts of the partnership’s set up, consideration of unique strategies that are of relevance to the context. Cases where the community has low understanding of the essence of home-school partnerships present unique situations in the activation of the partnerships. In such a case, schools need to invest in communicating the need of the partnership to the community. This would act as a sensitization forum for the school administration. Cases of few number staff to oversee the implementation of the partnership present unique situations. Activating home-school partnerships in such cases is challenging because of the need to recruit staff to ensure a coordinated operation of the various programs. Recruitment should be because of the belief of the role and contribution of the partnership in education of mentally retorted students. In this case, recruits and existing teachers adopt the consideration of the partnership as having high importance in supporting teaching roles. School principles should take the initiative to sensitize the staff to realize the importance of the partnership in their teaching practice. In conclusion, activation of home-school partnerships is highly beneficial in realizing the engagement of mentally retorted students in education. Mentally retorted students, with the activation of home-school partnerships, can improve in n their engagement in education. With the engagement, they receive the motivation to participate in education activities. Home-student partnership creates a desirable learning environment. Students, therefore, can realize improved incomes. Since there is an increased engagement of parents and students, home-school partnerships are of considerable importance. There is an evident improvement parents and students’ alignment because of the activation of home-school partnerships. Home-school partnerships are of importance in providing comprehensive curriculum coverage (San, 2010). Parental involvement in the activation of the partnership is inevitable, and strategies should be in place to create it. It is noteworthy that parental involvement creates substantial difference in the educational achievement of mentally retorted students. Good parenting forms one of the prerequisites in activating home-school partnership. The involvement of parents is most likely to increase when the students’ performance in school is encouraging and plausible (Bailey, 2006). The influence of contexts in the nature of home-school partnerships is a consideration that should be in place to achieve the desired outcome. Improving the educational ability of mentally retorted children is dependent on the extent to which teachers consider and implement context specific issues in activating home-school partnerships. The extent of community diversity is a potent determinant in ensuring successful activation of home-school partnerships in education of mentally retorted students. Communities with ethnical diversity can be classified as context specific. They require specified programs as the employment of outreach workers in to aid the coordination between teachers and parents in achieving the best education for mentally retorted students. In such a case, the performance of outreach workers is decisive in determining the extent of success of home-school partnerships. Consideration of the need to embrace the essence of dedication and commitment in home-school partnerships is of foremost importance when activating home-school partnerships. Emphasis should be on the commitment of the staff in the realization of an effective home –school partnership. The staff, as well as teachers, should have time allocated for the partnership to realize its overall success. Motivation of teachers is also dependent on the extent to which teachers reinforce, in the parents, the essence of activating home-school partnership in education of mentally retorted students. The attitude and understanding shared between teachers and parents forms a considerable need in the activation of home-school partnerships. According to Gestwicki (2012), the partnership has proven effectiveness. References Bailey, L. (2006). Interactive homework: A tool for fostering parent-child interactions and improving learning outcomes for at-risk young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 34(2): 155–167. Beveridge, S. (2005). Children, Families and Schools: Developing Partnerships for Inclusive Education. New York, NY: Routledge. Gestwicki, C. (2012). Home, School, & Community Relations. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Harvard Graduate School of Education Involvement. (2007). Family Involvement in Middle and High school students’ Education. Harvard Family Research Project, Issue. 3. Pattni-Shah, K. (2008). Bridging the Gap: Home-school Partnerships in Kindergarten. Ann Arbor, MI: ProQuest. Rose, R. (2010). Confronting Obstacles to Inclusion: International Responses to Developing Inclusive Education. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. San, C. 2010. School-Family Partnerships. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Sheldon, S., & Epstein, J. (2005). Involvement counts: Family and community partnerships and mathematics achievement. The Journal of Educational Research, 98(4), 196–206. Venn, E. & Jahn, M. (2004). Teaching and Learning in Preschool: Using Individually Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Literacy Instruction. International Reading Assoc. Zieger, L., & Tan, J., (2012). Improving Parent Involvement in Secondary Schools through Communicationn Technology. Journal of Literacy and Technology, 13(1):30-54. Read More