Improving Family Involvement to Increase Student Achievement for Every child

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Improving Family Involvement to Increase Student
Achievement for Every child
2008 Special Education Directors Conference
Merle Siefken, M.A., M.Ed., Director Yvonne
Janvrin, M.S., Assistant Director Illinois
Statewide Technical Assistance Center for
Parents Building Parent and Educator Partnerships
Across Illinois www.pepartnership.org
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Outcomes

• The participant will gain an awareness and
  understanding of research and best practice
  relating to family engagement
• The participant will be able to apply best
  practice in creating an action plan for effective
  family engagement

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Extrinsic Factors

• No Child Left Behind requires schools to develop
  ways to get parents more involved in their
  child's education and in improving the school.

P.L. 108-446 states that parents and schools
should be given expanded opportunities to resolve
their disagreements in positive and constructive
ways educators and parents have the necessary
tools to improve educational results for children
with disabilities by supporting system
improvement activities coordinated research and
personnel preparation and coordinated technical
assistance
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No Child Left Behind (NCLB)

• No Child Left Behind requires schools to develop
  ways to get parents more involved in their
  child's education and in improving the school.

NCLB requires states, districts and schools to
develop ways to get parents more involved in
their childs education and in improving their
childs school. For example, both Title 1
districts and schools must have written policies
on parental involvement and provide this
information to parents.
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NCLB Suggested Activities

• Conduct workshops for parents.
• Communicate with all families.
• Organize volunteers
• Improve homework completion to increase
  achievement
• Involve parents in decisions.
• Involve businesses and community partners

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IDEA Requirements (P.L. 94-142/P.L. 105-17)
Ensure that educators and parents have the
necessary tools to improve educational results
for children with disabilities. Inform parents
regularly of their childs progress toward the
annual goals. At the discretion of the parent or
agency, other individuals who have knowledge or
expertise about the child can participate in the
IEP Team meeting. In developing the IEP, the
team shall consider the strengths of the child
and the concerns of the parents for enhancing the
education of their child. Involve parents of
children with disabilities in the design,
evaluation, and, as appropriate, implementation
of school-based improvement plans. Beginning at
age 14, a statement of the transition service
needs focused on the childs courses of study
must be in the IEP.
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ISBE Policy
The State Board of Education recognizes that a
childs education is primarily the responsibility
of the family and that this responsibility is
shared with the school and the entire community.
The Board believes that meaningful family
support, both for individual students learning
and for the work of the school in general, is
critical if students are to achieve their
potential. The State Board believes that schools
must create an environment that is conducive to
meaningful participation by families, community
members, business and governmental agencies.
Clearly, educators must welcome the involvement
of family members and be receptive to their
participation if this interaction is to have the
desired results. Further, schools have a
responsibility to seek out and enter into
partnerships with other members of the
community, both in order to bring additional
resources to bear on the educational process and
in order to meet the needs of students that
affect their ability to learn. Schools also
need the support of other members in the
community, including businesses, governmental
agencies, and a wide range of community-based
organizations. These various entities have
considerable scope for affecting the lives of
individual students and their families, for
broadening the resources available to schools,
and for supporting the educational endeavor in
both tangible and intangible ways. A strong
community commitment to education is important
if schools and students are to do their best
work. Parents and other family members should
take responsibility for helping students to be
effective participants in their own schooling.
They can do this specifically by providing a home
atmosphere conducive to studying, by expressing
to children the importance of education, and by
cooperating with teachers and school
administrators in matters relating to their
students. Families in diverse communities have
widely differing needs which must be met in order
to foster maximum student achievement, calling
for equally diverse family and community
involvement initiatives. In order to
be successful, these initiatives must be designed
at the local level by educators, family members,
and the many interested parties in business,
government, and community-based organizations.
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ISBE Policy

• The State Board of Education also has a role to
  play in fostering wider and more substantive
  family and community involvement. It will
  therefore be the policy of the Board to
• Disseminate information on the importance of
  family and community support for education, as a
  means of increasing awareness and commitment
  among the various segments of the community.
• Provide guidelines to encourage and assist local
  school districts and schools to develop their own
  family/community responsibility policies.
• Support resources, assistance, and learning
  activities for parents to enable them to carry
  out their responsibilities as parents of
  individual students, as well as active members of
  the broader community. Such activities could
  include volunteering and participating in
  decision-making activities such as policy
  formation and curriculum development.
• Provide technical assistance to schools to enable
  them to form more effective partnerships and
  bring community resources to bear on family needs
  related to student learning.
• Seek training (both pre-service and in-service)
  for teachers and administrators that will enable
  them to engage the support and cooperation of
  parents of parents from a variety of backgrounds.
• Seek federal and state funding to assist local
  schools, parents, and communities in this
  initiative.

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Intrinsic Factors
Why are we educators? What motivates us about
learning? What do we want for each child in our
classroom? What do we want for our child? What
is our moral compass?
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Research
Nothing Motivates a Child More The research is
abundantly clear nothing motivates a child more
than when learning is valued by schools and
families/community working together in
partnershipThese forms of parent involvement
do not happen by accident or even by invitation.
They happen by explicit strategic
intervention. --Michael Fullan (1997a,
pp.34-48). Broadening the concept of teacher
leadership. In S.Caldwell (Ed.), Professional
development in learning-centered schools. Oxford,
OH National Staff Development Council. Home
Factors Account for 49 of the Influence on
Student Performance In October 2001, Stephanie
Hirsh, in the National Staff Development Council
publication, Results writes, According to
research by Ron Ferguson, home and family
factorsaccount for 49 of the influence on
student performance Hirsh continues, This
important position of influence is why family
involvement is addressed in the NSCD Standards
for Staff Developmenteducators will benefit from
staff development that helps them gain the
knowledge and skills aligned with the specific
outcomes they want for parents and their
children.
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Research

• increase student achievement, improve attendance
  and behavior
• Research strongly supports school-parent
  partnerships as effective in improving school
  climate and student performance. According to a
  comprehensive survey of 85 research studies cited
  in two National PTA publications, National
  Standards for Parent/Family Involvement Programs
  (1998), and Building Successful Partnerships A
  Guide for Developing Parent and Family
  Involvement Programs (2000), the influence of
  parent involvement is profound and provides
  comprehensive benefits for students, families,
  and schools when parent and family members become
  participants in their childrens education and
  lives. Research shows that
• Students with involved parents no matter what
  their income or background are more likely to
  do better in school, stay in school longer, and
  like school more.
• Partnership programs can increase student
  achievement, improve attendance and behavior, and
  promote positive social skills.
• When partnership practices are tightly linked to
  school goals, families become involved in ways
  that directly assist students learning and
  success.
•  

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Best Practice Keys to Successful Partnership

• The School, Family, Community Partnerships (SFCP)
  framework, a research-based methodology developed
  by Dr. Joyce Epstein, Professor of Sociology, and
  Director of the National Network of Partnership
  Schools (NNPS) at Johns Hopkins University. Dr.
  Epsteins framework is grounded in over 20 years
  of research. Goal-oriented Plans for
  Partnerships are developed to enhance family
  engagement which supports student achievement.
  Activities are centered on six identified types
  of involvement. The six identified types of
  involvement are
• Parenting,
• Communicating,
• Learning at Home,
• Volunteering,
• Decision Making, and
• Collaboration with the Community.

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Best Practice Six Types of Involvement
PARENTING Help all families establish home
environments to support children as students
develop parenting skills for all age levels
support basic family needs.
COMMUNICATING Communicate with families about
school programs and student progress through
effective school-to-home and home-to-school
communications.
VOLUNTEERING Improve recruitment, training,
work, and schedules to involve families as
volunteers and audiences at school or in other
locations to support students and school programs.
Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
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Best Practice Six Types of Involvement
LEARNING AT HOME Involve families with their
children in learning activities at home,
including homework and other curriculum-related
activities and decisions.
DECISION MAKING Include families as
participants in school decisions, governance, and
advocacy through PTA/PTO, school councils,
committees, and action teams.
COLLABORATING WITH COMMUNITY Coordinate
resources and services for students, families,
and the school with businesses, agencies, and
other groups, and provide services to the
community.
Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
15
Best Practice Results
PARENTING Help all families establish home
environments to support children as students
develop parenting skills for all age levels
support basic family needs.

• Parents
• Self-confidence about parenting
• Knowledge of child and adolescent development
• Adjustments in home environment as children
  proceed through school
• Awareness of own and others challenges in
  parenting
• Feeling of support from school and other parents

• Teachers
• Understanding of families backgrounds,
  cultures, concerns, goals, needs, and views of
  their children
• Understanding of student diversity
• Respect for families strengths and efforts
• Awareness of own skills to share information on
  child development

Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
16
Best Practice Results
COMMUNICATING Communicate with families about
school programs and student progress through
effective school-to-home and home-to-school
communications.

• Parents
• Understanding of school programs and policies
• Monitoring and awareness of childs progress in
  subjects and skills
• Responses to student problems
• Ease of interactions and communications with
  school and teachers
• High rating of school quality

• Teachers
• Diversity of communication with families
• Ability to communicate clearly
• Use of network of parents to communicate with
  all families
• Ability to understand family views and elicit
  help with childrens progress

Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
17
Best Practice Results
VOLUNTEERING Improve recruitment, training,
work, and schedules to involve families as
volunteers and audiences at school or in other
locations to support students and school programs.

• Parents
• Understanding of the teachers job
• Confidence about ability to work in school and
  with children
• Awareness that families are welcomed and valued
• Use of school activities at home
• Enrollment in programs to improve own education

• Teachers
• Understanding of how to use volunteers
• Involving families who do not volunteer at home
• Awareness of parents talents and interests in
  children
• Individual attention to students because of help
  from volunteers

Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
18
Best Practice Results
LEARNING AT HOME Involve families with their
children in learning activities at home,
including homework and other curriculum-related
activities and decisions.

• Teachers
• Respect for family use of time outside of school
• Respect of family diversity for learning
• Use of parents as first teachers
• Satisfaction of family involvement and support
  at home

• Parents
• Knowledge of how to support, encourage, and help
  student at home each year
• Discussions at home of school, class work,
  homework, and future plans
• Understanding of instructional program and what
  child is learning in each subject
• Appreciation of teachers skills
• Awareness of child as a learner

Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
19
Best Practice Results
DECISION MAKING Include families as
participants in school decisions, governance, and
advocacy through PTA/PTO, school councils,
committees, and action teams.

• Parents
• Awareness of school, district, and state
  policies
• Input on policies affecting childrens education
• Ownership of childs education
• Understanding of child as a learner
• Satisfaction in being heard

• Teachers
• Awareness of perspectives of families in policy
  development and school decisions
• Acceptance of equality of family representatives
  of school committees and in leadership roles
• Satisfaction of family participation in shared
  responsibilities

Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
20
Best Practice Results
COLLABORATING WITH COMMUNITY Coordinate
resources and services for students, families,
and the school with businesses, agencies, and
other groups, and provide services to the
community.

• Teachers
• Knowledge and use of community resources to
  enrich curriculum and instruction
• Skill in working with mentors, business
  partners, community volunteers, and others to
  assist students and teaching practices
• Knowledge of referral processes for families and
  children with needs for specific services

• Parents
• Knowledge and use of local resources to increase
  skills and talents or to obtain services
• Interactions with other families in community
  activities
• Awareness of communitys contributions to school
• Participation in activities which strengthen the
  community

Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
21
NCLB and the Six Types of Involvement

• Conduct workshops for parents. (Parenting)
• Communicate with all families. (Communicating)
• Organize volunteers. (Volunteering)
• Improve homework completion to increase
  achievement. (Learning at Home)
• Involve parents in decisions. (Decision Making)
• Involve businesses and community partners.
  (Collaborating with the Community)

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IDEA Requirements and the Six Types of
Involvement
Ensure that educators and parents have the
necessary tools to improve educational results
for children with disabilities.
(Parenting) Inform parents regularly of their
childs progress toward the annual goals.
(Communicating) At the discretion of the parent
or agency, other individuals who have knowledge
or expertise about the child can participate in
the IEP Team meeting. (Volunteering) In
developing the IEP, the team shall consider the
strengths of the child and the concerns of the
parents for enhancing the education of their
child. (Learning at Home) Involve parents of
children with disabilities in the design,
evaluation, and, as appropriate, implementation
of school-based improvement plans. (Decision
Making) Beginning at age 14, a statement of the
transition service needs focused on the childs
courses of study must be in the IEP.
(Collaborating with the Community)
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The ISBE Policy and the Six Types of Involvement

• Disseminate information on the importance of
  family and community support for education, as a
  means of increasing awareness and commitment
  among the various segments of the community.
• Provide guidelines to encourage and assist local
  school districts and schools to develop their own
  family/community responsibility policies.
• Support resources, assistance, and learning
  activities for parents to enable them to carry
  out their responsibilities as parents (T-1) of
  individual students, as well as active members of
  the broader community. Such activities could
  include volunteering (T-3) and participating in
  decision-making (T-5) activities such as policy
  formation and curriculum development.
• Provide technical assistance to schools to enable
  them to form more effective partnerships and
  bring community (T-6) resources to bear on family
  needs related to student learning (T-4).
• Seek training (both pre-service and in-service)
  for teachers and administrators that will enable
  them to engage the support and cooperation of
  parents from a variety of backgrounds.
• Seek federal and state funding to assist local
  schools, parents, and communities in this
  initiative.

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What Do You Know about Family Engagement?

• The participant will gain an awareness and
  understanding of
• research and best practice relating to family
  engagement.

Partnerships contribute to good schools and
successful students.
?
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Applying what we have learned

• The participant will be able to apply best
  practice in creating an
• action plan for effective family engagement.

What has worked in your district or school to
engage families?
For our remaining time, we will use the Six Types
of Family Involvement to create an Action Plan
for Partnerships.
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Applying what we have learned
CASE STUDY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. Staff
brainstormed the activities on the following
slide for each Type of Involvement. Our job is
to create a One-Year Action Plan to address the
school improvement goal of IMPROVE READING
ACHIEVEMENT for students with an IEP.

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Application Six Types of Involvement
PARENTING Workshops for parents on various ways
to read aloud with young children.
COMMUNICATING Parent-teacher-student conferences
on reading goals and on reading progress.
VOLUNTEERING Reading-partner volunteers, guest
readers of favorite stories, and other organized,
ongoing read-with-me activities.
Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
28
Application Six Types of Involvement
LEARNING AT HOME Weekly interactive reading
homework activities for all students to read
aloud for a family partner, show links of reading
and writing, and other reading activities.
DECISION MAKING Provide students and parents
with a list of books available at the local
library based on readability and theme.
COLLABORATING WITH COMMUNITY Donations from
business partners of books for classrooms, for
the school library, or for children to take home.
Reprinted with permission Epstein, J. L.,
Sanders, M. G., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C.,
Jansorn, N. R., Van Voorhis, F. L. (2002).
School, Family, and Community Partnerships Your
Handbook for Action (Second Edition). Thousand
Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
29
Creating an Action Plan for Family Engagement
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School Goal Action Plan for Partnerships
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Your Next Steps?

• How might the research-based approaches to
  partnerships that we discussed today benefit your
  district and schools?
• What 3 actions will you take to use the
  information from todays sessions?
• How might ISTAC and NNPS assist you with your
  plans for partnership?

• Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Center
  www.is-tac.org
• Parent Educator Partnership
  www.pepartnership.org
• National Network of Partnership Schools
  www.partnershipschools.org

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Commitment
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Identify District Facilitators for Partnerships

• What do District Facilitators do?
• Provide training to School Improvement Teams to
  help them understand the framework of the six
  types of involvement and to use the framework to
  write One-Year Action Plans for improving
  partnerships
• Help schools tailor practices of partnership to
  reach specific school improvement goals, such as
  improving attendance, achievement, behavior, and
  a school climate of partnership
• Help schools focus on meeting specific challenges
  that affect the success of their practices of
  partnership
• Help schools assess the results of their
  practices of partnership in activity-specific and
  annual evaluations
• Conduct quarterly cluster meetings that bring
  small groups of schools SFCP leaders together to
  share best practices and to discuss problems and
  solutions
• Meet individually with principals at the start of
  the school year to clarify the work of the
  facilitator and how the principal will support
  partnership work
• Conduct End-of-Year Celebration Workshops with
  all schools to celebrate progress, share
  problems, and continue planning
• Conduct other activities to assist partnership
  development, such as presentations to teachers,
  families, groups of principals, superintendents,
  the school board, other district leaders,
  parents, or other groups interested in improving
  partnerships
• Meet with district administrators to discuss
  their expectations for the program, for
  facilitators, and to clarify how they will
  encourage principals to support the work of their
  schools family engagement initiative

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Contact Information
Illinois Statewide Technical Assistance Center
for Parents Parent Educator Partnership 25 S.
Washington Suite 106 Naperville, IL. 60540 Toll
free 877/317-2733 Fax [phone] Merle
Siefken msiefken_at_sased.org Yvonne Janvrin
yjanvrin_at_sased.org
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Acknowledgement

• Information in this PowerPoint has been adapted
  from Epstein, J.L., Sanders, M.G., Simon, B.S.,
  Salinas, K.C., Jansorn, N.R., Van Voorhis, F.L.
  (2002). School, family, and community
  partnerships Your handbook for action, second
  edition., Thousand Oaks, CA Corwin Press.