Redefining Parent Involvement: Parents Making a Difference in Their Children's Lives

Redefining Parent Involvement:
Parents Making a Difference in Their Children's Lives
"Electronic Handout"

December 11
1:00-2:30 p.m. Eastern

Hear the Program

Listen to a Real Audio recording of the entire presentation.

Event Summary

Part 1 - (10 minutes)
Welcome and Overview

Part 2 - (10 minutes)
Conference Call Brainstorming (facilitated by Karen DeBord)
- What is "parent involvement"?
- What is "parenting education"?

Part 3 - (15 minutes)
What the Literature Tells Us
Karen DeBord

Part 4 - (15 minutes)
Perspectives from the Field
Wally Goddard

Part 5 - (15 minutes)
Cultural Variations and Perspectives
Millie Ferrer

Part 6 - (15 minutes)
Strategies for Increasing Parent Involvement
Karen DeBord, Millie Ferrer, and Wally Goddard

Part 7 - (15 minutes)
Sharing, Interaction, Q&A, and Next Steps
Karen Debord, Millie Ferrer, Wally Goddard, and all participants

The Presenters

Karen DeBord, Ph.D., CFLE.
Associate Professor & State Extension Specialist Child Development
North Carolina State University

What is Parent involvement?

What is Parenting education?

Why would we want parents to be involved in their child's learning?
(What the literature says - ecological model)

Students do better in school and in life. They are more likely to earn higher grades and test scores, graduate from high school, and go on to higher education. Low-income and minority students benefit the most.
Parents become empowered. Parents develop confidence by helping their children learn at home. Many go on to further their own education and become active in the community
Teacher morale improves. Teachers who work with families expect more from students and feel a stronger connection to and support from the community.
Schools get better. When parents are involved at home and at school, in ways that make them full partners, the performance of all children in the school tends to improve.
Communities grow stronger. Families feel more invested in the school system, and the school system becomes more responsive to parent and community needs.

Epstein (1983) reported that when teachers were committed to increasing parent involvement, the parents ". . . felt that they [the parents] should help their children at home; . . . understood more about what their child was being taught in school; . . . were more positive about the teacher's interpersonal skills, and rated the teacher higher in overall teaching ability. . . ." This change in parents' perceptions is true even after socioeconomic status and student ability are taken into account (Epstein, 1983; Eagle, 1989).

Strategies for Parental Engagement

Visit the home
In-home series of visits
Include parents in "real" decision making
At-home activity (bags)
Some parents need a structured commitment (contract, required volunteer hours)
Some parents feel uncomfortable in the classroom but want to be there (shadowing teachers in classroom after training/orientation in exchange for something - credit towards required hours, parents must understand child development, so parents can understand child development)
Some parents are really good/animated with reading to a group together
Some parents are really good/listening and patient with reading one-on-one to children
Some want to be passive - Family bookshelf
Do you have a Parent Resource handbook that has a section with ideas for becoming engaged?
How about a poetry picnic - family writes together or shares their favorite poem - be sure to prepare in advance and have books to see in advance
Some parents really like to work on Fund Raisers that are parent-child involving (walk-athon, bike-athon)
Some parents want to connect with each other - Parent book talks, adult talk
Be sure to show appreciation - Volunteer appreciation tea, etc.
Involve parents in what children do - Hands on parent activity (Ready, Set, Glue! Claymaking)
Is reading a value- host a Family reading night
Talk to children and parents about how to tell a story with a storytelling week/month/weave a total story over time, gets input and endings from home to add in class
Do you have Welcome folders in the class for parents to check when they come (buys time for you until you can get over to them)
Include: Everything you always wanted to know about___ but were afraid to ask in folder and as send home activity, ask them for input and to ask CRAZY questions
Have time to just socialize - Ice Cream social, family movie, video
How will you include parents in decisions about their child's learning? Phone call to introduce self and ask them their goals for their child this year...give them a summary, feedback, your goals (aside from school district standard goals)
How will you develop a community of learners to include the parents?
How will you address your own biases about parental involvement?
Write a personal goal for parental engagement and post it for yourself as a reminder
Do you have a classroom mission? Do your students? Could you go so far as to challenge parents?
Compare the difference new strategies make to years past!

Adapted by Karen DeBord, North Carolina State University. December, 2001.

Joyce Epstein's Model for Six Types of Involvement

PARENTING: Assist families with parenting and child-rearing skills, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions that support children as students at each age and grade level. Assist schools in understanding families.

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 the school or in other locations to support students and school programs.

LEARNING AT HOME: Involve families with their children in learning activities at home, including homework and other curriculum-linked activities and decisions.

DECISION MAKING: Include families as participants in school decisions, governance, and advocacy through PTA/PTO, school councils, committees, and other parent organizations.

COLLABORATING WITH THE COMMUNITY: Coordinate resources and services for families, students, and the school with businesses, agencies, and other groups, and provide services to the community.

CYFERnet resources:

Parental Involvement Contributes to Child's Success in School
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5304.html

Monitoring: Staying Involved in Your Teen's Life
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5157.html

Back to School, Moving Forward-What No Child Left Behind Means for Parents, Schools and Communities
http://www.ed.gov/Family/agbts/

Fathers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs98/fathers/index.html

Working with Your Child's Caregiver
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5205.html

Parenting: Have We Arrived? Or Do We Continue to Change?
http://www.cyfernet.org/parent/pararrive.html

Participacion de los padres en las escuelas (Father Involvement in Schools) [Spanish]
http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed432408.html

What to Know About Dropping Out of School
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/spfiles/sp491d.pdf

Reduction of Risk Behaviors for Youth
http://ag.arizona.edu/fcr/fs/nowg/ythrbacadrisk.html

The Role of the Family in Adolescent Development: Preventing Risk, Promoting Resilience
http://www.cyfernet.org/keynote2001.html

Serving Families With Limited Resources
http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/Parenting/servingoct95.html

School Readiness and Success
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/smp9/parent_education/school_readiness.htm

Parent Involvement in Education: A Resource for Parents, Educators, and Communities
http://npin.org/library/pre1998/n00321/n00321.html

Literature Review on Parent Involvement
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/pidata/pi0ltrev.htm

Joyce Epstein's model for Six types of involvement
http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/sixtypes.htm

Order posters: http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/poster.htm)

http://www.handinhand.org/epstein.html

Other resources:

National Network of Partnership Schools
http://www.csos.jhu.edu/p2000/default.htm

North Carolina Parenting Education Network
http://www.ncpen.org

National Extension Parenting Education Network
http://www.cyfernet.org/parenting_practices/preface.html

The National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education
http://www.ncpie.org/AboutNCPIE/AboutPartnerships.html

H. Wallace Goddard, C.F.L.E.
Extension Family Life Specialist
University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension

Parents Involved with Their Children

Bronfenbrenner: "Every child should spend a substantial amount of time with somebody who's crazy about him or her . . . . There has to be at least one person who has an irrational involvement with that child, someone who thinks that kid is more important than other people's kids, someone who's in love with him or her, and whom he or she loves in return. . . . You can't pay a [person] to do what a [parent] will do for free."

Brazelton and Greenspan (2000) recommend a high standard of parent involvement in their children's lives: Continuous relationships.

In the first three years, every child needs one or two primary caregivers who remain in a steady, intimate relationship with that child. During the infancy, toddler, and preschool years, children should always be in the sight of caregivers. There should be no time, other than when they are sleeping, that they are out of sight of caregivers.

No more than one-third of infants', toddlers', and preschoolers' time should be spent in fully independent activities. The time that is spent in independent activities should be spent for 10 or 15 minutes here and there rather than a longer period in independent activities.

The other two-thirds or longer time should be spent between two types of activities: those in which the caregiver facilitates interactions with the environment and direct interaction, such as cuddling, holding, shared pretend play and funny face games. Infants and toddlers need at least four or more 20-minute or longer periods of direct interactive time. Preschoolers need at least three of these direct, interactive play opportunities. In a two-parent family, both parents should be part of these spontaneous, joyful games. During the facilitated time, caregivers are available to comment on, respond to, and help in the child's explorations, putting clothes in the washing machine. Some of this time a small child could be accompanying parents to the supermarket or being a junior chef.

During the school years, when we consider available time, we are considering time minus school time, after school activities, and peer playtime. Here, too, we recommend that of the available time two-thirds be spent with the caregiver being available for facilitating or directly interacting. The "facilitating" time could be spent helping a child with homework, hobbies, or other activities. The times of direct involvement, which should include at least two 20-minute periods (each parent should participate where possible) might mean imaginative play, games or other activities in which the child can take the lead.

We recommend that working parents both be available for at least two-thirds of the evening hours, from 5:30 or 6:00 to 9:00, and that, if possible, in addition, one of the parents be available in the late afternoon when the children are home, often playing with peers or siblings, or involved in after-school activities. Also, the parents should be available enough so that they or the children don't have to be measuring each moment of time and the guidelines outlined above can be taken for granted.

Parental Leave

We recommend a leave of most of the first year of life for one parent.

TV

In the first three years, no more than one half hour per day should be spent watching TV. After age 3, an additional half-hour of TV or computer time could be shared with a parent. (pp. 47-49)

Brazelton, T. B., & Greenspan, S. I. (2000). The irreducible needs of children: What every child must have to grow, learn, and flourish. Cambridge, MA: Perseus.

There are many societal disincentives for mother's committed caregiving,

Crittenden, Ann (2001). The price of motherhood: Why motherhood is the most important-and least valued-job in America. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Extreme involvement and the vulnerable child

"The mother never lets the child be in control or lets him out of her sight. By overprotecting the baby, the mother takes away his own internal feedback. He becomes too dependent on her for signals and for control. He never learns to trust himself" (Brazelton & Greenspan, 2000, p. 19).

The answer: Attunement!

"When a parent can be in tune with her baby's individual temperament, when there is a 'goodness of fit', a parent senses and even reads the baby's individualized need for which kind of 'being there' is indicated and how much is enough to fuel that baby's sense of self-esteem and motivation for learning. 'Being there" isn't a rigid requirement; it's sensitively geared to each baby" "Reading the baby's signals and building the relationship requires a lot of affective synchrony. You have to take great delight and pleasure in the baby. You have to feel part of the baby and yet interact with her in a reciprocal way. Respecting a baby's initiative and differences is a hard psychological task. You can't do that on the run. You can't do that if you're not invested in the baby." (Brazelton & Greenspan, 2000, pp. 13, 17-18).

Clear invitations from children and continuing challenges for our society.

Better parent involvement

1. Establish that the child is an active learner.

2. Establish the parents as first and most important educators.

3. Teach attunement.

4. Encourage society to support family life.

Millie Ferrer, Ph.D.
Associate Professor/Human Development Specialist
Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences

Parental Involvement - Cultural Variations and Perspectives

A growing number of neighborhoods and communities today have a mix of races, cultures and languages. E.g. Latino population is one of the fastest growing minority groups in the US.
Families differ by economic status, habits, customs, racial and cultural backgrounds etc. This will influence the way we market educational parenting programs.
An educator's awareness of the beliefs, attitudes and values of the group of parents you are trying to reach is essential to the effectiveness of programming.
Cultural generalizations vs. stereotyping
Best Practices in applying cultural generalizations for Latino/Hispanic parents.
1. Trust and personal relationship building
2. Establish community networks and partnerships with other organizations and agencies that are already serving Latino families.
3. When publications are translated, be sure they are culturally acceptable. Attention to literacy is important.
4. Marketing programs- sending flyers /letters-- not enough.
5. Employees and volunteers who are bilingual is very important.

CYFERnet Resources:

General Information

Diversity Activities for Youth and Adults
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/Freepubs/pdfs/ui335.pdf

Growing Up in Multicultural Families
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5222.html

Helping Children Understand Other Cultures
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5206.html

Latino Parents: Unique Preferences for Learning about Parenting
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pub/1999/latino.html

Talking About Acceptance
http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/smp9/parent_education/talking_about_acceptance.htm

Links, and other Resources

Urban/Minority Families
http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/families/index.html

Intercultural Development Research Association Research Association
http://www.idra.org/

Programming Resources

AVANCE
http://www.avance.org/

Effective Black Parenting
http://www.open.org/~westcapt/bp42.htm

Bilingual Brochures for Parents
http://www.ncbe.gwu.edu/miscpubs/flame/

Working with Latino Parents/Families
http://www.cyfernet.org/parent/latinofam.html

RE-CONNECT Reform in Education: Communities Organizing Networks for Emerging Collaborations with Teachers
http://www.idra.org/reconnect/reconnect.htm

Meet the Educators

back to cyfernet
thin blue line

CYFERnet is a registered trademark of the National Children, Youth and Families at Risk Initiative.
For more information contact cyf@umn.edu.
www.cyfernet.org

All or part of these materials contained on www.cyfernet.org may be copied without permission for educational, non-profit purposes, unless otherwise noted. Credit must be given to the appropriate author and organization. For information on how to cite, please see the following web site: http://www.apastyle.org/elecsource.html.