Reaching All Families: Creating Family-Friendly Schools (fwd)

[Mike Eisenberg <mike@ERICIR.SYR.EDU>]

Families and schools are "hot."  That's good news for us.  Think about
something special this year relating to parents and kids.

FYI --

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 17:10:19 -0400
From: Kirk Winters <Kirk_Winters@ed.gov>
To: Multiple recipients of list <edinfo@inet.ed.gov>
Subject: Reaching All Families: Creating Family-Friendly Schools


     RESEARCH CONFIRMS COMMON SENSE:  Children learn more when
     parents & families are involved in their education.

     And surveys tell us that parents want guidance from schools on
     how to help their children learn better.  This holds true
     regardless of the family's income or education level.

     Studies also show that efforts by schools to strengthen the
     home eduational environment can have a powerful influence on
     school performance, particularly in schools serving low-income
     & minority families.

-->  SO, WHAT CAN SCHOOLS DO to reach out to all families?
                                             ~~~
     A report recently added to our Online Library is designed to
     answer that question.  "Reaching All Families: Creating
     Family-Friendly Schools" offers 18 ways schools can reach out
     to all families.  These 18 ideas (which are taken almost
     verbatim from the "table of contents" of the report) are
     listed below.  Also below you'll find 2 excerpts.  The full
     report is at:

          http://www.ed.gov/pubs/ReachFam/index.html

     This 53-page report (August 1996) was edited by Oliver Moles
     of our Office of Educational Research & Improvement (OERI) &
     was produced in collaboration with the Partnership for Family
     Involvement in Education, a joint effort of the Department &
     more than 1,200 organizations.  A limited number of paper
     copies are available from our National Library of Education at
     1-800-424-1616.


================================================================
             18 Ideas for Reaching All Families
================================================================

INTRODUCING SCHOOL POLICIES AND PROGRAMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  *  Early Fall Mailings
          (welcome letters, information packets, calendars)
  *  Home-School Handbooks
  *  Open House (publicity, planning, preparation)
  *  School-Parent Compacts (Please see excerpt below.)

PERSONAL CONTACTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  *  Parent-Teacher Conferences
          (before, during, and after the conference)
  *  Home Visits
  *  Parent Liaisons

ONGOING COMMUNICATIONS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  *  Newsletters
  *  Positive Phone Calls
  *  Homework and Home Learning
          (what teachers can do, what schools can do, what school
          systems can do)

SPECIAL PRACTICES AND PROGRAMS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  *  Parent Resource Centers (Please see excerpt below.)
  *  Informal School-Family Gatherings
          (grade-level sessions, meet with the principal,
          breakfast with the teacher, neighborhood coffees)
  *  Parent Workshops
          (assess parent needs, identify resources, recruit
          participants, provide support services, evaluate success)
  *  Secondary School Strategies
          (welcome parents, promote closer relationships, reach out
          to specific groups, explain the curriculum, understand
          the needs of adolescence, provide assistance)
  *  Strategies for Children With Special Needs
          (what administrators can do, what teachers can do)

SPECIAL GROUPS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  *  Involving Parents With Limited English
          (developing innovative programs, respecting culture)
  *  Involving Single and Working Parents
          (communication, involvement, workshops, the community)
  *  Involving Fathers
          (basic orientation, in-school activities, out-of-school
          activities)


================================================================
                       Two Excerpts
================================================================

***********************
Parent Resource Centers
***********************

Parent resource centers in schools can support parents as both
learners and teachers.  These centers provide materials and a space
where parents can get together with other parents and school staff
to learn how to assist in their children's at-home learning.
Parents can come to such a center for educational materials,
training, informal meetings, and even for referral to other
community services.

Parent resource centers may contain:

  *  information about current school programs and events;

  *  reading materials to help parents guide their children's
     learning;

  *  games, books, and videos that parents can use with children at
     home, as well as toys and books for visiting pre-school
     children;

  *  a paid aide or volunteer who provides parents with instruction
     in subject areas and in using learning materials;

  *  a place where parents can "fill prescriptions" written by
     teachers for specific educational materials to be used at
     home;

  *  a "Parents Corner" with comfortable furniture where parents
     can talk with other parents and teachers who come into the
     center; and

  *  an exchange box where parents and teachers can drop off
     unwanted books, toys, and surplus household items and take or
     borrow them for their own use.

Parent resource centers send a very positive message to parents
that they belong in the school and should feel welcome in it.  Some
have a coffee machine and other amenities to reinforce the welcome.
Many have donated furnishings and equipment.

These centers can be used for a variety of purposes:

  *  meeting space for parent groups and workshops;

  *  an informal location for individual parent-teacher or parent-
     principal discussions;

  *  lounges and "waiting rooms" for parents in school on other
     business;

  *  recruiting tutors and classroom volunteers; and

  *  information and guidance about higher education opportunities,
     cultural and community services and agencies to help families
     with educational, health, and social service needs.

A parent resource center can be created in a spare classroom or a
corner of a school library.  The center will need some staffing by
a paid aide, parent/community volunteer, or a rotating teacher.

Principals and central administration staff can encourage teachers
working with parents to develop at-home learning activities as part
of their curriculum.  Principals and teachers may want to devote
several professional development sessions to this task.  Schools
can also provide clerical and printing assistance to teachers who
develop materials for parents.


**********************
School-Parent Compacts
**********************

Many schools are developing voluntary agreements between the home
and school to define goals, expectations, and shared
responsibilities of schools and parents as partners in student
learning. In fact the federal Title I program requires all
participating schools to develop with their Title I parents a
compact that outlines how parents, school staff, and students will
work to improve student achievement and build partnerships to help
children achieve to high standards.

Compacts incorporate the unique ideas and activities of different
school communities. They usually have sections for schools,
parents, and their children to sign if they choose. As an example,
the Title I requirements are paraphrased below.

School responsibilities (1) describe how the school will provide
high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and
effective learning environment that enables students to meet high
performance standards, and (2) note the importance of communication
between teachers and parents on an ongoing basis by such means as:

  *  parent-teacher conferences in elementary schools, including
     discussion of how the compact relates to the child's
     achievement;
  *  frequent reports to parents on their children's progress;
  *  and reasonable access to staff, to observe classroom
     activities, and to volunteer and participate in their child's
     class.

Parent responsibilities indicate some ways that parents can support
their children's learning by:

  *  monitoring school attendance, homework completion, and
     television watching;
  *  volunteering in their child's classroom; and
  *  taking part, as appropriate, in decisions on the education of
     their children and constructive use of extracurricular time.

Students might also sign the parent's section or a more student-
focused statement of home learning responsibilities.

Compacts need to be used in combination with other family
involvement activities, not as the only way schools communicate
with parents. They are more likely to be effective when well
planned, appropriate to the situation, sensitive to individual
needs, flexible, and accompanied by supports of money, time, and
teacher and parent training.

The U.S. Department of Education is producing a booklet on compacts
with examples from schools around the country. Title I of the
Improving America's Schools Act, which provides resources to
schools needing extra help to strengthen programs in the basics and
core academics, encourages the creation of school-parent compacts
in half of the nation's schools.

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            Kirk Winters
            Office of the Under Secretary
            U.S. Department of Education
            kirk_winters@ed.gov