This presentation goes into the importance of the improvement of school learning environments through family and community engagement. It also looks into former research, as well as more current findings, that will help school administrators understand better how to better create these positive environments.
2. STUDY FINDING 2.1
HOW DISTRICTS HARNESS
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
ENERGY FOR SCHOOL
IMPROVEMENT
3. PRIOR RESEARCH
• Evidence linking family engagement with
student learning
• Studies of recent efforts to create more
participatory structures in schools
• Studies of changing power structures in schools
• Evidence about collective leadership
• Studies about district/school characteristics
affecting family/community participation.
4. EARLIER FINDINGS
“‟Subtle‟ aspects of family involvement---
parenting style and parental
expectations…--may have a greater impact
on student achievement than more
„concrete‟ forms such as attendance at
school conferences or enforcing rules at
home regarding homework.”
5. THREE RESEARCH “LENS”
• Political---Community engagement is
“democracy in action”
• Economic---Families are clients/customers and
have a right to be heard
• Cultural---Schools that are accountable to their
communities reflect local values and customs
6. FINDING: SITE-BASED
MANAGEMENT DOESN’T ALTER
SCHOOL DECISION-MAKING
PATTERNS
“Since it is easier for traditional power
structures to remain in place when
environmental factors remain stable and
congenial, giving parents and teachers
authority to make some school decisions may
in some respects reinforce the status quo.”
7. “SOMEWHAT
PARADOXICALLY…
STRONG LEADERSHIP WILL BE
NEEDED TO HELP ESTABLISH
COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS
AND TO FOSTER SHARED
DECISION-MAKING.”
8. EVIDENCE DOES NOT SUPPORT THE
VIEW THAT LOW LEVELS OF
PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
REFLECT LOW LEVELS OF
INTEREST.
• Interest not always readily apparent.
• Some may not know how to be involved
helpfully.
• Others may be reticent due to class differences.
9. STUDY METHODS
• Principal surveys
• Teacher surveys
• Analysis of student achievement data
• Interviews with district and building staff
• Interviews with community members
10. SMALL GROUP WORK
• Silently read the assigned case vignette.
• Identify with your group the policies and
practices which the district employed to involve
parents and community members.
• Compare these policies and practices with those
used in your district.
11. LOOKING ACROSS THE CASES
• Modeled community engagement
• Partnered with individuals and groups
• Willing to listen to public concerns
• Included families/communities in district-level
committees
12. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
• District leaders need to engage in dialogues with
principals about what openness to community
and parental involvement means in practice.
• Principals need to engage teacher and other staff
members in similar discussions.
• Districts should take an active role in teaching
parents and other community members how to
be involved.
13. KEY FINDINGS
• Districts promote participatory democratic
structures in schools by creating policies and
expectations for participation on the part of a
wide array of people and groups outside of the
school.
• Districts have more difficulty creating leadership
teams that include diverse families and
community members in more, as compared to
less, affluent communities.
14. KEY FINDINGS (CONTINUED)
• Outside of establishing traditional site-council
structures, districts typically do not have a strong
impact on principals‟ openness to community
and parental involvement.
• Schools with more community stakeholders on
their site councils or building leadership teams
tend to have principals who are more open to
community-level involvement.
15. KEY FINDINGS (CONTINUED)
• Student achievement does not seem to be
influenced principals‟ by openness to
community involvement.
• Student achievement is higher in schools where
teachers share leadership and where they
perceive greater involvement by parents.
