FOUNDATIONS

OF TEACHING AND LEARNING 8

ASSESSMENT TWO

INTRODUCTION
As schools across the country face ongoing
pressure to raise test scores and bring all
students up to high standards,increased attention
is being paid to the conditions under which school
improvement efforts are likely to take hold and
prove effective over the long term. Nowhere is this
more true than in low-performing, high-poverty
urban districts the schools that have, in general,
demonstrated the least success in raising student
achievement and carrying out meaningful, longlasting reforms.

Relationships among teachers and principals, in

particular, are being held out as important
indicators of a schools or districts readiness for
reform and ability to sustain it. The U.S.
Department of Educations Comprehensive
School Reform Program (CSR), for example,
emphasizes that if improvement efforts are to be
successful over the long term, school leaders
must first build a solid foundation for school- wide
reform. Such foundations are characterized by
trust
among
school
members,
collegial
relationships, and wide-spread buy-in and
support, as well as a shared .

Through commitment
and creativity school
partnerships will
generate strong
community spirit.
Community spirit
makes a school more
than just a buildingit
creates a learning
environment where
students feel the
commitment of their
fellow students, their
principal, their
teachers, and their
parents. This shared
commitment will make
the common goal a
reality-better
education.
(School
Council Resource
Manual
, Alberta
Learning, 1995)

SCHOOL
PARTNERSHIP

Effective school partnerships :

are student-centred
make decisions together
have educational goals as a top priority
value and respect school, family, and community
support
communicate respectfully, using established
school division protocols
develop and use strategies to resolve conflict
develop and follow a code of ethics that is created
with school staff,
parents, and students.

SCHOOL PARTNERSHIP COUNCILS

Getting Started
Partnership Council Considerations
Successful school partnerships maintain positive team-building skills. Four
key considerations are:
Time.
Volunteering to be a school partnership council member takes
time, patience, and energy. Ensure council members feel valued and that
the amount of time devoted to council business is clearly stated and
understood by all.
Issues.
All school partnership councils face issues that may move them
beyond their typical comfort zone. During regular meetings, take time to
build relationships, trust, and support for positive risk-taking, and to talk
about how you will deal with issues.

Leadership.
Strong leadership plays a critical role in the effectiveness of
any council or activity. A chairperson who is organized and enthusiastic
can keep meetings and initiatives on track and moving forward. Other
members who take on key roles for sub-committees can broaden the
base of leadership and add commitment to projects.
Skill Building.
When school partnership councils consult with others and
work together, members develop leadership skills that make the
committee stronger and help it to last longer. All council members
develop the skills to step into a leadership role when needed. This ability
distributes the workload more evenly and reduces stress levels for
everyone.

Encouraging Involvement
Parent, family and community partnerships support school-based activities
that enhance positive teaching and learning. Because partnerships evolve
over time, and activities and members change, it is important to develop or
review guidelines for council work at the beginning of each school year. By
doing so, any changes that may have occurred in the school or broader
community that affect the current years work can be addressed quickly.
Here are some suggestions:
Seek input from the school community.
Timely input is a productive way to identify meaningful priorities that meet
the changing needs of the community. Some examples of collecting input
would be: town hall meetings, surveys, interviewing key community
members, focus group meetings, and using data collected through the
school planning process

Remain consistent with the views of the entire school

community.Keep in mind the diversity of the community when
planning and making decisions.
Remain consistent with school division policies and
procedures.
Many school divisions have adopted specific strategies for
discussion, decision making, and communication that may
assist school partnerships.

Maintain ongoing communication with the school community.

Keep the community informed of roles, mission, vision,
priorities, plans, and activities. A variety of ways to inform the
community include: newsletters, open meetings,
announcements, and advertisements.

Involve families.
A childs understanding of values and traditions related to the home
and community environment. As a result, parents form a natural link
between communities and schools. Encourage all parents to
bring essential community perspectives to planning and decision
making.
Encourage all forms of community involvement and support.
Encourage wider involvement in schools. Identify, access, and
coordinate community resources.
Encourage a student-centred direction. Promote the best interests of
all students.

Maintain high ethical standards. Part of building positive relationships

involves being caring and discreet. Encourage discussions that focus
on
the entire school community and that are within the roles and
responsibilities of the partnership council.

The reality of teaching in the twenty first century is that schools

must be prepared to meet the needs of a diverse group of
learners. Teachers are responsible for the overall direction,
education and management of programming, evaluating,
reporting, and designing interventions for all students within the
classroom. However, it should not be expected that any one
teacher will have the repertoire of skills to meet the needs of all
students all of the time. Classroom/subject teachers must be
prepared to work collaboratively with parents * , other
professionals and support staff to help students achieve
success in learning

The Importance of Parental

Involvement
Parents can support
schools by
knowing what
changes are
occurring in school
practices and
instruction.
Parents that are not
informed
cannot participate
fully in schools.

Parents who know

their children
best, are in the best
position to
inform schools about
their childrens
needs and
capacities, and are
deeply invested in
their childrens
success.

Parents that
are partially
informed
must rely on
the media
and
politicians to
inform them
and
neither
knows
teaching and
learning
as well as
education
professionals.

 Parental involvement enhances academic performance. The

more intensely the parent is involved, the greater chance of
academic success.
Parental involvement leads to better classroom behavior.
A parents interest/encouragement can affect a childs
attitude towards school, classroom conduct, self-esteem,
and motivation.
Parents should stay involved
in their childrens education
from preschool through high school.
Training and resources can
help parents get involved.
Reading together at home greatly improves reading skills

 Significant involvement most likely develops when

schools actively seek out ways for parents to get
involved.
Parental involvement lifts teacher morale.

Parental involvement benefits both children and

parents. Parents will gain a better understanding of
school curriculum and activities and communicate
better with their children.

Time constraints are the greatest barrier to parental

involvement. Collaborate with the teacher to find
ways to work around schedules.

Barriers to Parental
Involvement
Economic and Time Constraints: May occur for both
parents and teachers. Provide information on the
best way and time to be contacted.
Interpersonal Skills: Consciously demonstrate good
interpersonal skills as this may greatly hinder the
parent/teacher relationship. Let the teacher know
you want what is best for your child, as teachers
generally want the same for your child.

Teachers sometimes view

parents as distant and
threatening so it is good to stay
involved and show
your efforts to work as a team
with the teacher.

Teacher reluctance (Bechler, 1986)

Role uncertainty
Balancing concern for group of children against more personalized
concern for each individual child
Too much time/resources
Lower-income, minority, and non-English speaking persons are usually
underrepresented in parent involvement activities (Fager & Brewster, 1999)

Barriers to Parental
Involvement
Zarate (2007enges to parental
involvement noted by Hispanic parents:

Providing homework assistance

Communicating with schools

Work demands

School Policies

School and parents relationship

Families send children to school, where they hope their children will become learners
with the tools they need to succeed in life. Schools take children from and send them

back to their families, where they assume the families will provide the support that
children need to grow and learn. This circle, in which home and school share the
resource of children, is one that has been the focus of development, debate, and
data collection. Most educational institutions have some formal home-school group,
whether it is a parent board, a PTO, a School Advisory Council, Room Parents--all
working to bridge the space between families and education. The attention to the
topic is even framed legislatively with a national education goal whose focus is
partnerships: "By the year 2000, every school will promote partnerships that will
increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional,
and academic growth of children." (National Education Goals Panel, 1995).

Epstein: School, Family, and Community Partnerships

Joyce Epstein's large-scale inquiries into parent, teacher, and student views of and
actions related to education have provided the materials for the development of a

theoretical model of what she now calls school and family partnerships. The term
partnerships is used to emphasize that schools, families, and communities share
responsibilities for children through overlapping spheres of influence. These
spheres can be separate, in which case the institutions related to students share
little in the way of resources, goals, or responsibility; or they can overlap, creating
space for partnership activities. As a first step, Epstein promotes greater overlap
and therefore shared responsibility--from this perspective answerability is an
integral part of her theorization of relations between families and schools.

Major Types of Family Involvement

Type I
Basic obligations of parents

Basic levels of support for health & safety, nutrition, housing, parenting skills
and child rearing, family activities to support children learning

Type II
Basic obligations of schools to communicate effectively with families about
programs and child progress

School to home
Home to school

Type III
Involvement of parents at school

Volunteers
Audiences

Type IV
Family involvement in learning activities at home

Skills to pass grade, help on homework, curriculum

Type V
Decision-making, participation, leadership, and school advocacy

PTA/PTO, Advisory Councils & Committees, Independent School Advocacy

Groups

Type VI
Collaborations and Exchanges with the Community

Connections to enable community to contribute to schools, students, and

families
Connections to enable school, students, and families to contribute to the
community

The model is framed in terms of what educators can do--ways that they
can facilitate various types of invovolement by families. Therefore
addressivity , in the Epstein model, is focused on teachers and
administrators who provide contexts for parents to support learning. Her
work is to describe successful programs that can be replicated by
schools to increase the spheres of overlap. This is a universalistic
perspective on interactions between families and the institution of
school, flexible in its adaptation in local settings but that to be
comprehensive, must include all six types. Because it is seen as a
generalizable program type, it is something that should benefit all
communities, with failure residing in individuals unable to take
advantage of the opportunities partnerships provide.

Parents are more likely to support a school program in

which they are partners in decision-making and welcome at
times other than when their children are in trouble. Parent
interest and support for the school and its staff makes it
easier for youngersters to relate to and identify themselves

with the goals, values, and personnel of the school, a

powerful motivation to tune in and turn on to education. At
the same time, parental involvement insures that their
cultural values and interests are respected. (Comer, 1980,
p. 70)