Parent Leadership inParent Engagement Models

BY:

ARACELI SIMEÓN

PARENT ORGANIZATION NETWORK

EIPSTEIN’s 6 TYPES of PARENT INVOLVEMENT1: Parenting 2: Communicating 3: Volunteering 4: Learning at

Home5: Decision-

Making6: Collaborating with Community

Assist families with child-rearing skills, understanding child and adolescent development, and setting home conditions to support learning at each grade level.

Communicate with families about school programsand student progress througheffective school-to-home & home-to-school communications

Improve recruitment, training, work and schedules to involve families as volunteers and audiences at the school to support students and school programs.

Involve families with their children in learning activities at home, including homework and other curriculum-related activities and decisions.

Include families as participants in school decisions, governance and advocacy through PTA/PTO, school councils, committees, action teams, and other organizations.

Coordinate community resources and services for students, families and the school with businesses, agencies, and other groups and provide services to the community.

TYPE 5: DECISION MAKING Include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives

1) Redefine Concepts

Decision making - a process of partnership, of shared views and actions toward shared goals, not just a power struggle between conflicting ideas.

Parent leader- means a real representative, with opportunities and support to hear from and communicate with other families.

Source: 1) Epstein, J. L. (nd). Epstein's framework of six types of involvement (Including: sample practices, challenges, redefinitions, and expected results). Baltimore, MD: Center for the Social Organization of Schools.and 2) http://www.unicef.org/lac/Joyce_L._Epstein_s_Framework_of_Six_Types_of_Involvement(2).pdf

2) Practices for Engagement- Set structures for engagement: advisory councils, or committees

(e.g., curriculum, safety, personnel), district-level councils and committees for family and community involvement

- Provide information on school or local elections for school representatives.

- Form networks to link all families with parent representatives. 3) Address Challenges- Include parent leaders from all racial, ethnic socioeconomic groups in

the school-Offer training to enable leaders to serve as representatives of other families, with input from and return of information to all parents.

- Include students (along with parents) in decision-making groups.

TYPE 5: DECISION MAKING Include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives

TYPE 5: DECISION MAKING Expected Outcomes

Students:-Awareness of representation of families in school decisions.

-Understanding that their rightsare protected.

-Specific benefits linked to policies enacted by parent organizations and experienced by students.

Parents: -Input into policies that affect child's education. -Feeling of ownership of school. -Awareness of parents' voices in school decisions. -Shared experiences and connections with others. -Awareness of school, district, and state policies.

School Staff: - Awareness of parent perspectives as a factor in

policy development and decisions. - View of equal status of family representatives on

committees and in leadership roles.

The Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships

Recommendations to Building Family-School Partnerships - Develop Relationships Based on Trust. Building trust is based on four qualities: respect, integrity, competence and personal regard.

- Address Cultural Differences. Examine beliefs, value all cultures, address language barriers and different expectations about the system.

- Support Advocacy: Turn “problem” parents into partners. Listen to them, involve them in the solution.

Source: Henderson, A.T., Mapp, K.L., Johnson, V.R., & Davies, D. (2007). Beyond the bake sale: The essential guide to family-school-partnerships. New York: The New Press.

Recommendations to Building Family-School Partnerships

Source: Henderson, A.T., Mapp, K.L., Johnson, V.R., & Davies, D. (2007). Beyond the bake sale: The essential guide to family-school-partnerships. New York: The New Press.

- Share Power: ◦ Provide mechanisms to provide input in decision-making

◦ Increasing families’ political knowledge and skills

◦ Strengthen families’ links with community organizations and resources

◦ Preparing parents to carry out committees duties

◦ Take recommendations seriously

◦ Facilitate meetings, don’t dictate.

◦ Empowering teachers and parents to do action research.

CDE’s Family Engagement Framework

Source: California Department of Education (2014). Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts

CDE’s Family Engagement Framework

Source: California Department of Education (2014). Family Engagement Framework: A Tool for California School Districts

PCSSB’s Strategic Plan

Source: PCSSB’s Strategic Plan for Parent and Family Engagement in LAUSD Schools.

12-13 priority areas

LAUSD’s School Goals for Parent Engagement1. Provide a welcoming environment for families and invite them to

participate as equal partners

2. Provide parents opportunities to acquire necessary information, knowledge, and skills to support their children’s education at home and at school

3. Engage parents in the school’s volunteer program

4. Respond to parent concerns and/or complaints

5. Comply with all LAUSD, state and federal requirements

Measuring Progress Toward School Goals1. Provide a welcoming environment for families and invite them to participate as equal partners.

Measure the % of parents who indicate:a. They feel like a partner at their school in decisions made about their children’s education (Impact)

b. They feel welcome to participate at their school (Impact)

c. The school informs them about school activities in different ways (Process)

d. The school staff treats them with respect (Process)

e. The school provides verbal and written information they can understand (Process)

2. Provide parents opportunities to acquire necessary information, knowledge, and skills to support their children’s education at home and at school. Measure the % of parents who indicate :

a. The school provides opportunities to help them support their children’s learning (Process)

b. Teachers talk to them about how to help their children learn at home; what their children are expected to learn in class; their children’s academic progress (Input)

c. The parent center provides resources to help them support their children’s education (Process)

Measuring Progress Toward School Goals3. Engage parents in the school’s volunteer program. Measure the % of parents who indicate:

a. They volunteered in their children’s classroom (Input)

b. They volunteered at their children’s school outside of the classroom (Input)

4. Respond to parent concerns and/or complaints. Measure % of parents who indicate school staff a. Takes their concerns seriously (Process)

b. Welcomes their suggestions (Process)

c. Responds to their needs in a timely manner (Process)

5. Comply with all LAUSD, state and federal requirements. Measure the number of:a. Non-compliance items regarding parent involvement on FPM (Input)

b. Complaints filed regarding operation of committees (UCPs) (Input)

EIPSTEIN’s 6 TYPES of PARENT INVOLVEMENT1: Parenting 2: Communicating 3: Volunteering 4: Learning at

Home5: Decision-Making 6: Collaborating

with Community

Student Attendance

Parent Access System

LAUSD Volunteer Program

•Parent Training regarding Instructional Initiatives• EL Master Plan

Parent Academy.

• DELAC, ELACs• CAC• PAC• SSC• Title I Study

Groups• Student

DevelopmentEmpowerment

Community Outreach Partner-ships

Teachers talk to parents about how to help their children learn at home; class expectations;academic progress

Engage parents in the school’s volunteer program.

Provide parents opportunities to acquire knowledge, and skills to support their children’seducation

• Provide a welcoming environment.

• Respond to parent concerns.

• Comply laws

STAFF:• Professional Development for School Staff• Parent Centers, Parent Center Directors, Bond

Projects• Family Engagement Action Teams • Five School Goals for Parent Engagement Toolkits• Training and monitoring for schools to run school

committees (i.e. ELACs, SSCs)

PARENTS:• EL Master Plan Parent Academy• Parent Training regarding Instructional

Initiatives• Student Involvement, Development

and Empowerment (New)

• LAUSD Volunteer Program• Community Outreach/Partnership• Student Attendance• Parent Access System

LINKED to LEARNING:• EL Master Plan Parent Academy• Parent Training regarding Instructional Initiatives

Observations: Strengths• LAUSD has a structure and resources dedicated to parent engagement.

• The language in PCSSB’s plan and the strategies tend to be aligned with the standard parent engagement frameworks. The plan has:

• A strong focus on developing organizational and staff capacity to carry out parent engagement at the local level.

• The plans includes development of student capacity, leadership

• Training offered to parents is linked to learning

• The input, process, impact metrics set to measure parent engagement at the local level are relevant and it is focused on parents’ experiences.

Observations: Areas of Improvement• The plan is missing critical elements to develop and sustain effective family-school

partnerships: - It lacks a specific strategy to build parent leaders’ capacity- There is no integration of parent leaders to help district achieve goals in schools- No focus on activities being relational, developmental, collaborative, or interactive,- There are no specified input/process/impact metrics for PCSSB- No evaluation component

• There is incongruence in what PCSSB promotes in and expects of schools while not holding itself accountable for its performance on the same metrics.

• There is incongruence in what is set on paper and the levels of tension and aggression between parent leaders and staff.

• There is reluctance to respond or accede to parents’ requests to improve the welcoming environment, training, data, etc…

Recommendations• Evaluate the current strategic plan. Hire an independent evaluator.

• Modify or develop a new plan taking into accounts the lessons learned from the current plan and input from PCSSB staff, parents, parent leaders, school staff, and Superintendent King.

• Commit resources to evaluate the plan annually to continuously improve efforts.

• Establish input, process, and impact metrics for activities. Include benchmarks that will help staff course-correct during the school year, if needed.

• Include a goal specific to develop parent leaders but ensure the plan strengthens both parents’ and school staff’s capacity to engage one another.

-Reset PCSSB staff’s values and directives for working with parent leaders in order to re-build trust.

-Increase PCSSB’s readiness to implement practices that are collaborative, share power, and support advocacy.

-Increase parent leaders’ readiness by providing voluntary ongoing training to those serving in committees to strengthen their skills as leaders, advocates, collaborators.

• Learn from others: LAUSD Charter Schools, San Bernardino City Unified School District, scholars

Questions? Thank you for your time.Contact Information:

Araceli SimeónProject Director

C: 626-991-1610asimeon@parentnetwork-la.orgwww.parentnetwork-la.org