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Parent involvement in education
What is the relationship between school and the community
Parent involvement in education
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Mary Magnet Elementary School would like to build strong partnerships and relationships through communication among home, school and community to ensure students would have a successful outcome in their educational experience. It is the desire of all educator to help the students at Mary Magnet Elementary School reach their full potential in every area by providing a safe and welcoming environment, being supportive, encouraging risk taking and welcoming opportunities to share new ideas. We hope to instill the love of learning in all students as we share our own passion for learning with them. “Children have tremendous potential for success if they are provided the same support and guidance (Hjalmarson, 2011).” Mary Magnet Elementary School is creating this involvement plan to include parents in all aspects of the school. “The goal is a strong school-home partnership with teachers, principals, other staff, and the community that will help all students in the district to succeed (Rapides Parish Schools Title I ESEA District Family and Community Engagement Policy, n.d.)” It is important to get parents/caregivers and the community involved early on in order to provide students, teachers and schools the support needed to have a successful outcome. “Given the research, it is advisable for Community member can come in and volunteer at different school events and donate resources such as money, food, and supplies. Collaborating with different organizations in the community is a great way to teach the students to care about and want to give back to their community. “There are many reasons for developing school, family, and community partnerships. They can improve school programs and school climate, provide family services and support, increase parents’ skills and leaderships, connect families with others in the school and in the community, and help teachers with their work (Epstein,
Community Partnerships: Robust data sharing system and national model; comprehensive professional development for partners and schools; partnership working committee including Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and strategic partners; supportive board policy; sample contracts; planning tools; inventory of CBOs, schools and whole child supports. 3. Family Partnerships: Board policy outlining elements of family engagement (i.e. welcoming environments); some knowledge of “the how” – dual capacity framework; expert staff; current Family Engagement Task Force charge with developing a clear definition and multiyear action plan; School Family Engagement Action Teams; Family Development Opportunities (i.e. Family Connector University); 9th-grade success grant (Engaging Families in High School Success) – surfacing family engagement best practices for high school students and for transition years; partnership with the
“When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs.” (Van Roeckel, 2008, p. 1) Deer Valley High School in Glendale, AZ is the first high school built in the Deer Valley Unified Scholl District, and with a population around 1800 students, the high school is one of the bigger schools in the state. It has a tradition of family on its’ campus, where there are still teachers teaching that were there when the school opened in 1980. A number of former students have become new teachers on campus and just about all the teachers’ children have attended and graduated from the campus. With a school like ours, there are many connections to the community around it and it is demonstrated by the programs that bring in parent and community to help with the development of our students. There are numerous booster clubs run on our campus to help support student achievement on the sports fields, a school to work programs to teach the students necessary skills in different areas of either nursing, sports medicine classes, and in the culinary arts classrooms, and funding to our school to help ensure all students graduate on time. There are many programs on our campus, but I will discuss four of the programs: baseball booster club, C2G program, “school-to-work”, and the special education program sponsored by Arrowhead Hospital. These programs are designed to improve the relationships between the campus and the people in the community, and give all students on campus every opportunity to succeed in their future.
The Smithfield School is part of The School District of Philadelphia that serves 563 students in the grades from K-8. Smithfield student body is 80.2% African American, 5% White, 6.1% Asian, 1.4% Latino and 7.3% others. At the Smithfield School, 100% of the students are CEP Economically Disadvantaged (eligible for free lunch), during this school year (2014-2015). When it comes to school attendance the students had a academic school average of 93.2% and the teachers school attendance average was 88.4% compare to 93.4% among the School District of Philadelphia schools in 2013-2014.
“Parental involvement shows to be an important factor that definitely has an impact on children’s education. Parental involvement refers to amount of participation a parent has when it comes to school and their child/children’s life. Some schools foster healthy parental involvement through events and volunteer opportunities but
Effective partnerships between families and school emerge from a mutual trust, respect and understanding of each other’s values and goals. By maintaining such partnerships, we create a healthy environment for children to develop. All families have something unique to offer and educators need to recognize this and make the most of it by incorporating all families into the school community.
Olsen, Glenn W., and Mary Lou Fuller. Home and school relations: teachers and parents working together. 4th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2012. Print.
At this center, the teachers have the tools to assess each child and the parents are interested in knowing the strengths and supports their child needs. The article Understanding Families, states that there should be “opportunities for families to discuss their beliefs about their children, what they want for their children, and how they support their children’s development” (Christian, 7). As conferences occur every 6 months, parents also communicate with the school and teachers via email and during drop off and pick up times. Another great example of parent communication is in the article Building Bridges from School to Home.
As a mean to supporting family engagement and child’s learning, it is crucial that programs implement strategies for developing partnerships with families. But do the children benefit from effective family engagement? Family engagement pertains to all young children across ethnic backgrounds and early childhood education programs. Parents from diverse backgrounds, when given direction, can become more engaged with their children. Family Engagement is important for young children’s skill. The skills include literacy, cognitive, math, and social development. When the families engage in their children’s education with the help of other educator’s assistance, this supports the early childhood learning, which is a very critical part to success
Parents who have had negative experiences in education may feel less inclined to be involved in their children’s education (Salend, 2015, pg. 178). LaRocque, Kleiman, and Darling (2011) identified parental involvement as a vital key in student success (pg. 117). If families feel uncomfortable because of prior discrimination or experiences with school, it can decrease parental involvement (Salend, 2015, pg. 178). In order to remedy these problems, schools can try a variety of solutions. Salend (2015) suggests inviting important extended family members to school events (pg. 178). This could help involve the patriarchs and matriarchs of the family and gain trust. Educators should try to address the elders first in order to show mutual respect. In addition to showing respect on a personal level, schools can gain trust by displaying respect in other ways. Making school facilities available for community activities makes the area seem more accessible and welcoming. It can also help parents build more positive experiences with the educational system and overcome the negative experiences. Furthermore, schools should decorate with various cultures in mind (Salend, 2015, pg. 178). Ultimately, if schools strive to create a more positive experience for families, they can better relate with one
Parental involvement as defined by Greene and Tichenor (2003) is participation “in the educational process by enhancing their parenting skills, developing positive communication skills between home and school, volunteering, providing learning opportunities at home, contribute to decisions that affect schooling, and collaborating with the community in support of the school” (p. 242).
Parent involvement is a major topic of concern among policy makers, educators, and researchers (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, & Maritato, 1997; Rouse & Barrow, 2006; Young, Austin, & Growe, 2013) for more than 20 years. School districts, educational leaders, and researchers all agree with the premise that strong school-family partnerships improve children’s learning and outcomes. Parents and schools, separately or together, represent noteworthy influences on the essential sources of support for children’s learning and development. Children develop within multiple contexts, and development and learning are optimal when effective networks and permanencies among these systems are created. Semke and Sheridan (2012) affirm methods
Raising community awareness to students will teach them the importance of being involved in the community. Students being able to give back to the community will prepare them for their journey to being a positive role model or servant leader.
Parents and community members want to know that their contributions towards the campus are valued and appreciated. Many times we take for granted those events occurring around us. It is crucial we express gratitude towards those people investing in increasing student achievement. Stakeholders want to feel accepted and worthy in their contributions to the campus. In addition, communities are made up of different types of culture, race and income status making the culture diverse which may act as a barrier in creating a positive atmosphere. Yet, this type of misunderstanding can be avoided by simply asking questions in a respectful manner. School leaders must make parent and community involvement a priority, valuing and accepting each other’s differences. “Schools provide wonderful opportunities to bring together students, families, educators and other community members to build the collaborative partnerships that promote quality educational, recreational, and social opportunities for all citizens” (Lechtenberger and Mullins, 2004, p. 21). Schools, parents and community members must work together to support all students in a learning environment to ensure every student is a successful lifetime
I interviewed both a teacher and a parent regarding school and community partnerships. School and community partnerships are vital because taxpayers have a vested interest in what their dollars are being used for, effective communication contributes to public confidence in schools, and students benefit when all stakeholders play a role in education. The teacher I interviewed is a Kindergarten teacher in a school that is very diverse and works with many students and families that live in poverty. The parent I interviewed is the mother of five children, but I asked her to focus on her youngest son who is in fourth grade when answering the questions. The school he attends is a small private school.
School community relationship helps to improve the quality of education for all children. It helps parents and other citizens recognize their responsibility for the quality